Poppy Fields Class

We had a smashing time in class today-some very different results from everyone.
Katlin was our youngest student at just 9 years old, while Hannah is 11.

Hannah
was painting her 4 th painting with me, she settled down quickly today and listened and watched me carefully.

Nancy was bought a gift voucher by her son for Christmas after she told him all about the classes-she had been at one of my WI demos last year.
Nacy has done watercolour for some time and found the looseness of the technique very different to watercolours. She wants to come and do the birch trees next!

Gwen and her daughter Julie live in our road and had never touched a brush before today-both were very nervous to say the least!

Lester was told about his surprise present last night before going to the pub--he arrived first in class today and made himself very useful helping to unload the car and getting set up.
He had never painted before and I think he surprised himself with his results.

Keith has been painting on and off for 50 years or so --he told us--dont think he had ever come across anything like the wet on wet technique before and slipped back into what he was used to doing a bit!
Its quite specific 'painting my way' with' bashing' brushes and' tickling' brushes so takes a bit of getting used to!

Katlin was a little star-she really seemed to find each stage easy--children do not have the fears that adults walk into the class with--they just accept that this is a tickling brush and this is a poppy brush etc -she was very bold with her grasses and poppies-and she had lots of confidence.
her parents were very pleased when they came to fetch her. She is booked into another 5 classes and we will see her next week for the Waterfall Class.

Big Suprise in Poppy Fields Class Tomorrow

I am wondering what one of the students will think tomorrow--his wife is putting the postcode of the painting class venue into his satnav and sending him off with a sandwich and my mobile number-he hasn't a clue where he is going or what he is going to do!
She spoke to me a couple of weeks ago and arranged it for a surprise for him!
Cant wait to see his reaction!
Out of the 7 people coming tomorrow only one has been before and that is Hannah-everyone else is a newbie-including another child aged 9.

Sunflowers class April 3rd

I have now decided that this painting will be the subject for the class on April 3rd.

Its painted in oils and is suitable for all ages and abilities from children and first time artists.
We will use a 12in x 24in chunky canvas.

I will be making a separate class of the other sunflower painting done in acrylic later in the year.
For more details please check out the website where you can now book and pay for the classes online if you wish!

www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Whitton WI Demo

We had a late night tonight after travelling over to Whitton WI to do a demo for the ladies there.It is only a small group so they had invited a few visitors as well.
We got there for 7pm and set up the display stands and table with the cards of my paintings for sale etc.

I started my demo with The Waterfall painting on a black canvas and I was soon getting lots of questions about the technique I was using from the ladies!
They were astonished at how quickly the painting was done before their eyes, and when I took the painting round for them to see at close range they couldn't believe the detail I had got in there !
Bill cleared away the dirty brushes and put out my clean ones ready to paint the second painting while I was chatting to the ladies.
I painted Serenity in Green on the white canvas--but forgot to take a picture of it-will ask the secretary to take one and email it to me!
The winner of the raffle Maureen was one of the visitors and she was thrilled to bits to win-she chose The waterfall as her prize and I donated the Serenity painting to the WI.
Lots and lots of my leaflets went and several of the ladies want to come to join us in class-we will look forward to seeing them again!
We stayed for some delicious sandwiches and cake before loading up the car and heading for home at 10.15pm--it was a late one getting home but dont mind that when we have met such a lovely bunch of ladies!

Serenity Class Sat 27th Feb

We were minus Sally today who rang to say she had been up all night with her IBS-hope you feel better soon Sal.

I had Enid , Caroline and Ann who were painting for the first time today -along with Lyndsey who has been twice before but used acrylics not oils.

Caroline and Ann said it would be a miracle if they produced anything that looked remotely like the picture we were doing--they were to eat their words at the end.
Everyone got on quickly putting in the sky,clouds, water and background trees-everyone seemed to find it surprisingly easy.
The time flew by so quickly, by the time we stopped at twelve for some lunch we were putting in the snowy pathway.
The biggest decision on the day seemed to be how a big a tree to put in the painting--Enid and Ann opted to be brave and put in a big tree while Lyndsey and Caroline did a smaller one.They all made a great job of them--and adding the snow to the branches just finished them off nicely!
Ann and Caroline were bought gift vouchers for Christmas by their boss Liz who is waiting to see the results--ann is taking her painting into work tonight and Caroline tomorrow night--Im sure Liz will be amazed at their first results.
Ann has ordered a frame for her painting which we will have for her next week and Lyndsey has gone away loaded up with a 36in x 14in canvas, big bottles of white and black acrylic,large tubes of oil paint, acrylic varnish and refined linseed oil so she can do some more painting at home.
Her sister wants a birch tree painting like the one she did in class for her birthday, so she is going to paint her one!
All in all a great day--except I managed to trap my fingers in the car door when we called for fuel-so they are a bit sore but nothing broked, just bruised-and a few more quid in the swear box now!
It didnt stop me eating my ribeye steak, Jacket spud and salad that Bill cooked anyway!

Sunflowers class April 3rd

Well Ive been busy working on the new Sunflower painting for the April 3rd class.

Ive done two versions of it so far-one in acrylic and one in oil.
Ive still got a tiny bit of fiddling to do before I'm completely happy with it, just some distant hills behind the sunflowers!

I like both of them but think I will be going with the acrylic one for the class(top painting)--one main reason is all the sides
can be painted making it look more 'finished' and it will also be dry to take home.

It will also be easier to paint the flowers over the top of each other and create more interesting composition -with the oils it quite hard to do without mixing it to mud!
I have been experimenting with a new medium to mix with the acrylic paint that makes life easier-makes the paint move around easier on the canvas, I'm very impressed with it!

