Cant Wait!

My lovely daughter Becki is getting married next Friday--so excited! We had a second hen night in town last night to celebrate! After loads of painkillers I was able to get my boots on and the wine is a brilliant painkiller! Its been very frustrating lately because I've been so poorly-have not been able to do everything I wanted to--but hopefully will catch up with all the odd bits and pieces over next couple of days..

was lovely to spend some time with my sister and nieces etc ..

Fun in The Queens

one of the things that has taken quite a lot of time has been making the button bouquet-- I have loved every minute of it-- vintage buttons,brooches and beads -will show the entire bouquet after the event!!!

Its very special....I have made all the men's buttonholes as well as mine and the grooms mums corsages...very happy with them--Ive done a bit to my fascinator as well..

Becki and Wayne are getting married on their 10th anniversary 6th March...I can honestly say I couldn't wish for a better son in law than Wayne...he is a star..xx

This little star Tommy will be suited and booted to be pageboy --what a little star he is ....

We are all keeping our fingers crossed that my son Jim will be there to see his sister married in Ludlow Castle-- he is a third of his way through his chemo at the moment and is due his 5th treatment the day before the wedding..hopefully he will be there...we have lists everywhere of things to do and get...it has come round so quickly now--but am sure it will be a wonderful day-- will be posting all the photos on here next weekend!

Forest Pool Workshop

Pat was painting her 3 rd painting with me-- a very quite workshop but for the best as I was struggling with my poorly foot..It is a lovely subject to do--you can make them as bright or subdued as you want--the colours all look different off the palette on the black background too..

Chris making a start on the bushes at the bottom of the canvas..

Wendy was painting with me for the first time..she was amazed at how different all the pictures were...and found it quite easy to do..

wonderful results ladies..

some lovely messy palettes after the class!

couldn't get my shoe on to go to class--luckily my slippers still fitted...loads of Anica cream being applied all day --the bruise is now coming out really good...my beautiful daughter Becki is getting married this Friday March 6th so hoping its OK by then--got some lovely strappy sandals to wear,,,,

Summer Day Workshop Feb 21st

First of all apologies to the 15 ladies who came to last weeks workshop-the photos are only just going on tonight--I have not been very well since the workshop--coughing and spluttering..and then managed I to fall down the stairs on Thursday night and hurt my foot quite badly...Thankfully it was a very small group this Saturday due to some students having last minute things come up,,so not much walking involved -although I had to do the workshop in my slippers!  Anyway--the Summer Day workshop went really well--with ladies from all over the country attending-they came from far and wide! Ive managed to misplace my list of names of everyone as well...we had lots of first timers-though you would never know from looking at the results at all...

Some of the ladies wanted to do other flowers instead of poppies and sea thrift was the flower of choice--it worked very, very well , much softer end result..

Beautiful results ladies--well done all of you!

Denise on the left travelled from Bath and Pamela lives very near the venue--  both first timers--Pamela was very nervous bless her--but she enjoyed it so much she booked another workshop for her and her daughter the next day!

I hope Ive got this right !--Ro on the left was painting with me for the first time...Sarah and Kari have been several times!

Beautiful pics from The Gigglers--

Fantastic pics first time..well done girls!

Dru has been once before and Julie came along with her for the first time--love the sea thrift..

Cats In The Trees Workshops Jan 14th

First time for Molly-above-- who was treated to her workshop by her daughter Jenny as a Christmas pressie..she really didn't think she would be able to make much of a job of her painting,,and was very happy with her results at the end..

Jenny also chose the beautiful ,bright , vibrant sunset colours to do her painting...its amazing just how different the pictures can turn out when students all use the same colours. And there is quite a choice of subjects to add on at the end too...

Peter was treated to the workshop also as a Christmas pressie by his friend Angela..they both chose the blues/purples which gives the end result a completely different feel..

Angela has been once before a few years ago..loved her blending of the blues and purples in her background..

Linda came for the first time just a few weeks ago to paint 50 Shades of Green, so a first time with acrylics..

