Todays Class

Today we had a really laid back class!

Everyone had met in my classes before--

Jack had been once before, Jan was doing her 4th painting and Sharleen was painting her 3rd one.

The painting was a different one to the one advertised, but that is nothing unusual-nothing is set in stone with me, I will chop and change the subjects to fit in with what people want to do!

Sharleen bought along Chip who is seen checking out the subject for the painting today! I think everyone was surprised at the way that the painting evolved today. We started off with a black canvas, added some white acrylic with some various sponges, then we painted in some trees in various colours of white, grey and black.

As soon as we put the linseed oil onto the dryed acrylic you could see it come to life,as soon as the linseed oil hit the canvas it just became more vibrant, the black and white paint took on a totally different look- the original painting had shades of blues,yellows and greens in it. I had decided that I was going to paint mine all green to replace the 'Emerald Wood ''painting that I sold a while ago.

After seeing how my painting had progressed, they all decided that there were some changes they would like to make to their original acrylic paintings-mainly a big branch on their main tree!! We has such a laugh in the class, everyone was ok putting in the background trees but as soon as I mentioned painting BIG trees it all went very quiet and no-one wanted to do it! There was a lot of breath holding going on!!!!

Everyone watched as the painting transformed from black and white to a magical green enchanted scene.

After seeing mine everyone decided to ''go green''

I set the paint out onto the palette and said'' right then whos going first then''--silence for a minute and then Jan-bless her said ''Ok then lets get it bloody over with!!!!!'' it cracked everyone up!!

Earlier in the class after we had to use the sponges to apply the background, we all had lots of weird things appear in the paintings. Sharleen and Jan and myself all had strange faces and some animals in theirs, but Jack beat everyone with his 'witch on a broomstick-complete with moon in background!''

All in all a great day-loads of laughs as usual, Jan came home with us to borrow some of my extensive range of art books, I am always happy to help any of my students in any way I can, and as I have built up quite a collection of various art books in one form or another, I am quite happy for them to use them to practise with at home! I have also told them all to ring me if they are not sure about anything--Id rather they do that than make a major mistake at home and be put off painting for good!!!!

All of the students will be joining the SAA, of which I am a PA-- (professional advisor)

The Society for All Artists --- www.saa.co.uk

is a very informative and helpful site -the bi-monthly magazine is full of helpful hints and tips about painting and the regular catalogue is full of bargains.The joining fee fee is soon recouperated when ordering their paints etc at discounted prices-anyone who is going to paint on a regular basis would be well advised to join this society--everything is P+P free too.

Floor Getting Done

Here you can see what we found when we took up the flotex that has been down for donkeys years-and then the new tiles going down-it will look stunning when it is finished.

They can be grouted tomorrow, although I have a student coming for a one two one tomorrow so I will see how we get on., It wont hurt to have a break from it really.

Next Job

The next job is to sort out the dining room-lots of stuff has been dumped in there from the kitchen--we are sorting it out bit by bit--Freecycle is great-the double glazing is going to a new home in the morning, and my daughters old bike has gone to a new home instead of going to the tip.
Bill has knocked out the old dining room door and is going to plaster board it tomorrow, then it will be cleared ready to tile the floor.

Grouting!!!!!!!

Just to prove that I have done some of the work!!!

I spent most of yesterday grouting the tiles in the kitchen-we had the morning at the boot sale at Leominster, but got stuck in as soon as we got home. Sat down at 9pm last night, totaly knacked!!

It has been a long job, but so worth it. The kitchen is really looking good now--just couldnt resist calling at Morrisons and picking up a new chrome bread bin and some new trivets to match!

Who Wanted Mosaic Tiles!!

I didnt realise when I chose the tiles for the kitchen walls, just how much work was involved in grouting them! 2 days Ive been at it, but what a difference its made, the whole lot looks much lighter than before, I will take some more pics tomorrow so you can see the difference.

I decided to tile behind the dishwasher and the cooker, or rather I wanted Bill to tile behind the dishwasher and cooker, so this has made more work for him-hes very patient with me bless him!

Nearly Finished!

Bill has worked very hard today doing the tiling--its hard to imagine that he has tiled the walls without using a tile cutter once! The tiles come on a hesian backing and you simply cut through to the required shape.

We will have to go to Hereford tomorrow because I have decided I want some more tiles putting up behind the bin under the worktop and we are a few short for around the windows.

Tomorrow I will grout the tiles while Bill has a well earned rest!

I am chuffed to bits with the result so far-might just call in Dunhelms in Hereford and check out the blinds for the new windows, the chap came and measured up tonight , so we will know the damage tomorrow! The house will be unreconiseable by the time we are finished!!

Getting On!!

As you can see-the tiles are taking shape very quickly-Bill satrted them at 11am and has finished that wall already-there have been a few swear words uttered here and there, and he says he will be seeing squares in his sleep-but I just love it.

I will have the job of grouting them tomorrow I expect-there will propley be a few more choice words then!!!

Stripping

I spent most of yesterday stripping----grime off the top of the kitchen cuboards and off the wall tiles ready for retiling.

Sugar soap is the most amazing stuff ever invented-just one wipe with the sponge soaked in the soloution and the results were amazing!!!

Bill was very impresses with the results.!

He has finished putting up the tiles in the extra bits that I wanted them-after taking down the old cooker hood I decided that I wanted a bigger area tiling than was done before.Bill has decided to tile over exising tiles rather than remove them and risk having to replaster the walls- so today is the big day when the new tiles are going to start going up over the top .

We decided last night that we would like a new double glazed window in the kitchen to replace the secondry glazed one, of course that means that we might as well replace the bathroom window while we are at it , so we have the man coming round at 6pm to measure up!

To think that all this started cos I went to focus to get some odourless thinners!!!

If we hadnt had some luck on the lottery's we wouldnt be able to do it, but the way Im spending it I will need another win tonight! Im off to rub my lucky 3 legged toad!

Decorating

I cant belive the difference already that a coat of paint has made to our kitchen. We have painted it white, I am painting the whole ground floor white,walls, ceiling everything, its the easiest option!

The new tiles will be going on the walls soon, We are going to tile over the existing ones to make life easier!

To follow On ----------

We went to Hereford this morning to find some suitable wall tiles--on the way there Bill said ''we might as well do the dining room floor as well(its joins onto the kitchen)
We found exactly what we were looking for on the wall tile front-some lovely glass mosaic tiles in black,grey and white, just the job!!!!!
On the way back to leominster Bill said'' while we are at it we might as well do the bathroom floor as well--its on the ground floor so we can have it all the same'' I had to agree, it would make sense to do the whole ground floor except for the living room--so we had to make 2 journeys to collect the tiles for the job!
It will be the perfect excuse to de-clutter the house-it has been so busy of late I havent had time to do it--I will have to be extra good now and see its done!
I cant wait to see the finished result-my best friends hubby will be helping Bill to do the work.
We are on the Craft fair tomorrow so hope the weather will be kind to us!!!!!!