Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Wednesbury Art Society-last nights demo

 It was lovely to do a demo in such lovely surroundings--its a shame we didn't have time to have a proper look round at the paintings.
It took an hour and half to get there with all the traffic-
they were a great crowd and it was good to see some young members there as well.
I had decided to paint a waterfall painting first-and although I was stopping to explain what I was doing I had it finished in less than 20 mins. After showing it all round to the members I got started on my 2nd painting Reeds in the Breeze--I managed to pick up some black oil paint when doing the water--but it just aided my demo by showing how forgiving the oils are when I just got some kitchen towel and wiped it off the canvas! I had the painting finished and shown round by 7.50pm--
everyone was astounded by the speed--and they told me I now held the record for being the quickest artist they had ever had there! After having a coffee with everyone I did the second part of my demo--the story of how it all  started and what happens in the workshops--
the time flew by- and I managed to get a couple of snaps of some of the wonderful works of art on display there--
Tom won the raffle for the Waterfall and Ron won the Reeds in the Breeze,It was a very enjoyable night--by the time we got home my voice had nearly gone again-and my cough had returned.
Today I was quite rough again--the bug I picked up a couple of weeks ago seems to come and go quite randomly--I havent even got dressed today--so have cancelled tomorrows market- I will stay in the warm and make sure Im ok for Saturdays class!








Sunday, November 14, 2010

Wednesbury Art Society

Ive got a lot of preparation to do in the morning--Im off to Wednesbury Art Society tomorrow evening to do a demo for them.
Its a fair way off from us so I'm going to prepare as much as I can at home first of all.
The canvas can be coated with the medium and the paint put on the palette-brushes sorted out -all of which will save quite a bit of time and leave me to chat to members while getting the display stands put up and hanging pictures on them!
I will as usual be painting 2 complete paintings in front of the members--starting with the black canvas 16in x 20in  on which I will probably do a winter scene and then I will do a white canvas --again 16in x 20in -my Summer day painting always seems to go down well when its demonstrated so that's what I will paint most likely!
They have Charles Evens  and also Terry Harrison giving demos for them next year so I'm among good company!
Anyway--Im really looking forward to it--will post the photos here on Tuesday-will be late when I get back tomorrow night!

Dotty Mae's Christening

Little Bella (Dotty's big sister) looks like she is wondering whats going on!
Dotty Mae
Beautiful cake
the balloons were wonderful
my lovely Becki was godmother again--

Becki and Dotty Mae--we had as lovely time at the christening of Dotty Mae--the pig roast at the Bowling Club afterwards was just great--pork,stuffing, apple sauce followed by chocolate lumpy bumpy and trifle--diet starts again tomorrow!



Saturday, November 13, 2010

November 13th "Stormy Poppies"

 We had less than expected today what with illness and job committments we were 5 down-but these things cant be helped--but 5 of the 8 were complete first time artists and we all had a great day. Doreen had traveled from Carphilly yesterday and stayed at The Mount which is not far from our venue.She was painting for the second time with us.
Jan has been umpteen times now and Carole was painting for the 3rd time .
Everone was amazed at how little paint was needed to create the picture-and they were all laughing at the bashing brush and tickling brushes-but soon realised how easy they made the job -in no time at all we has some stunning skies and seas going on.
The knife work on the sea went well and we were soon ready to add the beautiful red poppies.
We had some visitors in the last part of class--Sam and Gem who have been to 5 classes called by to pick up some brushes in order to  to carry on at home--Gem came in with a suprise--a neat little baby bump--due in Feb!
It was lovely to see them again-and of course once Bill got the brushes out of the van everyone wanted some--sold 4 complete sets and have to order some more now!
We were nearly finished by the time we stopped for lunch at 12pm-so it was quite relaxed when we started back .
Doreen bought me some books--I had mentioned on Facebook that I was reading Nigel Slaters biography Toast-and she fancied reading it-so we did a swap! So Ive now got Peter Kay 'The sound of laughter' to get stuck into when I get chance!
At the end of the class everyone had the choice of leaving the sides of the chunky canvas left white or black--Bill painted the black on with acrylic-which finished them off nicely.
They got busy with the hairdryers to get it dry then!

