Tommy 15 Days + Market

Our little Tommy is such a good baby--cant believe he is 15 days old already...and still being as good as gold for his mummy and daddy bless him.. they bought him down to the market today so I could take him round to all our friends who trade there... everyone loved him!

I had a great day on the market today--it stayed dry and there was no wind knocking the paintings around! I managed to get a 20in x 16in Frosty Nights painting done while I was there ready fro next weeks workshop..I've got 7 in so far for it with another possible going to book.Its a new subject and should be an interesting one to do!

Sold the Silver Birches painting today at the market....

We set up the stall a bit different when there is a chance of rain, makes it quicker to pack up when it rains, and we get almost as much stuff out on show as well.

Serenity Workshop June 9th

Only 4 in for the Serenity workshop--had to move it to yesterday after having to cancel the last one because of baby Tommy arriving! So it wasn't worth hiring the room at St Peters...the others that were due in the original workshop are coming in Sept.. Maureen is one of my regular students,

Tony has been to quite a few workshops,  he had a break of a year and is now back and and ready to learn more!

Tracey came along with her Mum-also Maureen--both first timers--

Maureen -she followed my instructions easily and her painting soon developed ..

Everyone is always amazed at how different every ones painting turns out-right from the start,,they are individual as the people painting them..

Tracey's trees coming on lovely here..

Looking good Maureen..

Nearly finished Tony!

all hard at it!

Lovely results everyone...see you all again soon!

Over 50's Club

I was doing a demo at the Ludlow Over 50's club on Friday afternoon.It made a change to see so many faces I reconised instead of a room full of strangers! We took Mum along with us as she has never seen me paint in the 10 years I have been putting a brush to canvas! There was a great turn out there..everyone loved the demo--again I was told they had never known the group to be so quiet as when the paintings were being done!.I had both paintings finished within the hour, although I seemed to do a lot of talking as well as painting..lots of 'oooh's'' and 'aaaahhh's'' as each stage of the painting was done, and even more when each painting was passed round and people could see the detail that had been put into them so easily...

Lucky winners of the raffle

Bluebell Woods Workshop

It was lovely to see Brenda again,,, she is growing in confidence each time she comes..

Maureen is quite an old hand at this  now and its lovely to watch her doing 'her own thing' as regards composition...she soon had a  lovely forest of trees going on...

Karen was painting with me for the first time--she loved the way the oils moved around on the canvas....

Joanne was also a first timer--though you would never know it from watching her! No nerves showed at all and she soon got on and created a lovely background ready for the addition of the bluebells!

We got off to a very late start due to 3 students being late--I was quite worried as I hadn't heard from them,,, and it was nearly 10.45am when they arrived--by then I had imagined all sorts of things gone wrong- and made a quick phone call to Derby where they were coming from, they had left to come to the class so knew they would be here soon, so was just about to start without them when they turned up...a couple of the students had to be away on time so it did put a bit of pressure on me to get finished on time..above you can see Jo getting stuck into the background...

Isabel was with me for the third time...

Joy showed her last painting to all her friends and they didn't believe she had painted it..she found this one a bit harder to do---but so did everyone I think--its quite hard to get the bluebells in the right places....

Vikki came along with her Mum Virginia (who received her artist brooch for attending 6 workshops) Vikki has a lovely soft style to her paintings--they are always calm and gentle....and she also adds a tiny bit of glitter to them at home--she  sounds like me-used to be a magpie in a previous life and is attracted to glittery things!

Virginia also painted very softly today too...

the girls really had a feast for their lunch..they bought with them all the stuff for a ham salad, and for pud there was fresh strawberries, cream and meringues...they made a fine Eton Mess with it!

Virginia and Vikki had to leave on time as there was a craft fair to go to and set up...so they are not on the main photo...

well done girls...beautiful results...

Little Tommy--a week on

Isnt he just perfect?  He is as good as gold bless him....taking his feeds well and sleeping like a baby! Cant believe he is 8 days old already..the  time is flying by..

I caught him just lovely here--looks like he is winking at his Nanna and smiling...

Grrrrrrrrr- gonna get ya!!!!!

New Pond

Bills been busy doing some alterations to the fish pond...the sun gets on it quite a lot of the day and was starting to turn the water green so we decided to put a roof on it to protect it from the sun,,,,after a few drawings he came up with something we both liked!

