Class of May 15th "Birches"

Well this is just a quickie as we are away on holiday and Ive just realised I hadn't put Saturdays class on here!

We had 14 in class- 7 who had been before and 7 newbies.
My 13 year old niece came along to help as we wanted to get away asap after the class.
Nat a tat as shes known was an absolute gem--she washed sponges, brushes changed water and held paint pots when needed.

Most students used a huge 36in x 14in canvas to create their masterpieces on, and we knew the class would take a bit longer than the usual 4 hours.
We had great fun as usual--the newbies were all quite nervous as is normal-- but soon settled down to it and all the nerves quickly vanished!

Sue found it easier to turn her painting upside down to put branches and grasses in, which made us laugh!

The venue at Helena lane has a cafe which proves popular with the students--we have a menu in class which the students can choose from and order, Bill takes the orders down and the cafe has it ready for 12pm when we stop for dinner.Its one less thing for people to worry about before leaving home to come to class.

Everyone was astounded with their paintings--and wants to come back again!
Kaitlyn received her artists brooch for attending 6 classes.
She loves a challenge bless her and is very quick at learning the new techniques each time.

Holiday

Well we have landed at St Clears-been for a lovely meal-unloaded car and am now ready for bed--we had a cracking class today--didn't finish and get cleared up as early as we wanted but the fun we had made up for that!
When I phoned Jeannie I heard Paddy squawking in background and Jake telling him to "shut up--you noisy bugger!"
I loaded the pics onto the computer before leaving but havent resized them yet-so will put them on when I get a minute!

Looking Forward!

We are off on our holidays tomorrow after we have finished in the Birch Tree Class.
We have 14 coming to paint-and most of them are doing the 36in x 14in canvas so it will probably take a little longer than normal to do!

I have my niece Natalie coming to help me by holding the paint pots for the splattering bits and also collecting the sponges to wash etc.

Bill will be able to go off and do the last minute jobs that need to be done then!

My darling friend Jeannie is here to look after all the menagerie of parrots, cat and fish-Bill fetched her this afternoon.
Jake, Paddy and Sparky will be spoiled rotten by her as usual-they are all excited to see her as soon as she comes.
Bill has been and bought some of the birds favorite shortbread biscuits ( they are not spoiled much!) and I daresay they will have more than their normal 1/4 of biscuit each day while Jeannies here.
The fridge was stocked up with goodies for them all to enjoy while we are away! Its quite a joke when we go shopping-there is more bought for the cat and birds than for us!
Grapes, biscuits, cheese, marmite,apples and best ham--all for the pets!

Im very impressed with Bluestone Park customer service (where we are going Mon-Fri) we recieved an email from them yesterday saying dont bother to shop before you arrive-just tick the items on the shopping list attached and they will have all the items ready in the chalet when we arrive! So we did that-and are looking forward to the ribeye steak , sausage and dry cured bacon delivered fresh from the butchers when we arrive there!
We are stopping in St Clears for the first 2 nights, Bluestone Park for 4 nights and then a friends static caravan for 2 nights in Aberystwyth so it will be a lovely break.
We will be meeting up with an artist friend Steve who we last saw a couple of years ago which will be lovely!
I am off to bed now--morning will be here before we know it--will be a long day!

Ludlow Food and Drink Festival/ Marches Transport

We are on the market tomorrow on Castle Square for the food and drink festival which has combined with the Marches Transport festival for the first time.
There will be lots going on for all the family--lovely things to eat and drink and loads of cars , lorrys and tractors etc to see in and around the castle and castle square.

Todays Class -Encaustic Art-- May 8th

We had a great time in the encaustic class today.
Jan couldnt make it-due to last minute meeting but the 5 that came really enjoyed it!
The melted wax is a lovely medium to use-unpredictable to a certain extent, but beautiful results achieved even first time by everyone!
Everyone had 20 6in x 4in cards to paint on with the wax.I went through all the different things you can do with the wax and everyone followed suit.Amazing just how different they all turn out.
Kaitlyn's brother William is just 6 years old and he managed (with mums help) to produce some stunning pieces. Kaitlyn is 9 and has been to 5 other classes-she knows exactly what she wants to do-
We had some really stunning results--the landscapes were very impressive-especially for first timers--Anne created some stunners!

Yockleton WI demo

We had a very busy day on Wednesday--we were on the market all day, home to unload-then load again for a trip to Yockleton WI Nr Shrewsbury.
It was only a small group of ladies , but we had a wonderful time there.
Lots of laughs all evening with them-everyone was quite taken with how quickly the paintings happened.
There were quite a few water colourists present, who couldnt believe how quickly the paintings came to life!
It made a pleasent change to have a glass of pink bubby wine instead of the usual tea or coffee at the end-in celebration of one of the ladies birthdays!
Im sure we will be seeing some of them in future classes!

Debbie and Mick

I just had to share these pics with you--we know Debbie and Mick from doing the craft markets in Ludlow.

Mick always helps Bill to take our stall apart and put it together again bless him!

They arrive on the motorbike and sidecar in all weathers and it never fails to amaze us just how much stuff they manage to carry on there--its like a tardis!

