The Waterfall Workshop

This workshop was planned for a long time by Jennifer who has been a few times with various members of her family and friends... she had a lovely little pregnant tummy last time we saw her-- the lovely little girl girl was 15 months old when they came to paint!   Scary where the time goes to...anyway  10 of them came together , and another 2 lots of 2... Michelle came to me around 5 years ago and had a private workshop at home-so it was lovely to see her again... she bought along her friend Lynne..It was also lovely to see Joyce again--she received her Artist Brooch off me because she has been at least 6 times! Her daughter Adele came along with her--it was so good to see her--we were at Grammar school together -quite a few moons ago LOL... didn't really get chance to catch up though--must meet up for a coffee at some point Adele...

everyone had a wide choice of colours to choose from... Michelle chose the yellows/greens

Lynne chose to use a lovely purple as a background which gave it a very mysterious feel..

Joyce used ochre and yellow..

Adele adding a few trees...

Ann chose a lovely shade of blue for her background.It worked really well--you would never know that she had not painted before..

looks very misty in Rose's background..

Kerry's background was lovely and vibrant,,,its always amazing how differenet the paintings are -right from the word go..

The paintings develop very quickly...

Fiona went for quite a subtle look,,,

you can add as many trees as you wish..its one of those paintings that just works no matter what,,

Helen adding some shading to her trees here--first time painting for her too...

the bushes go in after this stage,,and completly changes the whole painting--subtle or more dramatic--the choice is yours!

Large and small waterfalls appeared ..

some had streams running into them..

some had rocks behind the water,

some wonderful reflections were added afterwards,,

this was a lovely surprise..a beautiful ''artist'' cup cake for everyone in the workshop--how kind of Kerry...they were all different and delicious too!

Amazing cakes--thanks so much!

every one was different!

nearly finished here....

Fiona's painting ended up quite subtle--  sometimes they start off subtle but end up brighter--

14 happy artists with their paintings!

The Gigglers....they earned the nickname in the early days of the workshops--always giggling away-- nothing changes LOL...

Lynne,Michelle,Joyce and Adele with their masterpieces...

The Waterfall

Due to illness we were down to just 3 first time artists on Saturday...all were quite nervous and didn't think they would be able to create anything close to the examples shown..All were pleasantly surprised --and it was something of a record for me too--- we started painting at 10.30am and everyone was finished in time for lunch at 12pm..All three were using gift vouchers..

Sandra used some lovely bright colours, whole hubby Malcolm went for  slightly darker shades...both equally beautiful results though..

Malcolm adding the finishing touches to his masterpiece..

Well done everyone....

Kinver Art Group

We met Pat and some of her fellow artists when we did Kinver Show back in the summer..we arranged at the show that we would go and do a demo for them..the day arrived yesterday--and what a great day we had---a laugh a minute with the members as I went through both paintings step  by step..above you can see them having a close look at The Waterfall.

A couple of members  had  tried oils years ago but most of them were used to using acrylics and watercolours-so it was a real eye-opener for them..everyone was pretty amazed at the results I got so quickly., and they promised they wouldn't go into the art shops and ask for 'bashing' and 'tickling'  brushes!!

The winners of the raffle were Trisha on the left who chose Summer Day--Trisha made the most beautiful cake for the coffee break-pear and blackberry sponge that was to die for--and some chocolate tarts--it would  have been rude not to try them..and Pam won The Waterfall painting.. all of the members were left wanting to have a go at oils-and we will look forward to meeting them in future workshops!

The Waterfall Workshop July 13th

We had a lot of fun on Saturday,,one of my students Anne had to arrive early as her hubby had to be somewhere else, so she came to the house at 8am ,,,it was lovely to have a chat while getting ready to go to class...and she was a huge help helping me unload the van at the other end!  When we started the class I showed a few different ways of creating the initial background...it was amazing to see how Megan's background took on the form of a moth! Tony however could see a werewolf in Janes background--however-none of us could see it! It was a smallish class with 7 students--3 of them had been once before and 4 newbies--all of whom I had met at either Shobdon or Bromyard show in the previous weeks...

Jane's painting was very quiet and tranquil..it was hard to believe that she had not painted since school.

Carrie has painted before using water mixable oils so this was a new experience for her and she loved it...

Tony was I think, a little sceptical that he would be able to achieve anything any good in the class--however he was amazed-as were all the students by their results,-they all followed my instructions well and we had most of the painting done by 12pm when we stopped for lunch,

I loved Ann's mackerel sky background..it created a lot of depth in her painting..

Emily soon got the hang of the 'bush' brush and had some beautiful effects happening!

Teressa seemed to find it easy going! Beautiful!

I love the beautiful vibrant results achieved by Megan..she just has to add the water lines and the moon to her painting

Jane's finished picture..the rays from the moon give it quite a spiritual feel I think!

Carries finished painting--love how she added the moon peeping out from behind the tree..

Tony used quite a limited palette  in his picture and it worked really well...

Ann's painting also used a limited palette, love her waterfall with the splashes,-we wiped out a little of her branch on the tree after because it looked as though the moon was balancing on it--but it only took seconds to rectify-which is the beauty of oils!

Teresa's painting was quite vibrant, loved the colours--and the waterfall is just perfect!

Emily did so well..she had a huge boot on her foot/leg as she had a stress fracture! I was amazed she was able to stand to do this beautiful picture!

Well done everyone--will look forward to seeing you all again!

Anne came home with us as Martin couldn't pick her up til later-- It was lovely to sit by the pond having a Pimms or 2 and put the world to rights!  We both felt like we had known each other for years! It was lovely to see Martin and her 2 sons reaction to her painting--they were all chuffed with it! We will see Anne again for the Serenity painting in 2 weeks!

Bromyard Gala and Home...

It was really roasting hot in the marquee on Sunday...

but a nice cold pint soon cooled us down!

some great music all weekend...

then back home to sit by the pond and relax with a drink or three and watch the fish! The pond is completely clear now..

they are all looking good and healthy...

as the night gets darker we switch on the underwater lights--and the fish get so excited by them-so funny to watch them swimming around chasing one another in the light!

and my new optic fibre lights look just beautiful swaying in the gentle breeze...