I have got 10 booked in for this class already--I can take up to 14 for this class.
It will be an interesting one to do--it will really allow everyone to express and develop their own style.
to book a place in this class please go to www.paintingmyway.co.uk where you can now book online.

Serenity Class this Saturday

I have a few places left in this Saturdays class "Serenity"
It is suitable for all ages and abilities including children and first timers.
It is painted in oil onto a box canvas measuring 16in x 20in and you have a choice of colours including green, mauve,blue,dusky rose,brown, and grey.
Please contact me via the website www.paintingmyway.co.uk for more details and you can now book up for classes via the website as well.

More Art Supplies On Way!

I completely sold out of acrylic varnish in last weeks class, the various brushes went well too so I have sent off another order for some more.
I will have it all ready for this weeks class.

Sunflowers class April 3rd

Ive been having another play around with the sunflower painting ready for class on April 3rd--in this version there is a bit of summery blue sky and distant sunflowers in the background.
Im going to have a bit more of a fiddle round with it in the morning just to finish a few minor details off.
I'm going to do an acrylic and oil version tomorrow as well just to see which is the most effective.

Ive got 9 booked in for this class already--including Pauline and Chris (alias Volcano man!) who emailed tonight to ask to be booked in.
My emails are playing up again and wont let me send them a reply-so when you read this both -yes you are booked in!
I am just wondering how Chris is going to fit a volcano into this one !

Gift Vouchers

I always have the house phone calls diverted to my mobile when we are away from home.

While we were doing the class on Saturday I had 2 calls from people wanting gift vouchers for classes-- and they couldn't see how they could buy the gift vouchers direct from the website because there wasn't a 'buy it now 'button to click on there.

That has now been rectified and the button is now in place. The gift vouchers are no extra cost and come with a free card and envelope .

I also had a call from a lady who wanted to buy her hubby a surprise pressie of a painting class.
She is sending him off on March 6th from Birmingham with the postcode of the class venue put into his satnav, some sandwiches and my mobile number to be used only in emergency's!
He is in for a big big suprise when he knows what he will be doing! His wife rather fancies the poppy field painting for her hallway!

Grasses class Feb 20th

'Grasses' was a new class subject today and to be honest I thought it would be a quite easy one to do.
But as it turned out it was not to prove as easy as thought!

I think because the original LOOKS quite simple I thought it would be simple to paint!

We had a mixture of people painting today from Pauline and Chris who had been to me over 20 times- through to first timers Wendy and Ann who had travelled from Coventry and stayed at the local Travel Lodge just up the road and our dear friend Lin ( who took the original photo I painted this scene from)
Liz and Vikki couldn't make it due to work commitments and Bev phoned this morning to say she wasn't well so we were down to 9 students.

When everyone arrived it was lovely to hear everyone making friends and having a good chin wag while having a cuppa--one of the students Lin W who was back fro her 3rd time said it was better than having a spa day-it was sooo relaxing!

We used acrylic paint on 12in x 24in chunky box canvas.

Courtney is just 10 years old and came with her nan Alison to the Mystical Moon class last Dec--
she made a beautiful job of today's painting-once I got her to stop blending the colour to much.

We work wet into wet but if you blend the new colour too much into the old colour it will just disappear!
We had some very good sky and water the first time round--great bases for the second coat.The second coat goes on much easier and stays workable for longer.

We had some beautiful results--Lin P remarked that it was relaxing (though taxing at times !!) but good because you didn't think of anything else all the time you were in class.
Chris ( who always adds his own personal touch to his paintings) added a lovely volcano to his painting-which I didn't get chance to get a close up photo of !
He also bought along his ''paint your own'' mug that he had off us for a Christmas pressie-he made a cracking job of personalising it --again I failed to get a photo of it--please bring it next time Chris!

All in all a great day was had by everyone-fantastic results were achieved all round--and we will be seeing everyone again soon!

2 places left in Grasses class

I have unexpectedly got two spaces for this Saturdays class because Liz and Vikki have both been called in to work at last minute.
Its a lovely painting to do and suitable for all ages and abilities--we are using a chunky canvas 12in x 24in and using acrylic so it will be dry for you to take home.
Price as always is just £35 including all materials and refreshments. Take a look at the link to see more details

www.art-galleries-online.co.uk/a1-gallery3.asp?roomID=1488&pictureID=12166

Justina's Serenity Painting

Ive had a lovely day today with Justina.
She was a couple of years above me at Ludlow Grammar School-I haven't seen her since I left really, so I was pleased to get a text from her asking if she could come and do a one to one with me.She had picked up one of my leaflets some time ago in town,and recently found it again!
She came on the train from Shrewsbury.
She has dabbled with a bit of drawing and watercolour pencils in the past but got no- where with paints when she tryed.

She arrived not knowing which picture she wanted to paint as she hadnt been able to get to a computer to see the website and choose one she liked.
She asked me to choose one for her-I suggested ''Serenity'' as it teaches quite a few different techinques of brush and knife work .

I mixed a dusky lilac colour up on the palette, as that is one of Justina's favorite colours-we laughed after when we realised that her jumper matched the painting exactly!
She laughed as we tickled and bashed our way through the different stages.
She was amazed at the silicon wiping out tool and what it did-adding waterlines, trees and grasses.She loved the effect that the knife gave on the fence posts.

In no time at all she had created her masterpiece-at the end Justina said " I cant believe Ive painted that--are you sure no one has sneaked in and done it while my back was turned!"

She will be back for all the brushes and paint etc she needs to start painting at home after she gets back from her holiday-she has amazed herself with her results and wants to learn more techniques.
Im looking forward to seeing her again soon.