Bunty

Well we used Bunty for the first time on Wednesday to do the regular market.
The difference it has made to us is incredible.
Everything is to hand and I no longer have to pack the boxes and paintings in a certain order to get them squeezed into the car!

It was also quite funny to see all the fellow market traders swarming round the van admiring her and the fittings inside her!

There is a place for everything in there-special sections for diffrent sized paintings, sections for boxes-even a space for the cooker , kettle and fan!
We seemed to get set up quicker than normal and Bill can be seen relaxing with the paper after we finished!

Recovery

Well after an up and down sort of week I'm at last feeling something like normal again.
I'm on a new stronger antibiotic which seemed to be doing the trick until Wednesday when after being on the market (which in hindsight I wasn't ready to do!) the wound swelled up again and looked quite nasty.
However after using some great iodine cream the wound has made a great recovery and today I was able to drive the car for the first time and we also went for quite a walk round the town.

I have now only got 9 coming to class as Jackie has to take her mum to hospital for an uclerated eye.

I'm really looking forward to class -they are all newbies except Karen and Gill-but Poppy Fields is a nice easy one to start with-
the results will be on here and the website tomorrow.

Winter Wonderland

I had a phone call this morning from Alan who lives in Scotland.
Alan had commissioned a Winter Wonderland painting from me a few weeks ago. I posted it to him yesterday after Bill had framed it into a simple black frame that set it off beautifully.
Alan rang to say it had arrived and it was in pride of place on his living room wall.
He has also posted the photos of it in situ onto facebook!

Gardening!

Ive been unable to get up and down the steps in the garden to see whats happening in the greenhouse but Bill took these pics of his cucumbers and tomatoes for me to see--he has never had such a good crop of cucumbers-there will be more than we can use by the look of it! Wont be long until the tomatoes are ready either!

The Mount B+B, 61 Gravel Hill, Ludlow

Places to stay in Ludlow! www.themountludlow.co.uk

Although I'm not 100% fit by a long way yet ,when we were asked by Mandy and Ray if we wanted to check out the guest house for ourselves we jumped at the chance!

The reviews on Trip Advisor are excellent--and after out guided tour we can understand why!

We were greeted by Mandy who showed us into the beautiful breakfast room-which has wonderful views all over Whitcliffe and lower end of Ludlow.
One thing that impressed us was the fact that all the tables have salt and pepper grinders on them instead of the usual shakers-a small but important touch!
The house has a very relaxed feel to it, right from when you enter the front door--we were shown round all of the bedrooms-all of which are bright and airy and spotlessly clean.
There is loads of room even in the smallest single bedroom-which makes a refreshing change-we have stayed in some really tiny rooms different times!
All of the room have a large ensuite as well.
I can understand why they are booked up so far in advance after seeing the place for ourselves!
Ray is happy to pick you up from the station if you arrive by train, and he has offered to bring Doreen, one of my students who is staying with them in Sept to the painting class as well, so that will be a help for her!
I have left Mandy and Ray with some leaflets and one of my Summer Day paintings as well-so people will be able to see exactly what sort of pictures they can create during my workshops!

It was lovely to meet them both and see their beautiful guest house--if you are thinking of coming to Ludlow to paint with me I recommend you try and get booked into The Mount-you wont be disappointed I'm sure!

Recovery

Well Im getting over my op a bit now--Im still qute sore-but thats to be expected I suppose.
The stitches are dissolvable so at least I havent got to have them out!
Im on antibiotics now so should stay infection free and will be back to normal in no time!
I will be running the classes as normal-and cant wait to be back next weekend doing the Poppy Field class!

Few Places Left in "Poppy Fields" July 10th

I have just 2 places left in next Saturdays class
"Poppy Fields"
Its a lovely painting to do-we will use oils which are lovely to blend!
I have a mix of first timers and more experienced people coming to this class.
Its a nice easy one to do though-and you will get to use several different techniques and brushes.
If you would like to join me in this class please get in touch via the website
www.paintingmyway.co.uk or give me a ring on 01584 872013 or 07800902488

Few Places left in "Yesterday" class July 17th

I have just a few places left in this bright sunset class on July 17th. You will have the choice of reds/oranges, blues/purples, or browns and creams for this workshop.
You will be using acrylic paint on a 36in x 14in canvas, so it will be dry for you to take home.

