Birch Tree Workshop

We had a brilliant time last Saturday painting the Birches..12 lovely ladies and 9 year old George!

First time for Charlotte and 9 year old George-- they came along with Sarah who has been quite a few times now--Charlotte is Sarah's sister and George is their nephew. Both did really well with the painting , and  George was also great help to me and Bill, taking out the brushes, kitchen towel etc and generally being a good boy! Lovely bright,vibrant colours from George, while Charlotte chose the soft sage green and cream---a lovely restful combination..They all had a lovely time and were very pleased with what they achieved in the workshop..

Chris and Pat have also been quite a few times before and have done different sizes and colours this time--- there is so much choice in this subject--there is something to suit everyone! Chris used silver paint on her trees, which catches the light beautifully but does not show up in the photos!

Pauline ,Annette and Cathy have all been before--wonderful results from them all...

Liz and Margaret have been once before but did oils last time...both loved the acrylics and used them well to create these monochrome paintings!

Teresa, Caroline and Caron with their beautiful results! First time for Caroline who couldn't believe how easy it was to do and has booked up to come and paint Serenity soon.. I love teaching this workshop--I can watch the confidence grow as we go through each small step..and the masterpiece happens before their very eyes...well done everyone and I will look forward to seeing you all again!

Standards and Scruples ????

I have been painting for over 13 years now, teaching it for 11 years...In that time I have met hundreds and hundreds of people who have come along to the workshops to learn how to paint ''My Way''.      In the past year or so , and more recently the past few weeks I have found that some ex-students who I had considered to be friends have been quite underhanded to me...and have  stolen some of my images to teach to people in their workshops that they have started running!  It has been quite blatant in some of the cases--even to the fact they had the paintings they had actually done in my class on their website advertising they were their own work and even claiming Copyright !   Talk about taking the piss.....!!!!!    .All of the paintings I teach in the workshops are logged with www.protectmywork.com and while I'm happy for students to go home and recreate the paintings and technique they have learnt with me, to give to friends , family and charities--whatever-- you should not make financial gain from my images.unless you have my permission .And I do give my permission in some cases--one lady Jackie has asked and has given me the credit for the images on her webite--but she has used them to make metal paintings---ccompletly unique!  I have worked hard coming up with ideas for workshops and its been very upsetting to be treated like this.  You cannot use one of my paintings like the one above and just change the cats to owls--and call it yours...adding a few leaves to the sunflowers doesn't work either...

Turning the canvas the other way around to landscape doesn't work either,,,

and changing the big poppies for little ones and vise versa does not wash !

All of these paintings I have shown on here have all been copied--plus others as well...and the sad thing is the artists concerned are quite capable artists in their own rights...and could quite easily come up with some of their own unique ideas...

You can't splatter some paint over a copy of my images and call it yours--

I was stunned to walk into a craft fair we were doing recently to find what looked like my stall.....mainly versions of birch trees, stormy poppies and summer days....and I came home to emails from some people who had also seen the stall and thought it was mine!! To say I was not happy is an understatement I can tell you..and I told her so at the craft fair..

To be fair she did ring me the next day and apologise and everything that had been copied was taken off her website etc ..but I really don't know how she thought she would get away with it--although she had changed her name from the one used when booking her workshops with me..She said she thought I would be proud of her--- and I would have been if she had got more of her own ideas on show instead of 3/4 of mine on her stall..  she had some lovely seascapes on her stall that were her own and I suggested to her she goes and does more of that style..

I have been teaching the Birches since 2006 -when I checked with my Protect My Work site,and Summer Day and Stormy Poppies even longer.

It would appear that my website has been looked at and my most popular subjects were stolen...    I think the artists concerned need to take a look at their standards and scruples--would you steal your friends husband?   Because in my eyes its just as low as that--and to be quite honest I have enough on my plate at the moment worrying about my son who is fighting cancer without having to worry about my work being used..   

Grasses Workshop

Only Judy on the left had painted before--and just once with me..everyone else were first timers... as to be expected there were quite a few nerves going on and pretty much everyone thought they wouldnt be able to do it!  This painting is one that does not quite come together until almost at the end...so getting everyone convinced it will be fine can be quite demanding for me LOL...Vivien on the right is in England on holiday from New Zealand and she had a lovely photo on her phone of a sunset where she lived and asked if she could use those colours..as you can see it worked out beautifully,,We used a narrow edge canvas  that will fit in her suitcase to take back, and gave her plenty of bubblewrap to protect it...We added some diaisies as well as poppies . Kate who had also travelled a long way from Northamptonshire  to paint, used some of Viviens blue paint to add some poppies...They looked stunning--the colour worked very well.  All in all, some stunning results from everyone..I have in stock small bottles of varnish so students can add the finishing touch to their paintings after a couple of days.Im sure they will all get brilliant feedback when they got their paintings back home,,,and hopefully we will see them again in the future!

