The Waterfall Workshop

Apologies for the delay getting my blog done...we had some beautiful results in The Waterfall workshop on August 30th..

Gorgeous colours...

and wonderful atmospheric scenes..

everyone was amazed at how quickly the paintings came together..and just how different they all turned out even though they all used the same colours!

nearly finished...

love the touch of purple...

well done ladies--lovely results and will look forward to seeing you again !

The Waterfall Workshop

Phil has painted before at home and wanted to pick up some hints and tips to use...

John came along with Phil--it was a first for him-and he loved it!

Jac had been once before with Sue--they did the Serenity picture last time--and found this one completely different to do--different techniques altogether!

Sue had great fun covering her palette--it never fails to amaze me how different everyone is when it comes to their palettes--some keep them very neat and some are the opposite and use every inch---

Donna was painting for the first time,,,

as was Ray-we met him at the Doddington Friendship Club last year where I did a demo--he was bought a gift voucher-and admitted he didn't expect to enjoy himself---how wrong could he be? he wrote in my comments book!

Iva and her friend Veronica heard about me from my exhibition in Bishops Castle last year--both really enjoyed themselves...

Veronica used more subtle colours in her painting--more of the greens and yellow ochres--lovely result!

well done everyone!

Ollie-Jay

Had a busy day today-decided to shampoo all the downstairs carpets while the weather was good--the parrots love it outside on the patio in the sunshine, so out they went!

I had a welcome break when little Ollie came round to see us--cant believe hes only 17 days old. Hes a bright little chap and I cant believe that all the smiles we had off him when we hugged and munched him was all wind!

He followed us around with his eyes when we moved bless him.
He is sleeping 10 hours through at night already, so hes a good little boy.

They change so quickly at this age-he has gained weight and his hair has grown--he will enjoy Christmas with all the noises and colourful things around.

Forest Pool class May 1st--oil

I still have a few places left in this class. We use oils on a black canvas.
Its suitable for all ages and abilities-including first timers.
You will learn to use a variety of brushes and techniques during the 4 hour workshop
please check out the website for more details

www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Todays Demo

We spent a lovely afternoon at Four Rivers today.
As usual I painted two pictures, today I did The Waterfall and Serenity In Green.
Some of the nurses were able to sit in and watch as did some of the relatives of the residents.
Everyone enjoyed it, and the manager won the raffle and chose Serenity.
One of the nurses had called by our stall on Sunday and her hubby had booked up for Mellow Moods class, so she couldn't wait to go home and tell him that she had seen a preview of the sort of thing that will happen in class!
I realised that the deputy manager had been along to one of my Summer Day classes last year too when we got there!

Diabetes

Just got back from the doctors for the results of my blood tests. As expected he told me I was diabetic.
My blood tests before Christmas showed I had boarder line Diabetes, but a few weeks ago I noticed I was getting more and more thirsty and my eyesight was getting blurry at times.

I tested myself with Bills spare machine and it showed some quite high readings.So it was no suprise to be told this morning.
As Bills been diabetic for the last 10 years I know what to do to control it-so for now its just diet controlled and hopefully can keep it somewhere near like that.

Other parts of my blood tests have improved a great deal so it wasnt all bad news!

We are off to do a demo this afternoon at Four Rivers so off to load the car up now.

Class of March 13th "The Waterfall"

We had 5 in today to paint The Waterfall painting.

Bev has been quite a few times before, and her son Tim has been once before.
Tims fiance Catherine joined us this time as well.

Alison who joined us for the 3rd time has her birthday today and bought along some lovely cakes for us all to enjoy as a treat!

Little Katlin is just 7 years old and came last week for the first time.
Her mum bought her from Telford and stopped while the class went on.

Everyone was amazed by just how different the paintings were right from the word go!

Alison has only worked in acrylic in previous classes before so using the oils was quite different-she loved it!

Catherine was quite nervous, but soon settled down and got a lovely soft landscape going on.

Tim really seemed to find the oils easy and his background took shape very quickly. He was quite bold with his trees and it worked really well.

The paintings took shape quickly,the actual waterfalls posed no problems today--sometimes people can be quite nervous about painting those in!
We used the silicon wiping out tool to add waterlines and grasses.

The time flew by somehow today-we had lots of laughs and Alison acquired a new nick name!

Katlin is coming again next week,and Bev and Tim are coming on April 19th to do the wide "Yeserday" painting.

We have our two little granddaughters stopping the night -hence the late posting on here--Hollie has just dropped off to sleep bless her!

The Waterfall-this saturday

We are painting The waterfall this Saturday--we will be using a black canvas and working with oils.
Its a great picture to do , we use lots of different brushes to create it.
Its suitable for all ages and abilities-we have Katlin joining us again -she is just 9 years old an painted for the first time last week.

if you would like to join us please get in touch via the website
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Waterfall March 13th

The Waterfall is painted onto a black canvas
-which makes life easier for the more nervous students! The general feeling is that it is harder to 'spoil'a black canvas than a pure white one!
Anyway-this is one of my most popular classes and gets full very quickly-2 places have gone already.
Suitable for all ages and abilities
for more details please check out the website
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Mellow Moods March 27th

This was a very popular class subject last time round--several of the sdtudents chose to do this using autumn shades rather than the green and ochres--to great effect! I will paint an autumn coloured one to show the difference shortly and post onto he website.
We will use acrylic and oil paint and a varaety of brushes and techniques-its suitable for all ages and abilities from children upwards.
for more details please check out the website www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Gift Vouchers

I have got a range of gift vouchers available at the moment--£35 ones for classes and £40 for one to ones.