Molly was just great at painting branches--she had the knack very quickly,,,,and she didn't want any cats in her trees--just an owl or two..

Linda added some owls in her trees, a few bunnies under them and bravely put some birds in the sky...

Lovely bold trees from Angela

Peter adding his bunnies! Everyone went away with some varnish in order to protect their painting..they will be amazed at the difference it makes to the painting-brings all the colours out beautifully!

Lovely results everyone..

As it was Valentines Day it was lovely to come home and be able to put our feet up early as there were few brushes to clean with soap and water..

A bottle of fizz rounded off a lovely day....

Feb 7th Workshop ''Poppies and Daisies''

We had a small workshop on Saturday so we used the small room at St Peters Church, lovely cosy room, just big enough to fit 6 students in ! We started off in this room 11 years ago..It was lovely to see Helen again!

It looks quite a simple subject matter but its amazing at how different the results can be! It can be quite hard to be random when painting the grasses, and at first Sarah thought hers were a bit to the same--she mixed a little Payne's grey with some of the greens and it made a huge difference! Sarah is coming on in leaps and bounds each time she comes..confidence grows every time..

Paul came along for the 3rd time with his sister Elaine..I loved his more formal arrangement of the grasses---it worked really well ..

Cathy was with us for the 4th time--having first met us while on a trip from London a few years ago! She made the trip from London to do her first painting but has since moved nearby so has been able to attend 3 more workshops since!

Elaine adding her daisies here...its quite a 'free' type of painting that works whatever flowers you decide to put in--students learned to do poppies,daisies and cornflowers..then we had fun doing dragonflies,snails and ladybirds!

When we were finished, everyone went into the church to have a quick look--to say it was cold in there was an understatement--so it was a very ,very quick look at the beautiful blue  dome ceiling and the stained  glass window !

Its a beautiful building!

Finished results--well done everyone!

Stormy Skies/Poppies Workshop

I cant remember laughing quite as much as we did in a workshop on Saturday---don't get me wrong-we always have loads of laughs in the class but Saturday it was exceptional!! Unfortunately we were missing 4 people due to tyres blowing out en-route and sudden illness..but the nine ladies who did make it ensured we had a fantastic time! Fiona above was a first timer who came along with Ali-who had booked 8 places..3 of her ladies didn't make it on the day :-( As usual all the first timers were a little unsure of how they would do ...but all of them made a beautiful job of their pictures..

Sue was another first timer..I think it  amazes everyone just what can be done with just black and white paint--and such a tiny amount of it as well.

Ali is joining us again in 3 weeks along with Jen..

Margaret came along for the 4th time with her friend Joy who was painting her 7th picture and received her artist brooch that she  should have had last time!

Joy was actually painting her picture for a wedding pressie for a friend who had admired her first painting of Stormy Skies when she saw it...isn't she going to be thrilled when she opens it!

It was lovely to see Julie who I went through Grammar School with--great to catch up--she was most surprised to find there was no odour to the paints or the thinners --she had been worried about getting a migraine from it but she was perfectly fine...We only use a tiny tiny amount of low odour thinners right at the end of the workshop so nobody should ever bee affected by it--and the oil paint s themselves have very little smell.. so it the thought of the smell has ever put you off trying oils-rest assured you will be fine!Julie made a cracking job of her painting too...

This is the culprit for most of the giggling--Kerry was a  first timer--she had us in fits all through ...

Jen bought along a lovely baby bump so she had a sitting down easel ...she was also  giggling all day long too!

We had some unusual things appearing in the skies right from the start--  But the one above -everyone agreed looks like a koala bear

this one looks like a giraffe

quite a spooky face in this one..

and another in this one!

Wonderful results from them all...thanks all of you for making it such a great day for us too...did me the world of good to have a good chuckle like we did!

beautiful pictures ladies--

Wonderful results!

I'm very lucky to have such a rewarding job--looks like they all enjoyed the experience too judging by my comments book---thank you for your kind words-it means the world to me-will look forward to seeing you all again in the future!