Set Up At Bishops Castle....

The space at Bishops Castle SpArc'S where my solo exhibition is being held is just great!                                           Light and airy and loads of room on the panels to display everything!                                                                                      Me and Bill had spent days at home measuring out the space and deciding which paintings were going where...labelling and numbering each one,making sure each painting was 100% perfect and a doing a bit of touching up when  needed...

It really paid off---the photos do not do it justice..the lights are catching the twinkling stars on the Blue Moon painting..the middle of the 4 canvas poppy painting is showing up beautifully and the textures on the seascapes are looking good..

All melted wax paintings on this panel;.

This one called "Two Faced" always creates interest---there are 2 faces in the centre of the painting--and some people see more in other parts of it as well...

Lots of things to see in this one too,,,

Rose Garden..

Birch Tree Wall...

A good mix of my Birches paintings..

Some of my favourite subjects...

I haven't shown my Flames of Passion pictures for a while....I love how they look here!

Some of my workshop subjects shown here..

Some more of my subjects shown here..its such a lovely setting  here--will be calling by on Sunday to drop off some browsers!

Happy 101 st Birthday Win

Our dear friend Win has reached the grand age of 101 years old.....she is seen here with her doggie William--who is a Chinese Crested hairless dog---he loves to sit on her lap for cuddles-and he is like a little hot water bottle for her-his body is as warm as toast bless him .

Bluestone Park

We are having a lovely relaxing time here at Bluestone Park--we can recommend it to anyone who wants peace and tranquility.
Its also the first time that the actual place has been as good as its website and the pictures of the place!
It really is 5 * accommodation here.
Everything is immaculate and everything has been thought of -even the dishwasher tablets etc are supplied.
You cannot fault the place at all--
we have both slept like logs-in fact we cant remember when we have both slept as much as we have here!
I expect its all the clean fresh air we are having.
We hired a golf buggy for our stay--and are glad we did-the site covers over 500 acres and its quite hilly--up and down to the village.
The pubs and restaurants are all down in the village so its a godsend coming back up on it!
When we arrived here we went out on the buggy to suss things out and we realised that we had no mobile phone signal in our allocated chalet--when we went back to the check in and explained I needed to have mobile contact as I run my own business they quickly found us another chalet in better area to get the signal.

The weather isn't so good today so we are chilling out in the chalet--catching up on some reading, tv and a bit of computing.
Its being packed away after Ive finished this though!
The time is flying by--it was Bills birthday yesterday and we had a lovely day.

All the livestock at home seem to be enjoying the spoiling they are getting by my friend Jeannie--she says Sparky is sleeping on the bed with her every night, and Paddy and Jake are chatting away 9 to the dozen.
I expepect they are having some extra biscuits and fruit from here as well--she loves spoiling them.
She will miss them when she goes home on Sunday!

Todays Class "Forest Pool"

Gary and Elaine come over from Stourbridge to paint with me.
Due to illness there were only these two today.I quite like to have these small classes occasionally--it gives us chance to get to know people a bit better!
They were both amazed at how quiet and beautiful it is here-when they went out the back the birds were singing away and the fish were mooching around the pond for some food!

We got down to painting eventualy-and before long we had got lovely things going on!
The light shining through the trees onto the water was very effective-and they both got the hang of the different techniques we used in this one.
We used a lot of different brushes and a knife to get the effects.
Elaine put more trees in than Gary-and I put a load more in than them both as well!
They have booked for the Serenity class and also the Birch tree class as well, and also went away with new tickling, flat , fan and bush brushes. they have also got the SAA catalogue and joining up forms so they will be able to buy other art materials from them too.

Market Oct 14th

It was like a summers days yesterday up on the market square-had a sleeveless dress on and was as warm as toast!
There were quite a few visitors in the town enjoying the hustle and bustle of the market and surrounding shops.
I had 2 more bookings for Poppy Field next March,and Celia called by for advice about getting set up at home to start oil painting.
I stock all the brushes needed to start up--and Celia took away all she needed for just £19.50 which included a large tickling brush,a bashing brush, filberts,round brushes, flats and lovely liner brush!
Then I marked all the other bits and pieces in the latest SAA catalogue that she would need-including the oil paint which is on offer at the moment bogof.
So Celia has gone away to join the SAA and buy her bits and bobs she needs.Ive told her to ring me if she is unsure about anything when it comes and she makes a start! She has one of my fact sheets which goes through the whole process of painting step by step-so fingers crossed I will be receiving an email from her with a painting attached shortly!

