Sale Going Well !!!!

Considering the awful weather we had last week my sale is going well...sales on line are going well too...  We are delivering 3 paintings tomorrow to a lady after I have been to the RSH to have an endoscopy....the painting above has always been one of my favourite ones.. I love the purple poppies and brown foliage..

I love the dragonflies on the above painting--they show up much better in 'real life''

and the photos of the Chocolate Poppy do not do it justice-- the centre is very 'touchy feely'' melted wax...

Ha d a call from the photographer who came to take pictures for the local paper about my sale.... he had shown his wife the photo of me holding the above photo- and when she saw it she loved it-- so he has bought it for her as a surprise....

And when we go down to Devon next month we will be delivering 4 paintings to a lovely lady who has bought off me several times before.. Stormy Skies is a big one-- 3ft x 3ft so quite big to post...and as we are on holiday nearby we have arranged to take them with us and get to meet Angela at last!

I love the colours in the Birches...

This was a one off--- quite fancy doing another one on a bigger canvas--this one is 16in x 20in

This is also another favourite one... its so tranquil...

I have reduced all of my Shabby Chic slates --they are now just £3 each or 2 for  £5

Koi Carp sold on the first day of my sale here... its encaustic wax on perspex...

these 2 went same day,,

Was happy to see a couple of  early watercolours sell to the same couple  too..

another of my watercolours went too..

Cards have sold really well... and my stand is much emptier now....

there are not that many tiny paintings left either-- but I have sorted out a load of craft/card making materials that I will not get round to using..  so if you enjoy making cards etc... there is sure to be something you will like!  Lots of bargains to be had.. and we are staying open for an extra day as it is Bank Holiday Weekend... so open all day on the Monday  instead of finishing on Sunday..  So thank you all so much for all of your support so far--- another week to go-- will be lovely to see you-and the weather forecast is looking good as well!

A Break Away From It All !!

 A friend of mine has this beautiful shepherds hut to rent out for holidays... Wonderful views looking over South Shropshire.

''Shepherds Rest''  is situated on a working farm just outside Ludlow.

It is fully fitted out with kitchen, bathroom and shower. 1 double bedroom, wood burning stove etc.

Ass you can see its wonderfully cosy in there..

Its an ideal base to visit Ludlow and surrounding areas and I think it may be available for the Ludlow Food And Drink Festival weekend of May 13th,,,

If you are interested in renting this beautiful holiday home with a difference you can contact my friend Vanessa on the details below..

Sales...

While we were away on holiday last week I sold 2 paintings off the affordable british art website. The one above " Acacia Sunset" is 5ft wide x 1ft deep... not very good for sending by courier as its very likely to get smashed in half en-route.. The last one this size I sold was going to France...so my ever patient hubby bought wood to make a box for it..It worked well but was expensive to do..£50 just for the wood!  So Bill suggested we deliver the paintings rather than risk sending them. After checking it out on line I was able to find 2 nights B+B in Weston Super Mare, which is nearby the destination of the paintings for about the same as it would cost me to send them so we are having a mini-break in Weston ! I always include a little pressie to say thanks to the purchasers, and you can see the difference in size of those  in the above photo.. The miniatures really do look tiny up against the Acacia Sunset!

Tranquil Evening is also going along to Shepton Mallet.. We are looking forward to meeting Ange on Thursday morning when we drop the paintings off... then we are off to Glastonbury for a meeting with Steven,, so killing 2 birds with one stone..
Then in June we will also be hand delivering 3 paintings--this time to Looe in Cornwall.  Also by coincidence to another Ange !!!  This Ange is a collector of my work, having bought and commissioned quite a few paintings off me in previous years,, We are on holiday in nearby Bude , and it made sense to take the paintings with us as again one of them if a big 3ft x 3ft and its always a bit nerve racking sending them via courier -no matter how well you pack them! It will also be lovely to meet with the lovely lady who has bought so much of my art work!

