Class of 21st Feb--Forest Pool

This class is a last minute one for next week-I was going to have a Saturday off ! This is a lovely painting to do for first time students and also more experienced ones.
It is painted on a black canvas which makes life easier !
If you would like to join this class please get in touch with me via
enquiries@paintingmyway.co.uk or ringing me on 01584 872013

I have 4 places left for this class.

Class of Feb 14th

Margot,Gordon and Anita were all first time students today so they were all in the same boat!
Margot had found me through the SAA website.
Gordons wife had bought him a gift voucher for Christmas after they had seen my regular students Pauline and Chris's paintings, as they are neighbours!
Anita and I were at school together over 30 years ago---boy that makes me feel old!
We did some catching up when we had a coffee break! I had forgotten to take my camera to class today and hadn't realised until we had nearly finished, sent Bill home to fetch it and after he returned with it realised that the card was still in the laptop so home again bless him! Good job we are only a few hundred yards away in the room we hire!
Everyone enjoyed them selves in class-Anitas hubby joined up for the Winter Wonderland class next month when he came to pick her up!

Lots to Catch Up on!

We went out for a meal on Wednesday night,as you can see the surroundings were lovely, very olde worlde!
The Bull ring Tavern has a regular steak night on a Wednesday, its great value for money, you get a big steak ,onion rings,mushrooms ,salad and chips or jacket potato--all for just £6.95
We were also there last week for St Valentines Day.Again a beautiful meal-it comes highly reccommended by us!
As you can see -my valentines roses are still going strong,more than a week later.I bought some more the day after valentines day from Tesco, to go with the ones recived off Bill.They will all be turned into pot pourri shortly so I have a lasting reminder of this years valentines day!

Class of Feb 16th

We had a lovely time yesterday in the Oriental Dawn class.We welcomed Mary who would rather be known as 'Pozzy'-her nickname.Her grandson had paid for her to come to the class as a Christmas pressent. Unfortunatly she had terrible trouble with her arms being very painful, and she had a real job with some of the brush moves.I really hope she feel's better soon.However she still managed a lovely painting first time!
Michelle who joined us for the first time really enjoyed herself again--she put in the comments book ''I love it''I love it'' ''I love it''so I think she loves it!

Jack, Yvonne, Carole and Jan who are all quite experienced artists now all produced lovely work too, its interesting to see how they are all developing their own ways of doing things.
Carole bought along her own canvas, slightly smaller than the one we use in class-she has been doing some painting at home and found that she prefers the smaller canvas.

Valentines Flowers

When we went to Tesco today, we found the Valentines flowers all reduced! So couldnt resist buying another 2 dozen red roses to go with the ones off Bill yesterday!

Mandy's Summer Day

Today Mandy came to do her one to one. She had chosen to do "Summer Day".
This painting is one of the most popular ones that I do.
We had a real laugh while painting.We had time to chat about loads of things-I gave her loads of websites to look at-some to get art materials and some for more general things.All in all a great day!
She has booked up another 7 classes for the near future, so that means that I only have space now in the "Winter Wonderland" Painting which is Saturday March 22nd --which is Easter weekend.
I will work on new class subjects and dates tomorrow and publish them on here and my website asap as I know there are many of you waiting to see what is planned!!!

ponderisms

PONDERISMS

I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.

Gardening Rule: When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.

The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.

Never take life seriously Nobody gets out alive anyway.

There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.

Life is sexually transmitted.

Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.

Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

Have you noticed since everyone has a camcorder these days no one talks about seeing UFOs like they used to?

Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again

All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, 'I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?'

Who was the first person to say, 'See that chicken there? I'm gonna eat the next thing that comes outta its butt.'

Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer

If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?

Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

2 places left on this class

I have just 2 places left on the Birch Tree Walk painting class on March 29th.
This painting is done with acrylic paint and encaustic wax. Its suitable for everyone -even first timers.
I have fantastic results with this class subject , as you can see from the photos a little further on in my blog and also on my website www.paintingmyway.co.uk
If you would like to book this class, please do so earlier rather than later, as places are getting snapped up very quickly.