A lovely painting to do-and the results are always stunning even from first timers.
If you would like to join this workshop please get in touch via the website
www.paintingmyway.co.uk or give me a ring on 01584 872013 or 07800902488

Few Places left in Birch Tree class July 31st

I have just a few places left in this class on July 31st. You will have a choice of canvas size 16in x 20in 20in x 16in or 36in x 14in .
if you use the larger canvas the class is just an extra £10 to cover the cost of the bigger canvas.
You will have the choice of painting in the monochrome shades or the browns and creams.
Both look great when they are finished!

If you would like to join us for this class please get in touch for more details by ringing me on 01584 872013 or 07800902488
or via the website www.paintingmyway.co.uk

New Place To Stay In Ludlow

Ive had an email from a lady Doreen who lives in Wales--she was in Ludlow at the weekend and saw my display in Windlight shop.
She has always wanted to paint and is treating herself to a class in October for her 74th birthday.

As she lives so far away she wants to come down on the Friday previous and wanted me to recommend somewhere for her to stay.
I have found the perfect place for her--The Mount, 61 Gravel Hill, Ludlow, Shropshire , Sy8 1qs
phone 01584 874048
It comes highly recommended on Trip Advisor prices start at just £27.50 for twins, doubles and £30 for singles.
www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186367-d654323-Reviews-The_Mount_Guest_House-Ludlow_Ludlow_Union_Shropshire_England.html
I already have a few campsite recommendations on my website so have added the B+B details as well.
When I spoke to the owner earlier she admitted she had always wanted to learn to paint-so she may well be coming along to a class as well.
We are calling round to see them next week and drop off some of my leaflets-they are going to show us round the rooms-they have a ground floor room as well which is handy if you are not so able bodied.They do a great breakfast and cater for all diets-nothing is too much trouble and it sounds like a lovely place to stay!

Recovery

Well I'm quite surprised how I'm getting over my operation I had yesterday.
I had no sickness after I came round after the anaesthetic-which was good-as the last experience (a good few years ago mind) was pretty horrendous.
Ive now got 5 stitches in where the abscess used to be in a rather delicate area of the body! As long as I can keep infection free recovery should be fairly quick-so I'm off work until a week on Saturday in order to rest as much as possible.
Bill is waiting on me hand and foot bless him.
Many thanks for all the good wishes from everyone-Ive been inundated via phone, texts and facebook xxxxxx

Massive Sale!

I have got round to putting some of the paintings onto the new sale page on the www.paintingmyway.co.uk
website---there are lots of bargains to be had-prices starting at just £45.
Encaustic, acrylics and oils-landscapes and abstracts
www.paintingmyway.co.uk/a1-gallery2.asp?roomID=2201

Hospital

Im off to hospital this morning for my op-hopefully I will be home tonight--many thanks for all the messages from everyone--
see you all soon x

Sale

While sorting out paintings etc to take to the Shobdon Food and Drink Festival, I found I had a few paintings that had been hanging around for a while.
So I have decided to have a sale and will be creating a new Sale gallery on my websites www.paintingmyway.co.uk and www.dianetheartist.com
I will try and load the paintings on there tomorrow-as Im off to hospital for my op on Wednesday-not sure how soon I will be able to get back to normal after so will and get most everything done that I can tomorrow and be able to relax after the op.
Prices will be better than half price and starting at around £50
Have a look and see if there is anything you like and grab yourself a bargain!
Everything from seascapes to abstracts will be on there!

Sam and Anna-Encaustic Stars!

I wasn't able to get photos of all the kids today having a go at the encaustic art--Bill went off with the camera several times to get some pics of things!
However I did get these two--Anna used a pretty combination of purple and green--she had lots of interesting things going on in her painting-including a lizard and a tiny bird!

Then along came Sam-who had been last year as well--he soon created a lovely caterpillar using the special electric tool--he concentrated hard bless him-it was finished off with a lovely silver moon!
Its lovely to meet up with the children year after year--this was our 6th Shobdon Festival--and we have met some of our closest friends there over the years--

Zac-Enacaustic Star!

It was lovely to meet up with Zac again after a whole year! Zac has had a go at the encaustic art for the past 3 years--he is now 8 years old-hard to believe he was just 5 when we first met him.When asked what colours he wanted to use he replied"My usual red and yellow!"
He created a beautiful picture in no time at all--and then his sister Emily had a go using shades of blues and reds.
She created a lovely scene with lots of distance in it-a cave with a path leading off into the distance.