I also have gift vouchers that can be used to purchase a painting or to be used towards a painting-they can be for any amount you require.

They come complete with a gift card and envelope at no extra charge- choice of colours for card
silver, gold, blue, purple,green, or cream

If you would like to purchase one please get in touch via the website
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

class up-dates--The Waterfall-- Nov 22nd

There are 6 places left for this popular class subject.

Mysterious and magical-the waterfall painting is always a class winner.

Even if you have never painted before you can achieve beautiful results in this class.

We work on a black background which helps to take the fear out of it!

A black canvas is a lot less scary than a pure white one!

Places for this class usually get booked up really quickly, so if you want to join this class please get in touch via the website www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Latest CLass Updates-Birch Trees-Nov 1st

This popular class is being attended by 6 students-Bev has had to drop out due to visitors-to say shes upset is an understatement-but we will be doing it again soon so she will be top of the list for that class!

I can fit one more student in for this class--but any more than 7 students in class just doesn't work.

By keep in the numbers small it ensures that everyone gets full attention from me.

It also means that everyone can make friends easily with each other and inter mingle with each other.

Something that has become a big part of my classes--there have been many firm friendships formed in classes.

''Birch Trees'' is suitable for all abilities and we always get stunning results from this class.

You will have the choice of painting this in monochrome or brown and cream/sepia

If you would like to join in please contact me via my website http://www.paintingmyway.co.uk/

Todays Class

We had a real laugh as usual today in class, everyone except Wendy (2nd on left in pic) had been before.

Wendy is 'mad Michelles' friend!!!. When I said to her ''no-one will belive you have painted that painting first time in less than 4 hours''she replied ''I cant belive Ive painted it myself!!''

She seemed to find it really easy and got on with it all with no visable nerves!!

Michelle was presented with her 'advanced students brooch' today.

All students that attend my classes 6 times receive an appropriate brooch-the gents get a palette one complete with little brushes and little tubes of paint hanging from it and the ladies get a charming little lady painting away on her easel.

Chris and Pauline have been 3 times now and really love the relaxed atmosphere, they went away with joining forms to join the SAA and also a full kit of artists materials-including a table easel, paints, brushes and palette knives.

The few things that I haven't in stock at the moment they can order from the SAA and will be delivered on Monday.

I also gave them a copy of the Painting My Way techniques that I have printed off for all my students to give them a helping hand when starting to paint at home.

Michelle was also going home to do some more paintings too, will be interesting to see how she does.

We will see Michelle again next week, maybe she will bring along some of her work that she has done at home.

This Saturdays Class

This is the subject for this Saturdays class-very mystical subject.

This painting is suitable for all students even first timers.

I have 2 places left for the class-if you are interested in joining us please get in touch via the website http://www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Soooo Busy

I haven't had chance to update here properly all week.Ive been working on one of the 2 commissions all week, I'm very happy with how its going and so is Paul who commissioned it.I have kept him updated with each stage. Swallow Falls is very near completion now.I just need the rocks to dry off a little more so I can put the little ripples of water dripping off them.And I will soften the spray too.

Swallow Falls has long been an inspiration for me, I painted my en suite bathroom doors after visiting the falls a few years ago.

Makes a change from just pine doors.

Lydham WI

We had a late night tonight-we were over at Lydham WI to do a demo.By the time we got the car packed with everything it was 6.30pm and we were running slightly late.I like to get to the venue and get set up before the members have their meeting, as its distracting for them to have me and Bill carrying things backwards and forwards.We arrived at just turned 7 pm and were set up for 7.30pm.
While the members did their bits and pieces I judged the competion which was "A Piece of Art " there were some beautiful pictures to choose from and it was difficult to chose 1st,2nd and 3rd.

Then at 8pm it was my turn--I will post the pictures tomorrow of what I painted.

We met some lovely people there ,and as usual the food afterwards was just superb.So after chatting with everyone and by the time the car was packed up again it was late getting back.
Checked emails and Ive got a possible commissiion to do, so good night!

Space in Class "Eternal Dawn"

There is one place left for the class of April 5th.
I have had an unexpected cancellation for "Eternal Dawn"
If you would like to join this class please get in touch via the website www.paintingmyway.co.uk
This painting is suitable for all students from 1st timers to more experienced artists.

Tenbry Ladies Guild

We had a lovely evening on Monday. I went to Tenbry to give a demonstration to Tenbry Ladies Guild.
As usual there were a lot of surprised faces when I explained that I was going to paint 2 full sized oil paintings from start to finish in under an hour!
There were lots of questions from the audience about how it was done.
Carol is pictured with the painting "Summer Day" that she chose after winning the raffle. I have as usual donated the other painting "The Falls" to the group to use for raising money for their chosen charity.

Sunset

As I was helping Bill dish out the roast lamb dinner at around 5pm this evening, I glanced through the kitchen window and saw this beautiful sunset. I couldnt resist grabbing the camera and taking some shots-its amazing how quickly it changes colour, some more inspiration for some paintings when I get time to paint them!
We are popping over to Stafford tomorrow to pick up my friend who is pet/house sitting while we are away this week.
We are off to Oxfordshire to attend a new acrylic paint seminar.
As it is our wedding anniversary shortly we have decided to combine the two things and we are booked into a lovely 16th century Inn for 2 nights. Must say Im really looking forward to spending some quality time with my long suffering hubby Bill!!!
The place we are staying has had some fantastic reviews on both the accomadation and the food-so a real treat in store for us!
Sparky and Paddy are both looking forward to being spoiled rotten while we are away--I swear they both put on weight whenever we go away and leave them!!!