Latest class places

The phone has gone mad today with people booking classes--it looks like I may have to start doing classes on a Sunday as well as a Saturday-just to fit everyone in!
The latest are
Feb 16th---Oriental Dawn--full
Feb 23rd--private encaustic party
March 1st--Snowy Reflections--Full +1
March 8th --African Dream --full +1
March 15th --Summer Day --Full
March 22nd --Winter Wonderland --4 places left--this class is Easter Weekend
March 29th--Birch Tree Walk--2 places left
April 5th --Eternal Dawn--Full
April 15th --Advanced Class-for students who have been to me at least 5 times before
April 19th--Stormy Skies--1 place left
May 3rd--Emerald Woods--2 places left
for more details and pictures of the class subjects please check out ''classes'' on
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Places Left in Classes

The class for Saturday March 1st is now full---Snowy Reflections
I have had an unexpected cancellation for the African Dream class on Saturday March 8th. So just one place left on this acrylic class.

There are 4 places left for Eternal Dawn on Sat April 5th.

There are just 2 spaces left for the Stormy Skies class on Saturday April 19th and 3 places left for Emerald Woods on Sat May 3rd.
The classes are getting very booked up very quickly

Daisies and Dunes

Daisies and Dunes has been sold. Its been bought as a St Valentines Day Present for his wife.
I shall really miss this painting--I have had it hung in our bedroom opposite our bed.
Its been wonderful to wake up to and see the view!!
However --Im so glad its been bought for a St Valentines present--I knew it was waiting for someone really special!

New Commission

I recived an email late last night from Bet who wants to commission a Summer Day painting.
She has told me that it is her first time of commissioning a painting, so I have explained to Bet how I work.
I photograph and email each stage of the painting to the client for approval, before going onto the next stage-this way the client is in complete control of the finished picture, Ican add or take away anything they dont like or want in the painting.

She particualy like the 9th version of it that has already been sold, so I set to work tonight, feeling very energetic after todays great Reiki session.
I have done a lot of the background stuff.Lots of building up in the sky and the sea.
I have put several layers of clouds into it, each layer fluffed up and blended so there are no hard edges.
Next came the sea, using both a beautiful seagreen and the same blue as in the sky, again building up the layers of colour until Im happy with it.
The first layer of sandy beach colours were applyed before putting my brushes into a plastic bag and wrapped up tightly ready for tomorrows session.
I dont bother to clean my brushes when Im going to be using them the next day-as long as they are wrapped up they will be fine and they wont dry out and spoil.
It has been known for them to be in a bag for 3 or 4 days after a class--when Ive been busy and forgotten about them!!! They have always been ok!!

Reiki

Well I had a wonderful day today having my Reiki session with Jan.
It was the most relaxing and engergising experience at the same time!
Reiki is a ancient Japanese therapy-the word Reiki means universal life force energy.
The therapy involves the channeling of the energy that surrounds all of us into our bodies.

The session takes around an hour and invloves lying on the very comfortable reiki couch, fully clothed -but with watches , belts etc taken off as they can interfere with the energy.
There is lovely soothing music and candles in the room, and also incense burning,it was very easy to relax fairly soon in the calm atmosphere.
Jan began on my head, just gently holding it to start, I soon felt the heat of the energy coming through her hands.
She slowly carried on working down my body-there were times when the hands felt really cold as well as when they felt hot.
I could also feel a lot of heat when she wasnt actualy touching me-just holding her hands above me.

People can feel different things, some people dont feel very much but that dosent mean nothings happening, the healing will still be transfered through the practioner to the client.

She can feel where parts of the body need more healing than others and concentrates on those places.
I could feel a tingling sensation sometimes especialy when she was working on my back, after I had turned over onto my front around half way through.
I am sure I had just drifted off to sleep to be honest when Jan spoke to me and I came back to reality!!

It took me a few minutes to come round properly and sit up--I could have slept for days if she had left me there Im sure!!
I have never felt so relaxed and peaceful.
After having a drink of water-something I have to do regulary for a couple of days to help get rid of the toxins out of the body,I realised that I felt really full of energy as well.
Its very hard to describe to be honest!!
I would recommend it to anyone who feels under the weather for whatever reason-Im definatly going to have another session before too long.
Jan charges just £30 for this session of Reiki and belive me it is worth every penny.!!!
She can be contacted on 07837939797 if you want to book a session with Jan or just find out more about it, please give her a ring.