Summer Days

Theres nothing quite like a nice rib eye steak done on the BBQ.!Lots of salad and some good wine! Although we have been having a BBQ every evening since Friday, making the most of this beautiful weather,I was happy to find that Ive still lost some weight!
So Im a happy bunny!
We are doing a demo tonight , so hope all our hard work isnt spoiled by the usual lovely food we get at the WI's !

Forest Pool April 18th

There are only 2 places left now for this popular class subject "Forest Pool"
We will painting this using oils onto a black canvas.
Suitable for all ages and abilities including first timers.
If you would like to join us for this class please get in touch via the new website
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Slimming World

I joined slimming world last week and had a not so bad sort of week, food wise considering.

Bills brother Bernard passed away in the early hours of Monday morning and it had been quite difficult to sort out regular meals at times.
However I did manage to lose 4 and 1/2lb this week and daughter Becki lost 7lb-well done Becki!
Bill has also lost 5lb by having the same food as me, so well done to him too!

Hopefully this week should be a bit easier to stick too .I have eaten more food than I am used to,to be honest, 3 good meals a day plus snacks-takes some eating when you are used to having just breakfast and an evening meal-but I'm enjoying it--salmon and watercress sauce, new potatoes, brocoli,carrots and peas tomorrow for dinner! Cant wait!

Logo

I was approached a short time ago by Richard who has a small company.

They have been looking for a suitable painting to use as their logo on their Banners,business cards etc.

After checking out my website http://www.dianetheartist.com/

he found several paintings that were suitable and got in touch.

The printer had told him that the images needed to be original size-not re sized as they were on the computer.

Unfortunately all of the paintings were already sold and the remaining one was the wrong colour.

Fortunately my friend Annette was able to do wonders with a full size image I took of the pink poppy painting.

I'm useless with the computer--cant do anything like that---Ros has promised me some lessons when we see her later this month in Scotland!

Annette manged to colour the pink to the scarlet red wanted by Richard,and we are just waiting to hear if it is suitable.

I have asked for a donation for the British Heart Foundation for using the image and Richard is happy with that.

I have raised money before from people using the images of my paintings-one of which had been made into gift wrapping paper!

PLEASE NOTE THE IMAGE SHOWN IS NOT THE ONE CHOSEN BY THE COMPANY--WILL SHOW YOU ALL WHEN ITS ALL CUT AND DRYED!

Class Of July 19th --stormy Skies

Stormy Skies is a great painting to do to get to know how to use just a couple of colours to create a masterpiece.

This painting uses just black and white paint to create this stunning monochrome scene.

Its a very atmospheric painting.You will learn to use several techniques, brushes and other materials .
This painting is suitable for all abilities from first timers to more experienced artists.

If you would like to join this class please get in touch via the website http://www.paintingmyway.co.uk/

There are 5 places left for this painting.

Craft Fair

We are on the monthly craft fair tomorrow on the square in Ludlow.
As usual I will be demonstrating the technique I use in class as well as doing encaustic work too!
Lets hope the weather holds out-sounds a bit iffy by the forcast!

Latest Poppy

Ive finaly finished the ''Red Poppy'', I have added the wax centres to all of the 4 canvas and they have had their first coat of varnish.
The colour is absolutly vibrant now they have had the varnish, you can see all the different shades of reds clearly.
The only problem with painting the red poppies is getting decent photos of them-they tend to come out orangey rather than red!
I am very please with the effect of the lava rock paint that I used just outside of the wax cenres-it looks just like pollen-very effective.You can see me adding the melted wax with my special tool in th photo.
They will get another coat of varnish today and the final one tomorrow.

Dilwyn WI Thursday March 20th

We were at Dilwyn WI on Thursday evening doing the usual demonstration,there were lots of questions from the audience during the demo, as several of the ladies were already artists.
One of the ladies went away with a free copy of 'Paint' magazine and the catalogue and joining forms for the SAA of I am a Professional Associate of the SAA (Society for All Artists) which means I carry their endorsement as a tutor and demonstrator.
For just £22 a year you recive high discounts on art materials, a bi-monthly Paint magazine and lots of other goodies.You can also enter their yearly art comptition.Well worth joining. The postage and packing is free if you are a member and they deliver the next day as a rule.