Sue and Richards Workshop

After having 6 months rest I decided I would try a small workshop at home.. I had my perching stool to sit on  and lowered my easel to try and help my arms.. Extra steroids, Tramadol and a liberal coating of Volterol on arms and legs and I thought I was well prepared for it..!   Sue had never painted before and hubby Richard had painted with me once a few years ago..

Although Sue insisted she wasn't in the slightest 'artistic' she followed my instructions and soon had a lovely painting.. Richard had used acrylic last time so this was completely different for him.He too soon had a lovely painting on his easel.. The time went very quickly...but I soon realised that I wasn't yet well enough to teach.

Richard adding the finishing touches to his painting here..

Well done both of you! Lovely results!   It was lovely to be teaching again ,but there is no way I can carry on teaching this year anyway..           I was in agony   afterwards and could hardly move the next day--even with taking extra tablets. The specialist has tried me on Amitriptyline and now Pregabalin, neither of them have done much at all, except knock me out cold which is not good..so I am now looking at going back to teaching perhaps next year-- fingers crossed... In the mean time I will continue to put my work on my websites, and I will be starting some new works soon-- completely different to what I have been doing but will be easier on my arms,, watch this space..

"Yesterday" workshop

"Yesterday" is always one of the more challenging workshops-to start with its a huge 40in canvas which can take some covering, using acrylic paint ,which you have to keep working wet into wet in order to blend it..even so all of the students mastered it beautifully, we had 3 first timers and 4 doing their 2nd painting, Karen has lost count of how many , Anne was on her 7th and Julie her 4th.. Julie had already decided before she came that she wanted to do something a little different and wanted to leave out the horizon line--so her bright ,vibrant painting was just a beautiful sunset sky to start with no water...The most popular colour scheme was the browns,yellows and creams,with just a couple doing the reds/oranges..Karen chose the beautiful teal to match her spare room wallpaper that she bought along with her to match!

Jenny came along with Rosemary,both have never painted before--

we all loved the bright happy face that appeared in Jenny's painting..

A beautiful sky with lots of movement going on in Rosemary's sky..you would never believe they have never painted before..

Rachel came along with Pat for the 2nd time..Rachel's daughter is married to Pats grandson... they have both been and painted Poppy Field previous using oils so this was completely different for them both..as you can see they both did well with it..

Pat had a lovely sky with lots of movement happening..

I love the teal colour Karen used...

Hard to believe that Jackie has only painted once before--she was so chuffed with the end results..

Anne was painting for the 7th time--she had a lovely effect with the light on the water  on the horizon...

Tracey came with Pat and Rachel-she works with Pat..she has never painted before-but nobody would believe it! What a cracking job she made..

Hannah was with us last week to paint in oils--she mastered the acrylics just as easily--a beautiful vibrant sunset-well done.

Julie is adding her trees to her painting..she wasn't sure if she wanted 'naked' trees or some with foliage--I loved it without--

but have to say I loved it when she added some to the trees..

well done ladies

Lovely paintings !

Beautiful end results!

Lots Going On.....

Its been very busy here with one thing and another...we both had a lovely day out yesterday to Wales to enjoy Bills Christmas present off me...a day handling and flying birds of prey..what a great day we had! Everything from an Alaskan Bald eagle to red kites to owls--here are some photos of what we did! If you get the chance to go we really recommend it..Even if we did get a little sunburnt being out in the beautiful sunshine for 3 hours with the birds   !!! www.raptorexperiencewales.co.uk/      

the bald eagle...he wont get his white head etc until he is older--he is only around a year old--but already has a wingspan of over 7 1/2 ft..

handsome bugger isn't he?

cant for the life of me remember what sort of hawk this is now....

look at the colour of those eyes....

eagle owl and me..

the majestic red kite...

you can see the wingspan of the bald eagle here...

then we came back to Ludlow for a BBQ at my brothers...little Tommy was his usual happy self...cant believe he is one later this month...where has the time gone to?

Reeds In The Breeze Workshop April 20th

We had 9 first time students on Saturday..and 6 who have been before--some of them only once before...Teresa and her daughters all seemed to find it quite easy--in fact-everyone of the 15 students managed to use the knife as if they had created waves every day with it! I was very impressed with them all!

We had a wonderful range of paintings -from really quiet and tranquil to more bold ones...all very beautiful!

Emily opted for some purple poppies instead of the usual red ones--and it gave a really different feel to the picture...

Jaine's painting developed quickly,

I think everyone was quite surprised at how easy each stage was...

looking good....

Donna's painting is coming along nicely here..

Jac wanted to use a redder brown as she was painting a picture for her mum who has Alzheimers bkess her---and she painted a place in Cornwall that has red /brown rocks there...its for her birthday so I'm sure she will love it!

Sue added some rocks to her picture..and decided it looked like Nessie...and the more she tried to correct it the more like Nessie it became...so we left it at that!

Josie saw me doing my demo at the British Legion club the other week-and booked up there and then,,,

Roger had met me on the market at Christmas and came from Banbury to paint--he made a weekend of it and stayed Friday and Saturday night ...he said it was a challenge for him as he had never painted before--well he made a great job of it!

Pat and daughter Rachael were enjoying their  Christmas pressies from Rachael's daughter!

Rachael  and mum Pat said they will be back!

Cheryl must be due her artist brooch now...

Bev getting down to it...I will be putting the photos on facebook in a minute., if you want to make friends with on there its easier to find me by my email address.. dianetheartist@hotmail.co.uk  or look up painting my way on there..