Bishops Castle Michaelmas Fair and other bits

Another busy weekend over-we had a great time at Bishops Castle Michaelmas fair.It was good to meet up with old and new friends again.
The weather stayed fine-if a bit chilly and windy on the Sunday.
But the people came out in droves and at times you couldn't move in the marquee.
We had a 2nd hand book stall next to us--and I got a lot of bargains from there--all were as new--all I need is the time to read them now!

Bookings for classes went well-and we returned home to some bookings from the website as well...
there are now 9 students booked in for the first class of 2011 "Summer Day" so its filling up fast.
I sold the original Stormy Poppies painting recently to a lovely American lady so I had to paint another as its a class subject shortly.
Its painted on a chunky canvas and its impossible to paint all the sides with oils in class as there would be paint all over the car and students--however I didn't think the painting really looked finished with the sides left white so Bill used black acrylic paint and painted the sides black after I had finished it--it really does look good--so students will have the option when they come to class to have black or white sides.

As the classes have grown in size I needed to get some more aprons for the students to wear in class--the last place I bought them from are no longer in business so I had to source some more-I must say I'm very pleased with the new ones that arrived today-they have embroidered the logo beautifully and much bigger than on the old aprons as well!

I have a One 2 One student coming to paint tomorrow-so have been busy having a quick tidy up--life has been far to busy to dust lately--I found a great little picture recently at the boot sale that I thought was funny and apt!
It says Dull Women Have Immaculate Homes!

Thats my excuse for having a 'lived in' house anyway!
But with another busy week coming up-there will be little chance of having a proper blitz--we are back on market on Wednesday- and this weekend we have a full class in Winters Walk and then our little grandaughters are coming down from Sunderland to stay the night with us--then we are up early Sunday morning to be on the Book and Craft fair on Castle Square-- maybe next week it will be a little quieter for me!

Bunty Van

Bunty has had all the sign writing done now--and I'm very pleased with it!
It was done yesterday but when we went to fetch her something wasn't right--couldn't put our finger on what it was for a few minutes and then we realised they had spelled the website wrong!
So she had to stay overnight for them to redo it!
Anyway--its all perfect now-and they have made a grand job of blowing up the photo of my 'Reeds in the Breeze' painting and putting it on an easel on both sides.
So we are all set for the weekends Michaelmas Fair--Ive just got a few paintings to finish off now and we will be away early tomorrow morning!

Bishops Castle Michaelmas fair

We have a busy weekend ahead of us with the Bishops Castle Michaelmas Fair.
We had a very busy time there last year-the town is alive with all sorts of things going on.
There are more steam engines there this year than before-and they parade through the streets on both days.
Beside the craft marquee there are stalls all through the town selling all manner of things!
Here is the link to their website www.michaelmasfair.org.uk/michaelmas/home.aspx
I will have a large display of paintings and will be painting in oils, acrylics and encaustic wax while Im there.

Ludlow Food and Drink Festival

We had an early start yesterday -up at 6am to go and set up the gazebo in the college for the food and drink festival.
We had a lovely sunny spot next to the entrance of the college so we were busy all day from the time the gates opened.
Marce bought our little Ollie along to see us before it got busy so we had time for a little cuddle first! He is growing sooo fast and he is a really knowing little thing! Grandad Bill hasn't lost his touch and soon stopped him crying when he picked him up.

I managed to leave my brushes behind at home and ended up with just 3 brushes to demonstrate with all day--however it amazed everyone who stopped and watched me just how much could be done with few brushes.
The town was heaving with people all day and it seemed like they all stopped by us for a look--we had paintings inside and out of the gazebo and tables outside with the encaustic stuff on--the lights worked well inside the gazebo-and highlighted the texture on the brown poppy beautifully.
Anthony Worrel-Thompson the chef came into the college for a wander round the craft market with his wife--hes just like he looks on the tv!

Ive got some paintings to finish off now in time for this weekends big event at Bishops Castle Michaelmas Fair which runs on Saturday and Sunday--we are taking the caravan and parking it on my friends drive-thanks Karen--so we will be able to enjoy the Bishops Castle nightlife on Saturday night and have a drink or three!