----its become a tradition at Shobdon that Bill brings one of his Christmas cakes for all the traders to enjoy--and this year when it was cut-the smell of alcohol was quite strong ;-) --to say it went down a treat was an understatement--one of the new traders came round after and gave Bill her card and asked if he would email her the recipe-as she had never tasted cake as good as that!
All in all a great day was had by everyone--we met up with old friends and met some new ones!
Looking forward to tomorrow which will proberly be a bit quieter due to the world cup!

Cumbrian Heavy Horse Riding School

We had a lovely suprise the other morning when a beautiful calender dropped through the letter box-it featured some of the lovely horses from the Cumbrian Heavy Horse Riding School.
It had been sent from Wendy who works there.
We met Wendy at Ludlow market a couple of weeks ago--she loved the Summer Day painting--she rang up and booked the Oct class and asked if it would be possible to paint in some hoof prints on the beach-as they do beach rides with the horses!
It wont be hard to do that-and I will incorprate some hoofprints on the next Summer Day painting I do.
The website is http://www.cumbrianheavyhorses.com
Its a bit of a coincidence meeting Wendy-we had come across the website a few months ago and both said how nice it would be to go and ride these beautiful horses on the beach--we may find ourselves heading that way next year-and who knows what will happen then!

Hospital, Shobdon, and Everything Else!

Well after being told on Wednesday that my operation had been cancelled I received a letter marked 'urgent' today from the hospital telling me the op is to go ahead as planned! So I will be out of action for a few days recovering but am expecting to be able to hold the Poppy Field class on July 10th as normal.
If its any different I will contact everyone booked and let them know!

We had a lovely day at Shobdon today--its always lovely there-and because its quiet we can catch up with news from our friends there.
Our friend Elaine--alias 'Jones the Bead' always asks to be put next to us so we can have a laugh and natter over the weekend.
We have supported the event from day one 6 years ago and made friends with Elaine then--she is such a lovely person--she went round the food marquee today and came back with some beautiful fruit cookies!
I tryed to catch her with the camera having a munch!
Elaine makes the most beautiful beaded things-and always has something new to display-she is very talented and has more patience than anyone I know with those tiny little beads!

Last year at Shobdon we were fortunate to meet someone else who was to become a special friend--Lin.
I cant believe that its only a year since we met--it seems like we have known each other for ever!
Lin makes the greetings cards from my paintings-they are sooo popular-she has a great eye-and crops the photos of my pictures to create the cards.She knew I was getting down on my stock of cards so she sent along another 90 with her friend this morning to sell over the weekend!
We cant wait to meet Lin again tomorrow and catch up with everything.
Lin will be taking photos of my new paintings to turn into cards--and I know that the bluebell woods one will be used as one for a start!
I got some lovely snaps of the pool at Shobdon again--I will be using the images as a new class subject and I have logged the photos on www.protectmywork.com
The scene looks quite tropical, the water is covered in duckweed which makes it look completly green!

Shobdon Flower Food and Drink Festival

Well its been a mixed week--I had a call from Hereford Hospital yesterday saying that unfortunately they have had to cancel my planned operation next Wednesday--the surgeon also deals with breast cancer patients and to be fair she did say if she had an emergency cancer case my op would be cancelled. So I'm back waiting for a date.

Bunty the van is now fully kitted out all through with shelves for everything--plenty of room for paintings, easels, paints-and more! The stands fit nicely inside the back doors, along with the tables-making unloading easy.We have our little artist bear Bob sitting in the van window!

I love watching the transformation when we get to the various venues--we walk into the marquee to a bare white space-and quickly transform it to a black backdrop on which to display the paintings.
Its going to be very hot in there over the next three days--we are taking the electric fan with us to keep cool!
I will be painting while there-I have a couple of exhibitions coming up so want to try and get the basics done while there.I can finish them off at home when I have less distractions!
Shobdon is one of our favorite shows that we do-its always friendly and we have a great laugh with the other exhibitors.
There is at least one painting to string and one to restring--we laughed when we realised I had painted one painting without checking which way Bill had strung it---upside down pooies look odd when hanging on the stand!

At least now we shouldnt be forgetting to take anything--Bunty is well loaded up with everything bar the kitchen sink-though we do have a cooker in there for bacon butties if we feel the need!

Happy 70th Birthday Jeannie

We had a lovely time today at our friend Jeannie's 70th birthday party.
Jeannie comes to stay and look after all our pets when we go away.
20 of us went for Sunday lunch at The Down, nr Bridgnorth. It was fabulous-couldnt fault it at all!
Jeannie is one of the nicest people you could wish to meet-a heart of gold bless her.