Summer Day Walk

This is the latest in my "Summer Day" series of paintings.
Tranquil and calm, the poppies and daisies lining the meandering pathway down to the beach, are bobbing gently in the sea breeze.This painting can be framed in a matching lightwood frame for an additional £15.
It would make a great Valentines Day gift for a loved one.
I always post my paintings by special delivery, so they are recieved the next day.They are also insured and trackable.
The Summer Day Walk is £120 including P+P in UK-if you are outside Uk please get in touch.

2nd Feb Class--Poppy Fields

We had great fun today in the Poppy Field Class.
I was a bit worried last night when I saw the weather forcast-snow snow and more snow! As 3 of my students were travelling a fair distance from Northampton I wasnt sure if the class would be able to go ahead if the weather was bad. The other 2 students were coming from Leominster and Bishops Castle.
However-everyone arrived safely and we started more or less on time.
There was the usual nerves to start with--the first timers---Chris, joan and Maureen were all a bit on edge -not knowing what to expect.They soon settled down after the initial bashing and tickling of the canvas!!
It was interesting to see both Cheryl and Maureen turn their canvas upside down in order to paint the grasses background-both said it was much easier than doing it the other way round.Ive no problem with it-as I told them-if they find it easier to do it upside down thats fair enough!!
The canvas got turned up the right way to paint the poppies and cornflowers. The class went very quiet at times while the flowers were being painted-so much concentration was required, there was a lot of debate about where to place the poppies.
Then after they were done, it was sugested that a few daisies would look good too, so I showed everyone how to do them.It was amazing as always to see just how different all the paintings are in the end.
The palette at the top of the page belongs to Chris--he ended up using mine as he had run out of space to put any new paint.Its not quite as colourful as Jacks was the other week though!!

The signing of the pics turned out to be very interesting too--Joan painted a little ladybird bug in the corner of her painting instead of a signiture,Cheryl painted her sig then wiped it out and put a little mouse charactor there instead.
Maureen was really nervous about spoiling her pic but managed a good signing in the end!
Everyone enjoyed them selves, and agreed that it had been a lot easier than expected, and a lot more laid back.
The classes are always very ''easy on''
We learnt that Chris is a proffesional chef who is creating his own Pate as a business--we are looking forward to trying some out.When asked if he made any low calorie Pate he replyed "not the way I make it" must say Im looking forward to trying some!!

As we were packing up after the class a gentleman came in and asked all about the classes, he had seen all the comings and goings over the past few months, as he lives near the room we use-- and Greg will be joining us for Emerald Woods in May.

Next weeks Birch Tree Walk class in Telford is fully booked-as is the Oriental Dawn class the week after on Feb 16th.I have one space for the Frosty Reflections on March 1st, the African Dream class on March 8th is full.
I am advising people to book up as soon as possible for classe subjects they want to do, as places are taken very quickly. I may have to start holding classes midweek in order to fit everyone in--could do with 2 saturdays in a week now!!!!!
One for new students and one for returning students!!!!!!
I only have 6 people in a class in order to keep instruction to individuals as detailed as possible.

African Dream Class--Full

11year old Oliver who came to the Tropical Summer Day class on Saturday is coming to the African Dream class on Saturday March 8th.

This class is now full.

Cancer Research Donation

I have had an enjoyable few days-apart from having a streaming cold---painting some variations on Caroles picture that she painted at the weekend at the Advanced class.

I have painted this picture in order to raise money for Cancer Research.
Cancer has touched many peoples lives in one way or another, and I hope that this painting will raise at least £180 for the cause.
This oil painting called "Foxglove Dream"is done onto a high quality Loxley Gold deep edge canvas measuring 10in wide x 24in long.
The painting continues on all 4 sides of the canvas so it does not require framing.
The photographs do not do this picture justice, it is much brighter in real life.
The foxgloves are quite detailed, and lighter than they appear in the pics.
I will take some more close up pictures tomorrow when the light is better!!

It will (or should be) dry enough to post in around 3 weeks, it can be delivered in time for St Valentines Day-I only use special delivery for paintings.
It is next day delivery,insured and trackable.
Please note that this work is copyrighted and logged with www.protectmywork.com