Bromyard Gala

We are back from a fantastic weekend at Bromyard Gala..first time out for our new caravan...few teething problems--like the fridge wouldn't work but otherwise its just great--far more comfortable than the old one--the bed is a bit softer and much bigger! We went over on Friday afternoon and got everything set up in the marquee ready to hang the paintings early on Saturday..after we did that we had to race over to our lovely friend Lin who had rushed through 80 new greetings cards for me as sales had gone mad and I had almost run out of them during the markets the previous week! We stopped and had a lovely meal at The Three Elms on the way back to the site...mixed grill for me---I was very good and left all the chips! We were sooo tired when we got back to the van we just fell into bed and listened to the bands singing in the nearby field!

We had a great space in the marquee..plenty of room to put up the tables and display stands..and I didn't get in the way of next doors stall when I was demonstrating and had crowds of people watching!

I have to get cracking again today and do some more tiny paintings--Ive almost sold out of them...

had a good display of cards thanks to Lin..

Three large paintings went off to new homes...Summer Day went off to Redditch...

I have to get another one painted like this as its a workshop subject in September and only have one version left now as an example...this one has gone to a lovely home along with The Birches

This soft green Serenity painting is off to Norway to live with a lovely family.

Bill popped into Bromyard to pick up some ice cubes on Saturday so we could enjoy a jug (or 2) of Pimms---it just has to be done when the sun is shining and you have had a good day! After a steak sandwich we went off to listen to the band playing-a lovely evening was had by all--even if I cant remember the last bit LOL...I had the best nights sleep for weeks Saturday night!

We had the lovely Gemma next to us again this year with her mum...beautiful silver/gems jewelry they were selling! Anyway I asked her if she fancied having a go-and got the usual reply I get off folk "I cant paint!" after persuading her that she could-I went through a step by step Stormy Poppies painting with her...she couldn't believe it--and was so excited to watch it grow so quickly-- 30 mins and it was done-- and yes the hardest part was signing her name on the bottom!

one happy Gemma! We are looking forward to seeing her and her sister in a workshop soon!

There were some stunning sunsets while we were there...

This lovely chap was just across the aisle in the marquee--Nick Grant is a brilliant water colourist and had a beautiful display of his work there along with the frames he makes...what a character he is--he had us in fits of laughter all weekend with his tales..

One of Nicks paintings....didn't get to take any of his beautiful sunset landscapes...

We arrived back completely knackered at 7.30pm,unloaded the van and caravan put the wine to cool and settle down on the patio to listen to the last night of Ludlow Festival--wow that bought back some memories--Bay City Rollers,Showaddywaddy and David Essex were performing...it was a lovely  still evening and we could hear them all as clear as a bell...

Bill fired up the chimanea so we were all nice and toasty..

We love watching the flames..and could see weird and wonderful faces in there like this one...

And then there was the fireworks finale...what a wonderful weekend we had...lets hope the weather holds for the next venue in 2 weeks time Festival At The Edge ...a 3 day  one then...looking forward to meeting up  with friends there and having fun!

Woodcock Hill Primary School Workshop, WewentBirmingham

We went along to Woodcock Primary School last Thursday to do a workshop with 10 of their pupils aged between 6 years old and 10 years old..They were all very excited and although only young had their own very strong ideas on what they wanted to paint---The theme was the Yesterday picture which has sunsets,trees,bunnies and cats in trees in it...just noticed the bottom right painting is not turned round the right way! Was bit of a rush getting the photos done as it was nearly lunch-time when we finished!

It was lovely to see how the kids tackled it-and what they wanted to have in their paintings...quite fascinating to see how their minds work---why not have a rabbit in a tree? He said there was a forest fire in his picture,,maybe the rabbit jumped in the tree to escape it!

love these paintings...wonderful bunnies!

Katie and Brandi-lee were the 2 youngest in the class I believe--just 6 years old....love the pink background-and the cats and rabbits in the trees are just so cute!

all of the teachers were very impressed with the children's results as they came through the room we used for the workshop...

After the workshop we went over to Ikea and stocked up on a few things from there--then we called at The Range in Kidderminster--and saw these beautiful rainbow drawers....ideal for all my button bouquet materials----just one thing--the colours were all wrong for my OCD

I had to change the order to this---feel happier about them now LOL...