The reed roof works really well--lets enough light through but keeps the brightness off allowing us to see the fish much better!

It didnt take too long to do---next job is to move the filter box and get the underwater lights set up again...then the fairy lights in the roof ready for the late night BBQ's -cant wait to see it all finished now!

We had a visit from the little whirlwind--aka Ollie yesterday when he came with his mummy for dinner...one thing we learnt is we need to be able to put up a net across the patio side of the pond when the little ones visit--Ollie soon lobbed his water bottle into the pond--followed closely by some mint from the garden! He would soon have been in the water as well if we hadnt been on hand to stop him! Not a very child friendly garden!

Ive been waiting for somewhere to put my lovely wooden turtle for ages--now he looks at home on the side of the pool! The new air stones we have fitted to the pond have made a huge difference, the ripples and bubbles in the water are so calming..we have decided that we are not going to have the water dropping into the pond making a noise when the filter box is moved, but will have the water diverted right into the water so it will be much quieter..

There was a beautiful rainbow last night  when we came back from the hospital!

Tommy!

Becky has been transferred back to our local hospital in Ludlow now,,,much better for visiting etc..the midwives are also very good and will feed the baby in the night so Becki can get her rest.     Tommy as he will be known is being as good as gold and sleeping well for his mummy..He has changed in looks again already,,and now he looks a bit like my sister did when she was born...He already fills the first size baby clothes -such a shame they grow so quickly!

Proud Grandad !

I love my cuddles with him!

Isn't he cute!

Thomas Frederick

I have had the most emotional 24 hours of my life ---My Becki was taken into Shrewsbury hospital yesterday to be induced with her first baby as she had developed gestational diabetes and wasn't allowed to go over her due date in case the baby grew too big!  WE had a laugh in the waiting room when I produced some Pringle crisps and said "When you pop you just cant stop! "

both me and Becki's feet were swelling up in the heat--luckily I had bought along a small water sprayer and we soon cooled down using the spray to cool down our feet!

After keeping Becki and her partner Wayne waiting from 8.30am until 7.30pm for a place on the labour ward they eventually moved them in....Becky had already started labour by this time on her own, and found the big bouncy ball gave her some relief from the pains...

This labour business is bloody hard work.....LOL Wayne catching 5 mins in the middle of the night!

All was going well for a while then the midwife noticed Becki's blood pressure was going sky high...so she was tyred on some drugs to try and bring it down,,, as her blood pressure went up the baby's heart rate went down...it got quite scary at times in there.Poor Becki was hooked up to so many drips and machines in there! At 2.45am it was decided to put her on a epidural  as the drug used can bring down the blood pressure.Becky could still feel her legs and the pressure of the pains but it took the edge off it for her...

Poor Wayne was knackered and fell asleep leaning on the sink....I managed 10 mins in the chair at 5.45am but that was it otherwise....I stayed awake for the 24 hours... The students who had been booked into the Serenity workshop all knew there was a possibility that the workshop could be cancelled if the baby didn't arrive on time--and Bill rang then all at 8am this morning to tell them the workshop was off as the babs still hadn't come..all were very kind and understanding about it and are coming to other future workshops instead...

Becky and Wayne hadn't made any fancy 'birth plan' which was a good job the way things turned out--but the only things they wanted was for themselves to look and see what sex the baby was and for Wayne to cut the cord! Becky let the epidural wear off so she could feel the pain and know when to push, and after just 20 mins our beautiful Thomas was born.....

the proud parents...

 few mins after his birth....waiting to be dressed.

''Blimey Nanny --this lights are bright'' he seems to be saying...

doesn't he look lovely?

proud Daddy Wayne....

and a very proud Nanny!!!

and a very happy relieved mummy....boy she was a star ! She made no fuss at all, was very brave at all times, and I'm so proud of her I cant tell you...

Becky is having a   well deserved cup of tea

isn't he beautiful? He looks just like his mummy did when she was born.. hopefully they will be transferred back to Ludlow hospital in the morning, as long as Thomas's blood sugars are OK after he has had 4 clear blood tests.We are on the market tomorrow so I wont be able to see them until early evening....I cant wait! I hope Becki will stay in Ludlow as long as possible so she can rest--at least the midwives there will feed the babies in the night to give the mums some well deserved sleep..