50 Shades Of Green

Apologies for being so behind with my blog and website....had problems with my laptop and only got it back last night--so lots and lots of catching up to do for me!   It was lovely to see some old friends back to paint again in the workshop-- we had not seen Jackie, Karen or Derek for a while..50 Shades of Green is an interesting picture to paint.  It certainly got the imaginations going in everyone! Wendy was painting with me for the first time and it was interesting to see her own style develop very quickly--she liked twisting the brush as she bashed--and created her own unique type of bushes etc...and her path developed into a waterfall and stream.....Derek -bless him has been very poorly lately and I had him tired out before lunch....I think he did really well to get as much done as he did---but he went home with a palette of all the colours we used and he will finish it in his own time,,,I have lost my list of names again doh!!!  But Sam bought along 4 lovely girls who all did really well, and enjoyed themselves!

Wendy with her masterpiece...

Wonderful results--well done everyone!

Welland Show

First time back at Welland Show for about 5 years...we arrived there on Thursday and got the caravan and awning set up in record time after I colour coded the poles while at the Festival at the Edge last week lol..Friday the heavens opened up and we had 14 hours of solid rain....However on Saturday the sun shone all day and we had a cracking day which made up for Friday..Then we heard the forecast for Sunday was yet more rain so we decided it made more sense to pack up and go home Saturday night as the site was a complete mud bath, and we were stuck in it en route to the marquee on Saturday morning..

I didn't get to see much of the show as usual,,,though Bill said there was lots going on when he popped out for  look..

Caravans as far as the eye could see...

We were treated to some beautiful clouds on the way home from the show...

So glad we came back--Sunday was just awful--rained all day--bet there was fun and games getting out on Sunday afternoon!

I feel a painting coming on.....

Bluebell And Tommy

Meet Bluebell..my sisters new puppy---have you ever seen such a wrinkly little doggie?

My sister has always wanted one of these from a small child,,and has saved up for ages to get her!

They should have called her Norah Batty--she looks like she has wrinkled stockings on here!

Little Tommy is growing up soooo quickly bless him..a darling little boy --he is never any trouble-- quite happy to play with anything to hand--today he had fun with the cushions!

Always happy to be outside with Grandad Bill..

and always got a smile..

Fun on the swinging seat!

Look at this cheeky little bugger...

Festival At The Edge

 We had  great time at this years Festival At The Edge..held in the beautiful Much Wenlock.We arrived on Friday morning and got the caravan,awning and gazebo set up--which proved to be a bit of a feat as the wind was quite blustery at times!
After not being used for  year the awning was a bit of a puzzle-- so before we packed up I went round all of the poles with different coloured acrylic paint to colour code it! We had plenty of room to put up tables and our stands..

I love using the old vintage looking lace tablecloths..and I have quite a good collection of them.

Dolly sat outside the stall,,and as I'm raising money for the O'Connor cancer unit at Shrewsbury hospital where my son is being treated ,people were invited to put some money in the donation tin for the cause in order to have a photo of her,,she raised quite a bit of money! Add to that the money made from selling off some of my paintings that have been around for a while and I think we raised a lot of money over the weekend..

The circus was set up nearby, the kids had a great time stilt walking and other things..

The beauty of taking the caravan is that we can have an afternoon Pimms....

I sold the pair of birches and also the Birch painting underneath to a chap who fell in love as soon as he saw them....

I don't know if the Pimm's was anything to do with it but I seemed to grow some pussy cat ears just after!

Loads going on there for all the family

Bill having a well earned drink...

All too soon it was Sunday evening and time to come home,,,am looking forward to next years already!

Festival At The Edge

Had a busy few days getting ready to do the Festival At The Edge...we had a wonderful time there last year,,meeting up with friends we had not seen for ages...

Lovely atmosphere in the evening....

Deb made a great job of her Summer Day painting--I will be running small workshops while I am there all weekend ..

With luck we won't need too have the sides on the awning and gazebo this year! We had a huge thunder storm on the Friday night last year--which is quite something to behold when you are in a caravan LOL...Hopefully we wont get a repeat of that this year!!

Bromyard Gala

We had a lovely time at Bromyard Gala last weekend...we took the caravan over on Friday which gave us loads of time to set up the stall, and relax listening to the great live music just the other side of the hedge from us with a wine or three.We made some lovely new friends, and met up with some of our old friends too which was wonderful!

went for a more shabby chic look with lovely vintage tablecloths...

Bill having a well earned rest in the corner LOL

Just about ready for the customers to start coming in..

There was lots going on --Bill enjoyed watching the remote control  'toy' lorrys etc working in the other marquee--very serious  stuff with the one lorry costing over £20,000 !!!!

Beautiful sunset on Saturday night...

one of the beautiful heavy horses on show..  next show will be Festival At The Edge-in Much Wenlock -a story telling festival which runs for 3 days so we will take the caravan again and enjoy a relaxing time listening to good music in good company..can't wait!