Next job was to put the corresponding colour buttons into the drawers-made life much easier now!

New Venue

I'm pleased to announce that we will be doing a workshop at The Wirral Girls Grammar School on Sat Nov 8th  .                                                                                                                                         We had 4 teachers from the Wirral come down a few weeks ago to paint and they loved it so much they asked if we would go up there and do a workshop ...we are always happy to travel--

 Of course there will be a small extra charge (£5) to cover our travel expenses and we will be able to take up to 20 students in the workshop...  
                                                                                                                                                            It looks like there are possibly 12 booked up so far so if you live in the area and fancy having a go at painting The Birches in a range of colours and canvas sizes please don't leave it too long or it will be booked up!                                                                                                                                   http://www.paintingmyway.co.uk/a1-gallery3.asp?roomID=6163& pictureID=20172                                                                                                                                Its great fun to do and always fantastic results..plans are also in the pipeline for a workshop in Portsmouth too though not sure if it will be this year or next yet....watch this space..

Shobdon Food And Flying Festival

We were at Shobdon Food and Flying Festival at the weekend, our 9th year..where has the time gone? Plenty of space for the stands and for me to demonstrate!

It was lovely to meet up with past and present students--and everyone enjoys looking at the photos in the albums to see if they can spot each other in there!

I need to get some more small paintings done-almost sold out at Ludlow market the week before and didn't get chance to do any more before the show...

Pretty much all the paintings on display are workshop subjects..

There is always some amazing things on sale in the craft marquee--but this has to be the best yet--we met Alan Colebatch at a show a few years ago--what a talented blacksmith he is-- this huge horse is amazing...

beautiful..

Alan's lily was also a show stopper-and he sold it at the show....it would have looked lovely on my patio!

some more beautiful work by the woodcarver...

I did manage to catch the parachutes coming down but otherwise didn't see much of the rest of the show...

Birches Workshop

We had a few students unable to attend due to various reasons--however they will be coming along in the future! Although there is a wide variety of choices for the workshop, colour and canvas size-almost everyone decided to use the 20in x 16in canvas- Jenny and Anna used the 24in x 12in and the 12in x 24in..And the monochrome version proved to be the most popular colour...Everyone wanted to add a bit of bling in the form of metallic silver birch trees....Steven has been to the Yesterday workshop previously--and we will look forward to seeing him and his wife in the future ..

Jenny chose the same colours as me-beautiful bright autumn colours--love the path disappearing off in the distance..

Anna has quite a distance to travel from Bristol..but Bill was able to tell her an easier way  home than the satnav had bought her..being an ex lorry driver is very useful sometimes! She made a lovely job of her painting--managing to get her splatters on the trees very fine--though we couldn't work out exactly how-although I watched her every move! She admits she is addicted to the workshops--and we will look forward to seeing her again next month!

We had 4 ladies come down from the Telford area after one of their mums came along to the demo I did recently at the  Withington WI..all had tried watercolours before and a bit of acrylic but this was a first for them.. Helen is adding her dark trees here...

The silver paint stands out lovely against the bright autumn colours in Jenny's painting..

the last of the silver birches going in...

everyone was amazed at the difference each stage made to the previous one...

layering dark and light trees added distance and depth to the pictures..

I love the way everyone gets more confidence with each step...its often quite hard to paint over stuff you have previously painted--but it is necessary to add the depth and distance to the paintings...

adding the lines to the birches...

When we do acrylics we always have mats down to protect the floor in the room --its new and very light----to be sure we put down a huge tarpaulin sheet to do the splattering!!!

always interesting to see how everyone tackles this bit...

for a lot of this workshop you could hear a pin drop...everyone concentrating so much..

what great results from everyone..

After a 5 hour workshop it was lovely to come home and have a quick dinner to prepare--diet coke chicken is a firm favourite here-so quick,easy and tasty-and as the weather was so beautiful we sat outside by the pond to eat it...

One of our original fish--Moby is a real greedy bugger-and is always first out of the water  searching out food on the lily pads..

waiting for their dinner!

Pud was just as easy and delicious-fresh local strawberries, with low fat strawberry greek yogurt and a few tiny meringue's