Craven Arms Art Walk

Well what a day--I'm completely knackered and ready for bed-we are up early tomorrow again to be at the Food and drink festival!
We had 6 complete begininers in the 3 workshops today including 6 year old Megan and 8 year old Jack in the Birch Tree class.
First workshop had Karen who has been to me quite a few times before-she felt confident enough to tackle 2 canvas at the same time-as she wants some paintings as Christmas pressies, Stella who has been once before and Jackie and Maureen who I met on Ludlow market at different times-both were first timers.
It was a lovely class to teach-and everyone was surprised at how quickly the painting came together--
the 2 nd workshop of the day was acrylic and all 4 wanted to do the monochrome version--6 year old Megan and 8 year old Jack came with their nan Liz--Karen was doing 2 canvas again!
The results happened very quickly again-and what great results they were as well!
Nichola and Maureen decided on the purple shades for the Yesterday painting-and fabulous results they achieved-beautiful atmospheric paintings-and the special glitter paint we use for the moon just set it off beautifuly.
Im looking forward to seeing everyone again soon-now Im off to kip!

More Sales!

The weather was cold,foggy and miserable when we went down to the market yesterday--proper hop picking morning as they say around these parts!
However by 10.30am the sun burnt through the cloud and fog and it became a lovely day.
There were lots of tourists around, and it was lovely chatting with the many people who stopped by the stall to watch me painting.
My greetings cards were selling out quickly-and I had to stop and email Lin who does them for me with a list of what I needed done asap again!
We have a lot of busy events coming up over the next week or so--Saturday we are at the Craven Arms Art Walk--Sunday we are down in the college doing the famous Ludlow Food and Drink festival craft fair-Wednesday we are back on the market and the next weekend we are at the Michaelmas Fair at Bishops Castle--so will need a good stock of cards for them all!
Lin -bless her-works hard to keep me stocked up with cards but I now try to email her as I get short of a particular design so I dont suddenly ask her to do 100 cards at 2 days notice--like I have in the past!
That was working well till yesterday when I suddenly seem to sell out of 7 or 8 designs in a matter of an hour or so.....
Then along came a chap who was visiting Ludlow with his parents--they stopped by the stall and his mum bought a card of the Two Cats In The Tree that really caught her eye- he then noticed the original painting hanging in the stall and asked the price..
after going for lunch they came back and he bought the painting--and we spent ages chatting with them all which was lovely..
When we got back from Alverly WI last night there was a phone message from Anthony who had bought the painting asking if another painting he had spotted was still available off my website-as it would be a good match for the one he had already bought that day.
So he is coming over from Warwick to pick it up either Sunday or Wednesday.
So another great week for sales--Ive got one to finish tomorrow-will post it on here when its done!

Demo at Alverly WI

We were at Alverly Wi last night to do a demo for the ladies--it was a long day as we had been on the market since 7.30am!

The ladies were quite surprised when I told them I would be painting 2 complete landscape paintings during the demo--right from start to finish in front of them--
I started on the black canvas first of all--my plans to paint the Winter Wonderland picture had to go as the lighting in the room was no great and the ladies would have struggled to see what I was doing--so I decided to paint the waterfall instead.
There was lots of chuckles when I explained we used a bashing brush and a tickling brush to achieve the desired results--but they soon realised why I called them that--
there were a few gasps of surprise when just 15 minutes later a completed Waterfall painting was being passed around the room!
Everyone was amazed at the detail I had achieved in it--the reflections in the water work really well on a black canvas.
After a bit more chatting I started on my signature painting "Summer Day" on the white canvas--and again in around 15 minutes they could see the finished painting!
We were then treated to some beautiful homemade cakes and coffee and the ladies were able to have a look at the paintings on display on my stands and buy some of my cards that I took along there.
The raffle was won by Dorethy who was chuffed to bits with the Summer Day painting she chose--the waterfall painting was donated to the WI to raise funds for their chosen charity.

Busy Week Ahead

No peace for the wicked! I have a busy week ahead again--after the usual market on Wednesday we are heading for Alverly WI where we are doing a demo-we will be late back from there by the time we have packed up and driven home..but its quite a big WI and Im sure we will have a few of the ladies joining us for classes in the future after watching me paint 2 paintings from start to finish in my demo!
Then on Friday morning we are off to an art club at Hadnall nr Shrewsbury where the members will all be having a go at oil painting--looking forward to meeting them all...
On Saturday we are at Craven Arms Art Walk-doing 3 workshops--not sure how busy that will be-we will wait and see!

