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..

Torquay Break

We went to Torquay for a lovely 4 night break to celebrate my birthday and our 14th Wedding anniversary last week---the weather was wonderful, the company even better and the guest house we stayed The Richwood was great as well.. We pass over the Severn Bridge on route to quite a few of our hols and I just love the structure-and maybe I will get round to painting it one day!

Our bedroom was lovely and comfortable at The Richwood...

beautiful scenery everywhere in this part of the world...

We had lots of trips out and about during our stay,,

another picture waiting to be painted...

Dartmouth is a lovely place--very picturesque

Brixham is another lovely place that we have been to a few times now...

We had a good breakfast each morning at the hotel...the scrambled egg was to die for..

the dining room at The Richwood

We returned to Dawlish to have a mooch around, we were here a few years ago and enjoyed it there very much

Saw some of the local black swans..

On the way back to the hotel we called at The Snoop pub and had a wonderful meal--the diet went out of the window for once-- smothered steak,mushrooms,peppers,onions rings and some chips! Was worth every single calorie--though I didn't manage to finish the chips!

we had a lovely seating area in our room looking out over the swimming pool...would return here again!

Forest Pool Workshop

Pat was painting her 3 rd painting with me-- a very quite workshop but for the best as I was struggling with my poorly foot..It is a lovely subject to do--you can make them as bright or subdued as you want--the colours all look different off the palette on the black background too..

Chris making a start on the bushes at the bottom of the canvas..

Wendy was painting with me for the first time..she was amazed at how different all the pictures were...and found it quite easy to do..

wonderful results ladies..

some lovely messy palettes after the class!

couldn't get my shoe on to go to class--luckily my slippers still fitted...loads of Anica cream being applied all day --the bruise is now coming out really good...my beautiful daughter Becki is getting married this Friday March 6th so hoping its OK by then--got some lovely strappy sandals to wear,,,,

Fun In The Wirral Workshop..

We are just back from a lovely weekend away in The Wirral..We went up to do a workshop for 10 students-some of whom have travelled down to Ludlow to paint previously..We travelled up on Friday,,and managed to find a Premier Inn just  1/2 mile from the venue where we were doing the workshop...The Wirral Grammar School for Girls..

We had 3 generations of one family--Chris-above was painting for the first time..she bought along her mum in law Edna--who is 92 years old  and her daughter Julia..

What a lovely job Edna made of her painting..a brush in mouth and one in the hand-she was ready for action all day!

When Edna's granddaughter Julia said she wanted to use black,white and blue for her painting -I was not sure it would work...how wrong was I? It was stunning...

Sue organised the event..many thanks to her for a great day!

we had a good mix of colours and canvas sizes..

love  the sage green and cream version..

wonderful results from them all--we are missing one lady from the final photo though!

Amazing results from the ladies.....and looks like lots of interest from their friends too for another workshop in the future...

Forest Pool Workshop May 17th

It started as a joke by Tina -one of the students in Saturdays workshop--''Dont Forget The Swear Box" she said on Facebook to me --so I took one along with me! It did have a little money put in there by her --but it gave me a thought--why not take it every week and donate the proceeds to a breast cancer charity-as its a subject close to our hearts...so that is whats going to happen every week! A few folk have been known to have a little curse under their breath when a brush stroke does not go to plan LOL....so make sure you bring along some small change when you come to the workshops everyone!

It was lovely to see Margarita back again after a break--she has lost her beloved hubby and been very ill herself bless her--so a bit of  painting therapy was called for..she loved it bless her...and she was quite a star when it was revealed that she is in fact Clarice Cliff's niece..and she told everyone the story about her famous aunt! Everyone was quite fascinated by it!

Kay came along for the first time--and loved it! She was quite at home with the bashing and tickling brushes--

Chris also took to it easily--first time for her after having a gift voucher off her sister for a special birthday!

4th time for Tina-- loved the blue and purple bushes--very magical!

1st time for Annette-though you wouldn't know it from the results would you?

Another 1st timer-Hilary--she loved it-and didn't think she would be able to do it at all...

Rosemary's first time too...every ones painting had a beautiful mystical,magical feel to it---beautiful!

Tony adding his bushes at the bottom---he also ended up creating some beautiful little dragonflies on his painting..

Carol with her beautiful painting--love the vibrant colour,,

Helen loves working on a black canvas...she made a great job of the picture..

1st time for 12 year old Phoebe who came along with her Mum Jilly..

Jilly at the start of her painting--its amazing how quickly the painting comes along..

Phoebes pallet was a work of art in itself! For some reason we had a lot of messy palettes in the class that day!!

well done everyone--wonderful results from you all..

everyone was amazed-and scared at the end by adding the big tree(s) I think everyone was scared they would spoil their painting--but all did it with several of them adding 3 trees..and of course nobody spoiled their picture at all!! We also had a request from Kay to add a waterfall as well as a pool--and a couple of others did that too--it did work in OK..

well done everyone!