April 2nd Workshop ''Summer Day''

Now and again we get a request to travel to a new venue to do a workshop-so when Lorna who had been to a workshop in Ludlow once before , asked us if we would travel to Michaelchurch to do a workshop for her family and friends , we said yes of course! She organised a room for us and we set off at 8am on Saturday...one or two of them have been to me in Ludlow before... I gave them the choice of using the usual Summer Day colours or using the Monochrome version..

John has only used watercolours before...but loved the way the oils moved around ..

Gemma also chose the monochrome shades..first time painting for her too...

Everyone was amazed at how quickly the painting came together,,,,

lots of lovely texture in the waves..

''I know I won't be able to paint''she said..... how wrong was she then!

Julie had to go into work at last minute and didn't get to the class until we had all stopped for dinner at 12.30pm.... but I went through the painting again for her step by step and to every ones amazement she caught up with the others in just 30 mins.. she now has the nickname-" Catch-up" ..

Lovely subtle tones here...

Adding the poppies is the easiest bit of this painting...

Lorna organised the workshop, and was painting for the second time with me!

nearly finished!

Well done everyone... wonderful paintings from you all-- will look forward to seeing you all again in the future!

Oriental Dawn

Better late than never! All the students hard at work..Not the easiest of subjects to do but good results from everyone..

Well done everyone..

Dilwyn Show

Well its been a very busy time with one thing and another! Last time I tried to do my blog it played up and had not realised that it had not published--We had a lovely, very busy time at Dilywn show at the start of May-- a great space as always!

Lots of sales and looking forward to seeing some of the folk we met there in the future workshops..

Market

It was a joy to be on the market today--so much different to the last twice when we had rain and wind! A beautiful sunny day--loads of folk around,all with money to spend it seems! The large purple ''Yesterday'' painting has gone to a new hone near Preston...and loads of miniatures went to new homes!

My new heart slates went well too---and it was comical listening to the people reading them and laughing....we are on the market again on Sunday but the weather is supposed to change by then...

Friday Art Club

We returned to Hadnall last Friday to do a workshop with the Friday Art Club--cant believe its been 4 years since we were there last. They members have Parkinson's disease so it can be quite a challenge for some of them..however they all tackled the sunset subject with great enthusiasm and we had some fantastic results from everyone!

Lovely vibrant results!

Fun in Newport!

As it was me and Bills 13th wedding anniversary last week I treated him to something else he had never done--go-carting! We made a break of it and booked into a lovely motel nearby.. If you want to have fun on the track we can really recommend going to http://www.supakart.co.uk/ it was a special deal from Living Social Deals on line.. it was a Grand-prix night and great value for money--there are plans for a future visit--this time with my daughter Becki and a few more!

Bill waiting to start,,

its a huge track..on 2 levels..

had a huge comfy bed to go back too as well at The New Inn--recommend that place too for a good nights sleep-- drove back this morning and called by at Abergaveny where they have a great market and loads of charity shops..so all in all a great time was had by all!

Button Bouquet

I was asked by a special friend if I would create a button bouquet for her wedding in Jan..she wanted it to be very personal to her and wanted lots of specific items to be added to it..the base was to be a feather duster she had bought in Africa...

Photos, money and some other bits and pieces were sent in a bag...she didn't want them to be on view necessary, but just to know they were in there! So I had my work cut out to add some things like photos, this one ended up being wrapped around a note that I had made into a fan..

The bark came from a tree that belonged to a man whose funeral they had met at..so that was very special--I wrapped it in beautiful glittery beads, it really looked lovely..

there cant be many engagement rings like this one--the pink smiley face ring! I made it a necklace of pretty beads!

The sixpence has her birth year on it..and has another strong significance too...again I wired it with some pretty beads..there are champagne corks in there too..festival wristbands, all personal stuff.

I added some button flowers

the rose has another photo wrapped around the stem..

I added something blue, and another smiley face-a glittery one this time...some pretty brooches,

a few little special charms I had here,,

Its finished--not everyones taste but definatly the brides---her reaction today when she saw it almost had me in tears! She bloody loved it--

The handle has sari material around it and a beautiful silver bangle to finish it off..you couldnt get more personal if you tried --and nobody else will have one like it. After the wedding she can put in a vase and admire it forever!! I have enjoyed every minute of making this for her--her partner isnt going to see it until the day!

I made him a matching button hole...

Looks like I will have a few more to make to match too...she wants the witness's to have some like it too!

Winters Walk Workshop Oct 5th

James's first time painting with me--he came along with his Mum Anne , who was doing her 6th painting and received her painting brooch I give all my students for achieving 6 works of art! He did very well and followed my instructions well.

Anne is very confident and has never really found any of the paintings hard to do..today was no exception and her snowy path soon happened!

Zaz came along with his Dad Richard and Nan  Peggy,,he really found his forte...he is brilliant at painting trees with loads of character!

Richard's use of colour was lovely and bold--it works really well--

We had some fun with Peggy--now and again we get a student who finds it hard to do certain brush strokes..and for Peggy it was doing the horizontal strokes for the snowy path...they kept creeping uphill--we could see why-she was following the direction of the path up round the bend all the time--we got there in the end--but we all had a chuckle with her-bless her! There are a few things we do in the workshops that can be a challenge to do--and a lot of people will really have to concentrate to get the brush going at the correct angle--but we always get there in the end!

Tracey had a gift voucher to use and came along with her friend Helen,

Lovely big bold trees---the knife was used afterwards to give the trees lots of texture..

This was Jacks 2nd painting--his first painting was shown to an artist friend of his who remarked "it looks like you have been painting for years" what a compliment! I wonder what he will think about this one!

The end results! Well Done !

Richard ,Zac and Peggy with their masterpieces....unfortunately the other photos I took of the other students have vanished off my camera!

New Abstract Workshop--results!

I  decided that we would have a trial run on small canvas today before the main event! Using transparent paints in the main,.everyone had great fun deciding what they wanted on their main painting! Not every idea was taken to the bigger scale but it was very interesting to see what worked and what was changed.

Rob used swirls and lines in his first painting,,

Dawn used more opaque colours--I wasn't sure if it would work as well--but it did--very well...the title of this one was "Love is Complicated"

Jenny's first painting reminded us all of a spider web and a seashell...

Irene was doing her painting for her daughter-she had a cushion with the colours to match the room it was to be hung in and a request that it used the swirls pattern and not the lines!

Terry used the swirls to start with on the practise piece..but decided to use another idea on the main canvas!

WOW--you can see how the paintings developed here-all so different-you couldn't predict it at all!

Loved Dawns painting--bold colours-its hard to see the detail in any of the photos--she used the wiping out tool to go back to the black canvas in places..

I'm sure that Irene's daughter will love this painting..I should have taken a photo of the cushion that was used as a base for the painting...its just a perfect match!

Jenny's painting was really vibrant--the hexagon shape lends itself to the abstract subject-she had the lines weaving in and out perfectly!

Robs painting looked brilliant-he painted it to look like the solar system-which it did! Terry used some dry brush techniques that made the finished painting look like embossed velvet-the colours and texture just don't show up on here...all in all a brilliant day --everyone really enjoyed it--we all joked that we don't know what a phycharists would make of the different paintings,,but all agreed it was great fun and very interesting to do--I will be setting another date for April 2014 for this subject..we will do a small painting on a canvas 10in x 8in to start so you can get a feel for the paints,canvas and what sort of end result you want! It really was great fun and I will look forward to doing this one again !