Then on Sunday we will be at the huge Food and Drink Festival outside Ludlow Collage in a big gazebo --its usualy busy but the weather forcast isnt great at the moment so we will see nearer the time--I wont risk my paintings getting spoiled by rain--

We are at Bishops Castle Michaelmas Fair the following weekend in a huge marquee--so it will be all go--Bunty Van is going in to have the sign writing done on the 16th September-so will be ready for the Michaelmas fair--so we have got to get her washed off by then!
So busy busy times ahead- got a couple of commissions to finish off before Bishops castle as well--

Christmas Again!

Well after a hectic few weeks it was good to have a Sunday off. We had our pet sitters Marion and Phil round for a Christmas dinner!
I love having guests round--didn't get round to having the Christmas crackers out but apart from that we went the whole hog!
We started by having a giant king prawn cocktail, followed by turkey with all the trimmings followed by a pud with a difference--we had strawberries dipped into chilli chocolate and served with vanilla ice cream, meringue and strawberry sauce!
The chilli chocolate made an interesting twist to an otherwise ordinary sweet--the chilli didn't kick in til just after each mouthful-and then the ice cream cooled it down right away--will defiantly do this one again!
we had a lovely time afterwards with them both--so much to catch up with-the animals/birds were so happy to see them again it was unreal--they really are their other 'mum and dad'

Todays Class-The Waterfall

We had a lovely class today--everyone were first time students so they were all in the same boat!
We has met Jason and his mum Julie at Ludlow market where I have a regular stall on a Wednesday-they were pretty convinced they wouldn't be able to do it--and were very pleasantly surprised at their results!
Walter-we met at Shobdon food and drink festival,he bought along Miriam.
Caz we had seen at the market,she bought along Lofty Wiseman. And
Alan and Zoe we had met at Welland steam rally though we had been at several craft fairs together in the past-just never had chance to speak cos we were so busy!
Simone found me on the Internet! We had one no-show who had completely forgotten about today due to being very busy!
The name 'Lofty Wiseman' rang a little bell when I saw it-but I didn't chase it up at all--but after a few minutes chatting when Lofty and Caz arrived a few things started falling into place..it turns out
Lofty is an ex SAS chap who has written several books and been in TV programs--his website is http://www.loftywiseman.co.uk
there is lots of interesting things on there--

Lofty had us creased all day with his jokes-he is a real case--I was chuffed to bits when he bought in one of his new books and signed it for me as a gift-many thanks Lofty !
We will see Lofty and Caz in January for the Summer Day painting.
Alan and Zoe are coming back at the end of the month to do Winters Walk.
Jason and his mum are coming back after a look at the website-as is Simone--I have to check out my wax paintings to find one for her--I thought it was in the van-must be in the garage instead!
Walters daughter was amazed at his results when she came to pick him and Miriam up !
Bill picked Jason and his mum up from the train station this morning as neither of them drive-its all part of the service!
We had lovely results-all very different right from the word go--everything from bold to delicate-but each of the paintings were unique to the artist creating them--and as long as they knew what the bashing brush,tickling brush and bush brush did I was happy!

Ollie-Jay

Had a busy day today-decided to shampoo all the downstairs carpets while the weather was good--the parrots love it outside on the patio in the sunshine, so out they went!

I had a welcome break when little Ollie came round to see us--cant believe hes only 17 days old. Hes a bright little chap and I cant believe that all the smiles we had off him when we hugged and munched him was all wind!

He followed us around with his eyes when we moved bless him.
He is sleeping 10 hours through at night already, so hes a good little boy.

They change so quickly at this age-he has gained weight and his hair has grown--he will enjoy Christmas with all the noises and colourful things around.

Stormy Skies and Summer Days l and ll

Stormy Skies is on its way to Detroit USA after being bought by a lovely american lady who thought it was awsome after spotting it on my stall yesterday on Ludlow market!
She also loved the encaustic demonstration I gave her along with 5 encaustic wax cards.
She was amazed by the quick results I got with the iron and she will be sourcing the irons and waxes when she gets back there next week and keeping in touch with me about it.
Bill wrapped it up well and the painting will be travelling as hand luggage on the plane!
I also sold one of the smaller Summer Day paintings yesterday and the other one at Onslow-so I have to get another one done as a demo for the workshops coming up at Craven Arms Art Walk on the 11th Sept.