Yesterday they had the addition of a gazebo as well as everything else as they were setting up outside!
Mick had a good write up in the local paper last week, after the journalist saw him unloading his bike at the market. Mick makes bracelets and door handles out of spoons and forks and other interesting things-all unique. I love having a look at what he has new every time he comes!

Dilwyn Show

We had a lovely time at Dilwyn show yesterday.The sun shone down on us and the rain stayed away!
We saw lots of old friends there as usual.
We had a huge space in the marquee-and got every single painting hung that we took with us-although Bill thought we had taken too many!
I took along a couple of paintings that needed finishing off and I managed to start a new one as well in between chatting to everyone interested in learning to paint!

For some reason people were wanting to buy rigger brushes--I have never sold so many as I did yesterday--I need to order some more now as I have only 3 left for students who may want some!
The cards went well too and I must get in touch with Lin to make some more for me!
We stopped on the way home at The Salway Arms and had a lovely meal-can really recommend the food there.

Todays Class "Forest Pool"

Gary and Elaine come over from Stourbridge to paint with me.
Due to illness there were only these two today.I quite like to have these small classes occasionally--it gives us chance to get to know people a bit better!
They were both amazed at how quiet and beautiful it is here-when they went out the back the birds were singing away and the fish were mooching around the pond for some food!

We got down to painting eventualy-and before long we had got lovely things going on!
The light shining through the trees onto the water was very effective-and they both got the hang of the different techniques we used in this one.
We used a lot of different brushes and a knife to get the effects.
Elaine put more trees in than Gary-and I put a load more in than them both as well!
They have booked for the Serenity class and also the Birch tree class as well, and also went away with new tickling, flat , fan and bush brushes. they have also got the SAA catalogue and joining up forms so they will be able to buy other art materials from them too.

Cheesecake

We have been invited to Bev and Johns home tomorrow night for a meal-we met Bev when she came to class a while ago.
We have become close friends over time-although we haven't yet met Bevs hubby John-he shares my birthday so I'm sure we will get on fine !
I offered to take along the pudding and decided to make my lemon and lime cheesecake that has always gone down well at dinner parties in the past.
I couldnt find the recipe which is on a bit of paper somewhere but managed to remember it ok and the kitchen was filled with lovely smells all afternoon as I prepared it!
Its in the fridge chilling now-all I have to do tomorrow is add some more zest to the top to decorate it!
We are really looking forward to tomorrow night!

Emails--fly away home

It would appear that some peoples spam filters are set too high--Ive had an enquiry about a painting that has already been sold--Joanne K has asked if I have another one like it--Its called fly Away Home
I have replyed to her twice but havent heard back so imagine that she hasnt recieved my emails.
I do state in several places on my site to always include a phone number when you contact me--at least then I can follow up any enquiries--so Joanne if you read this-please give me a ring or email me your number!

BBQ

We had a cracking night last night-as always when things are not planned, things always turn out great!
Our friends Marion and Phil were calling by to pick something up and we decided to have a BBQ as we had stuff left over from the weekends BBQ's.
We had treated ourselves to a new chimanea and some new lights for the fishpond as well so it was a great opportunity to try them out.
Bill started off warming up the chimanea slowly as they can crack if you get them too hot too quick, and it was soon throwing out loads of heat.
We had some great food-lamb steaks, beef steak and pork as well-together with lots of lovely herb salad and garlic mayo--delish! One of our favorites if banans wrapped in bacon--its to die for!
Its quite amazing how the fresh air can make you eat!
As soon as it dropped dark the new lights went on in the pond--I am well pleased with them--the lights change colour and the water comes up in various fountains-the photos dont do it justice-the colours change all the time and were lighting up the big tree as well giving a beautiful effect.
We switched the underwater lights on as well and the fish had a great time-its a real treat for them!
The moon was huge and was behind the trees most of the night-very atmospheric.
The time flew by-and we set off one of our new red heart shaped chinese lanterns quite late on!
We cheated a little and held it over the chimanea to inflate it first and save the wax wick so it would fly for longer.
We would have loaded the car normally ready for the market in the evening but as there are no lights in the garage since the contractors managed to drill through the 4 cables 2 weeks ago when putting in the cavity wall insulation, we had to get up extra early to do it this morning--after going to bed at turned 1am and getting up at 6am to get loaded up for the market we are feeling pretty knackered tonight-so an early night for us tonight!

Birds!

We have been having lots of fun watching the birds in the garden-the little robin is feeding his wife somewhere nearby and is a constant visitor-so Bill made him is own little feeding station in the curly hazel bush.He has fastened a plastic dish in there and keeps it topped up with Robins favorite mealy worms and seed.
We had friends round last night for a BBQ and Robin wasnt at all shy -in fact he seemed to be posing for his photos to be taken!
We were on a different stall to normal today on the market-due to some of the stalls being taken down to allow the annual May fair to take place.
we were very amused to watch this blackbird nicking the grapes from the packs on display! Roger who owns the stall said blackie was waiting for the cherries to come in-he goes mad for them!