The Devils Tic Tac's.....my journey

Over 5 years ago I became ill with Polymyagia Rhumatica... something that as a rule affects much older people, though after some research it appears to be getting more and more common in younger people-even in their 30's and 40's..             It all started  after having Swine flu at Christmas 2010 , I gradually,over the coming months got stiffer,and stiffer in my arms,legs,back and neck..   The pain was horrendous--I couldn't get off the sofa, off the loo, turn over in bed or get out of the bed,washing my hair was impossible to do on my own. Bill had to pull me up off the sofa and out of bed and dress me..I couldn't even hold my glass of wine!!   At the age of 50 that wasn't good.. I couldn't walk or drive..It was a very scary experience. I was having the max dose of Paracetomol,  Ibrufen etc plus extras at times--but nothing touched the awful pain. How I got through the painting workshops on a Saturday I really don't know---  I was then prescribed a drug called Naproxen to try and help. I took one tablet and within an hour had a high pitched whistling in my right ear,, when I took a second tablet the next morning the noise increased to an unbearable level --I couldn't hear the TV or hear anyone speaking to me..as if the pain hadn't been enough to cope with!   Turns out that tinnitus is a rare side effect of that drug--and it didn't even kill the pain for me.        I have been left with the awful noise in my head ever since, and it drives me mad at times.               Anyway, eventually in Sept 2011 a lovely young doctor decided that I might have Polymyalgia-although I was ''much too young'' and gave me some tablets called Prednisolone--her words to me were " if it is Polymyalgia, these tablets will seem like a miracle--take 4 tomorrow and 4 on Sunday and ring me on Monday and let me know how how you are"  Well she wasn't joking, by Saturday lunchtime I could get off the sofa without help, I enjoyed a glass or 3 of wine in the evening with no pain in my hands and arms and on Sunday morning I leapt out of bed and proceeded to shampoo all the carpets in the house, that I had watched getting grubbier and grubbier while I had been unable to do anything much..    A miracle indeed!!!                                                                                                               And so began my journey with the Devils Tic Tacs as I call them..    I started on 20mg a day,  and it was wonderful to be pain free after what seemed like forever..  however when I tried to reduce to 17.5 after a week as the GP had said I was back to square one within a few hours..by the end of the day I couldn't move again... I cried..                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     It seems like it wasn't going to be an easy job to reduce the steroids quickly. Very quickly I got the huge 'Moon Face''.one of the most horrible things about the steroids--      I used to look in the mirror to do my makeup and as fast as I was applying it I was crying it off as I just didn't recognise the person looking back at me..           My weight  went up by over 3 st very quickly, and my hair started to fall out, yet my face sprouted more hair than my Bill it seemed at times..      I saw a lovely specialist who explained that I needed to cut down the steroids very,very slowly-- 1/2 mg a month..             Sounds easy doesn't it?      My body didn't take kindly to even that tiny drop in steroids and I had to go back to the previous dose where I was comfortable many times and wait to drop again.        Then to add to it I started getting very bad bursitis in my heel, causing me to have to use crutches at times..it seems the drop in steroids causes it to flare up..       Eventually last May I managed to get down to 5mg steroids--how happy was I? My moon face had gone, I had lost over 2 st in weight.my hair had grown back--curly -after me taking some amazing supplements called Biotin.... and when I went to see my specialist last May he asked me to keep dropping by 1/2mg a month...so I dropped to 4.5 mg the next day--and wham--I was back to square one again--       I couldn't move in bed that night, couldn't get out of bed in the morning.     My body had said enough is  enough!   My GP told me to go back onto 20 mg of steroids as I was so poorly,, As if that wasn't enough to be going on with ,I had started to get very bad pain in my neck and throat for which I saw a few different specialists at several hospitals..          Then I started to get numbness, electric shocks and pins and needles in both arms and down my legs..I had tests of all descriptions including an MRI scan.        This showed that my spine has got osteoporosis and has crumbled so bad the spinal cord is being  touched by the discs--it is a lovely S shape from the neck down...and what I thought was a fatty lump on the top of my back is in fact where my spine which has curved badly.  The steroids have eaten away at my bones over the years and now am left with this problem as well.                  All very depressing I can tell you..      I had  really bad episode late last year and I realised with a heavy heart  that I was no longer able to run my popular workshops any more and announced my early retirement due to my health.                 We were quite over whelmed at the response, so many messages, phone calls, letters, cards and presents  and everyone wants me to carry on..     That would be impossible to do in the previous format in the hall,     as I just can't walk.    Hopefully after resting, resting and more resting I am hoping to continue to teach small groups of up to 4 people from middle of May,  just once or twice a month if I am lucky..  I am taking my time to do as little as possible and fingers crossed, be able to cut down the steroids a little easier than I could when working..
I am hoping to be able to cut back on the strong painkillers --Tramadol,paracetamol and at times Oramorph a little too..but the main thing is getting down the Devils Tic Tacs as they are doing me the most damage .I am having a bad time of it at the moment with bursitis in my right foot,, thought I had cracked it when I bought some special compression socks,, it helped for a while but is back with a vengance today grrrr... anyway you now have the background  behind whats caused such a big change in our lives....  blimey that turned into a bloody epic didnt it? 

