Bromyard Gala

We had a lovely time at Bromyard Gala last weekend...we took the caravan over on Friday which gave us loads of time to set up the stall, and relax listening to the great live music just the other side of the hedge from us with a wine or three.We made some lovely new friends, and met up with some of our old friends too which was wonderful!

went for a more shabby chic look with lovely vintage tablecloths...

Bill having a well earned rest in the corner LOL

Just about ready for the customers to start coming in..

There was lots going on --Bill enjoyed watching the remote control  'toy' lorrys etc working in the other marquee--very serious  stuff with the one lorry costing over £20,000 !!!!

Beautiful sunset on Saturday night...

one of the beautiful heavy horses on show..  next show will be Festival At The Edge-in Much Wenlock -a story telling festival which runs for 3 days so we will take the caravan again and enjoy a relaxing time listening to good music in good company..can't wait!

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,,,,

The Three Queens Burton On Trent

We got back today from a lovely break away in Burton On Trent. We stayed at The Three Queens Hotel in the centre..We had a lovely room,plenty big enough for us!

lovely bathroom,,

loads of lovely white fluffy towels and a yellow duck--never had one of those provided for us before in a hotel!

There was a three course meal included in the deal, the pate was delicious...good job I had saved my 'syns' before I came away...hoping I have not done too much damage to the diet!

Bills prawn cocktail looked and tasted lovely too..

Chicken Chasseur was very tasty..

well when it came to pud--I had a cheese board..it was the first cheese I had eaten for over a month and I did savour every mouthful! Bill had the apple crumble and custard..

there were a couple of quirky details in our room---why was there a bottle opener in the bathroom? Plenty of room for it in the bedroom,hall area of the room!

There was also another phone in there,,no idea why!

These huge beautiful glass lights are in the reception area of the hotel-there are 3 of them and they are stunning! All in all a lovely trip away--all the staff were lovely-except for one grumpy woman at breakfast--a face like a wet weekend she had! Luckily for us she didnt put us off the beautiful food,,everything was freshly cooked--and a poached egg instead of fried made us think the diets were being kept to as well...;-)

Bits and Pieces

Cant believe how quickly this year has gone by..Yesterday saw the last Wednesday market of the year,,it was cold and wet but I had quite a busy day..lots of my tiny miniature paintings sold..

This is what was left at the start of the day..there were very few at the end!

I love my new holly lights--they look so festive-- they will be placed around my mantelpiece after the last market of the year this Sunday 22nd Dec...

Have been really busy today getting some more of the tiny paintings done for Sundays market...please note these paintings are all logged with www.protectmywork.com

This is a commission with a difference--this is a black cake tin and I was asked if I could paint a pink/red poppy on it..its not dry yet on the photo..but hope it will be dry enough to varnish tomorrow....I really enjoyed myself today. It will be nice to have a break for a couple of weeks now--the workshops for 2014 are booking up really fast with no places left in some and just a few in others left..I will try and get June ,July and Augusts dates done over the Christmas period..

Stormy Poppies Workshop

Apologies for being so late getting the blog done...its been hectic since the workshop and I have been poorly too..We had a new venue for Saturdays workshop--Clee Hill Village Hall--lovely location with good lighting.Above you can see Martin with his little helper Luke-Luke helped his Dad put in some poppies! It was Martins 3rd time with me..

Anne did a more subtle painting than hubby Martin.. this painting works really well--bold or subtle!

This was Chris's first time painting--she came along with her friend Katie who I knew as we went to Grammar School together many moons ago! Katie has been saying for over a year whenever Ive met her at the boot sales that she will come along sometime--and at last she made it! I had warned her that it could be addictive and sure enough she and Chris booked up for another workshop on the day! They really enjoyed it and created some great paintings

Katie putting the finishing touches to her masterpiece!

Dawn and Adrian came for the first time-they had requested that they do a diptych on the taller narrower canvas...they made a cracking job--everything was lined up -sky,sea and grasses--wonderful results from them!

Pauline and her hubby Malcolm have been once before and painted Mystical Moon which is a completely different sort of painting to this--they both seemed to find it quite easy and both made smashing jobs of their pictures..

Malcolm adding the finishing touches to his painting..

Veronica went for the subtle effect, love it! Lovely soft sky and water--she didn't want to add the poppies-which are an optional extra anyway...she really got  the hang of the liner brush and managed to do lovely fine grasses.

Helen's hubby booked her in as a surprise for her birthday..she loved it! She loved the tickling and bashing brushes and was amazed at how easy each stage was..

Dawn and Adrian's finished diptych..

Well done both !

four of the first timers!

wonderful results!

Brilliant results from everyone!

Business and Pleasure...

Ive had a lovely week--my daughter was called for jury service so I had little Tommy for 2 whole days! He was as good as gold-as usual...but it was so nice to be able to pick him up and carry him around-even up and down the stairs when I needed to! The turmeric is still working its magic on me and I have no pain at all , cant wait to see the specialist later this month and tell him how well I am!  Tommy loved feeding the koi carp in the pond--its amazing that they are still feeding-they have usually stopped by now--but then again it hasn't been that cold yet so maybe when the nights get colder they will start hibernating in the bottom of the pond!

He enjoyed his pasta dinner--looks like he is wearing most of it here!

could munch him!

The little miniatures are selling well at the moment--they make lovely little pressies!

had lots of lovely comments about my latest painting ''Lest We Forget''..

We have plenty of room to put out lots of paintings! We are looking forward to the Medieval Fair in Ludlow on the 24th Nov--we always have a lot of fun dressing up for it! We are off this weekend to The Art Show at the NEC--got 2 day tickets so we can go round it at leisure , and have booked into a lovely posh hotel overnight on Saturday nearby..so that will be a lovely end to a lovely week for us!