They sign the paintings flat on the table as it makes life easier.. Doreen has left hers with us to post on to her when its dry--she kindly bought back the box we sent the last one in-so we will use that next time in  Dec as its a different size to todays canvas--
I really enjoyed today-a great bunch of girls--lots of banter going on -Bill gets a bit of stick when its an all girl class--but he does give as good as he gets-which makes for a great laugh!
Im looking forward to seeing everyone again--





Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Lovely Day

We had a lovely day today--Lin our dear friend came over from Hereford to take some photos of the new pictures and some of the older ones to make images for my greetings cards. It was great to see her-its been a while!
I always leave it up to Lin as to whether she uses all of a picture or crops it --she has an excellent eye for what will work.the time flew by and she has 125 images on her camera to take home and play with! I cant wait to see the new cards! Lin has got some cracking ideas for some of them!
I will put them onto the website as soon as I have them- you can see some of the ones available already on the website www.paintingmyway.co.uk 

I have been having fun with my new camera--its got a fab 12x zoom on it and it means I can get some great close ups of the birds feeding in our garden.We have regular visits from the 7 coloured linnets or gold finches as they are sometimes known.We have loads of tom tits,great tits,sparrows and nut hatches as well-but its the linnets that fascinate me. While all the other birds eat really quickly, always on the lookout and ready to fly-the linnets eat very steady-taking their time and almost savouring every beak full!
Apart from the birds I have been busy taking lots of shots of other things--got lots to learn--and Im looking forward to playing about with different subjects--I will take it down the market with me tomorrow and see what I can photograph there!

Sunday, November 07, 2010

Mmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!

Its been lovely to have a day off today--we have been for a mooch round Leominster Boot sale this morning, called at Morrisons for a great traditional breakfast,and finished the shopping for ingredients for Christmas cakes while there,.
Then when we got home had a relaxing few hours before Bill got stuck into the Christmas cakes!
All the fruit was put to marinade in a mixture of brandy,port and rum--lovely juicy dates and apricots were chopped and added to the currants, sultanas, raisins and glace cherries-along with lots of spices --the mixture was then simmered gently for 15mins and allowed to cool-before putting in a sandwich box in the fridge for a week--shaking gently when ever we open the fridge. Next week Bill will add the marinaded fruit to the other ingredients and bake--I will marzipan and ice the cakes nearer Christmas!
Note the glass of Rose wine is the chefs treat and not added to the fruit mixture!
The aromas filling the house was just gorgeous--smells just like Christmas already!
I must start packing up the presents soon--I'm very late this year-usually got them all done by now!
Did find a few things in the back bedroom this afternoon that I had forgotten I had bought--but got all the grandchildren's done now except for one or two bits.
How did we manage before computers and buying on-line? I think 90% of my Christmas shopping is done on-line these days--some real bargains to be had out there if you know where to look!

Saturday, November 06, 2010

Sunflowers Workshop Nov 6th

 We had a lovely time in class today--a lovely bright and cheerful subject--Sunflowers
.Lyndsey and Maureen have been before-but Amanda , Christina, Tony, Martin and  Maysoon were all newbies.
It was so interesting to see how everyone tackled the subject-when everyone stood back and took a look at what they had done-they were all quite surprised at the differences in their paintings.
We had lots of laughs during class about lots of things--mainly nothing to do with art-but chickens!
The time flew by quickly--and Tony got finished in time to go and watch the rugby on TV-so he had his photo taken before the group photo! We will see him for the Birch Trees in Dec.
Christina runs a beautiful B+B in nearby Clunton called Bush farm  take a look at her website www.bushfarmbandb.co.uk
she has free range chickens and geese and you can also take your horse on holiday with you to her farm--all the details are on the website.
Christina's painting is going to Bristol tomorrow to her daughter as a birthday present--Bill made a box for her to take it in safely--her family don't know she has been to the workshop today-so will be stunned when they see her painting---she is booked into another 3 workshops-both acrylic and oils.
Amanda has painted in watercolours before--and she loved the way you could keep changing things--something you cant do with watercolour.
All in all a great day--great fun and great results.







Friday, November 05, 2010

Carl Thompson Air Brush Artist

Although I was completely knackered after another day on the market I couldn't miss the chance to see Carl Thompson in action doing his airbrush art at the Ludlow Art Society monthly meeting.
I had met Carl earlier this year at the Craven Arms Art Walk-his work is absolutely stunning.The Detail is amazing and I was intrigued to see just how he achieved it!
Carl started his demo by explaining how the airbrush works and how he mixes the inks and acrylic he uses--he then did a demo of his portraiture by doing part of an Elvis picture in sepia tones  -it was amazing to see it taking shape so quickly.
He then went on to take a simple leaf he had photographed and went through how he got the exact colour he needed-and how he built up the colour through lots of glazes rather than a solid block of colour.It was very interesting to see the drop of water being created -it loos so realistic-even if poor Carl ran out of time before he could finish it properly! It certainly gave us all something to think about ---Carl gave me the leaf picture he was working on to bring home-and Ive come to the conclusion it would take a much longer time to do using oils or acrylics than airbrushing, though I know Carl spends days and days on his paintings.Take a look at his website and see his work for yourselves--its amazing stuff.
.www.airartbycarl.co.uk