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A Catch Up!!!

I must apologise for the delay in getting the workshop photos onto the blog...Its been over 2 months since I posted on here due to my health. Above is the only workshop I have run of the ''Shropshire Poppies''. We used acrylic to create this lovely scene..

We had great fun painting ''Winters Walk'' in acrylic and oils.Its quite a challenging one to do, but we had great results from everyone..

I ran 2 encaustic workshops in a couple of weeks, it was very popular..and an easy one for me to teach as there is little moving around for me to do while teaching it! We had some amazing results--

I'm quite jealous of Eric's Waterfall.. I will be having a go at something similar in the future!!

Love the Koi Carp..

and these colours are just beautiful.

young George framed his small encaustic cards and also wrapped them up for Christmas presents for his family with the help of his Aunt Sarah... I'm sure they will love them!

Here is George with his big work of art..

Wonderful results!

Well here we are in the last big workshop of Painting My Way.... what an emotional day that was.I managed to hold it together until the end... and it was lovely to have people popping in to say goodbye during the day..   I was so overwhelmed by all the lovely presents, cards,phone calls and emails we had after announcing my retirement.. we were very touched ..

WOW--look at the beautiful results-- we finished on a real high...6 first time students were among these...

June and Jenny

Beautiful work Ladies..

Lovely work...

Well Done!!!

Great paintings !!

1st time for these two! This to me is what ''Painting My Way'' has been about all these years--taking people who have never painted before and helping them to create masterpieces like this...

Birches Workshop

 This has always been one of my favourite workshops,,always great fun to teach, and really wonderful results,,,and this one was no exception!  Here are some of the ladies creating the birch trees..

Its great when everyone watches each other and compare notes..everyone tackles their painting a little different to each other,,

Joe painted the picture above, but didn't want her photo taken with it!

and the final line up--well done everyone..

Sunshine After The Rain ll

I am well behind with my blog these days,,my health has been pretty awful of late..  But it was lovely to meet up with all these lovely people in the 2nd Sunshine After The Rain workshop.. and they insisted I join them in the final lineup!  It was a very emotional day for me and Bill.. and we were quite overcome when we were presented with cards and gifts after the workshop..

The Sunshine After The Rain

Sorry about the delay doing the blog... We had a full house to paint the Sunshine After The Rain painting...7 who had been before and 8 first timers.. I think this is the hardest subject to do--lots of different techniques to learn !

Jane was bought along by 6 of her friends--she had no idea at all where she was going to or what she would be doing! Slightly scared was a bit of an under statement ! But as usual as soon as the paint was going onto the canvas the nerves pretty much disappeared for everyone..

The puddles of water seem to be the hardest part of the painting, have to be very careful not to use too much white paint.. Everyone enjoyed using the knife to apply thick paint to create texture on the trees..

Beautiful results from everyone..

Wonderful masterpieces everyone...

Well done everyone... I will be teaching this subject again on Oct 1st,,,