Busy Times Again...Demos,Workshops and Fairs...

We were treated to a beautiful sunset over the town when we were packing up from the market on Wednesday..

beautiful

Friday night we had a longish journey to Weston Under Redcastle to do a demo  for the local villagers...they were a lovely bunch of folk and we had a right laugh with them....lots of interest in the workshops as well and I think we will be meeting some of them again.... thanks to Sharleen for organising it !

Bill spotted the lovely cakes ---and yes--they did taste as good as they looked!

Silvia's  raffle ticket was drawn first and she chose the Reeds In The Breeze painting and Chris won the Waterfall painting.. it was late when we got back to Ludlow,, luckily the brushes and paint etc had been got ready to load onto Bunty the van before we had left so all we had to do when we got up on Saturday was load the boxes ...

the calm before the storm... 14 students about to descend upon us....

the time flew by,,,,and in no time at all we had some stunning paintings going on.. they ranged from tranquil and warm

dark and mysterious..

to vibrant and dramatic

Bev got down to signing her painting lol.....

10  out of the 14 artists were first timers-though you wouldn't know it from the results.....and they came from far and wide---Clacton on Sea, Derby,Leminton Spa, Uttoxeter, Telford....

well done girls...

lovely results..

stunning...

beautiful! Well done everyone!

the room where we have the workshops was very festive with the Christmas tree up and loads of Santa's around---getting right in the mood for Christmas now...

after a hectic day yesterday..and a late night last night we were up early this morning to set up on the Medieval Fair..and we had our usual next door neighbours Dave Bytheway and Margret by us.Dave does chainsaw carvings and he had some stunning pieces with him today...there wasn't a little owl to be seen when it came to packing up this evening.. they proved very popular!

Bill looked the part in his outfit....

and moi....

a quieter week for me this week...got a class tomorrow, market Wednesday and I'm off for a renal scan on Friday..After seeing the rhumatologist at Hereford Hospital and having some blood tests done while there, the tests revealed another problem ..this time with my kidneys...so that has to be investigated..watch this space....

   

Demo at Weston-Under-Redcastle this Friday

Llanidloes Workshop -Nov 19th

We had an early start again to go to Llandiloes this morning...and what a beautiful sunrise we watched!

Laura has painted before but never with oils using my method.....she seemed to find it easy!

Elaine was painting her 5th painting,,,,,so an artist brooch for her next time..

Brenda has never painted before--and was quite convinced she would never be able to paint in a million years...well she was soon proved wrong!

Pauline is a member of the local art club but had never tryed oils before--she loved it, and made a lovely job of her soft teal coloured seascape...

Vera has also painted before but never with oils,,,,I think I have converted a few more water colourists again!

There was a huge range of colour choices in todays subject--and Christine chose to use the greys,,she had a really stormy sky going on very quickly!

Barbra was completely convinced she couldn't paint a straight line....well she had to in order to put in the horizon line! But she managed that OK and even mastered the knife quickly as well..

Rita had a really lovely sky going on quickly...everyone was surprised at the fact there was no smell to the paint or the turps we used....as some of them had seen people using 'normal' paint and turps and the smell was very strong...none of that in my workshops though!

Pauline has also painted before--but will be a convert to oils----

we had everything from dramatic to tranquil in today's workshop....

hard to believe that some of these paintings are by first timers..

lovely paintings--and we all had a lovely day...

and we were treated to a lovely sunset on the way home as well to round off the day!

Reeds In Breeze Workshop Nov 19th

There are a few spaces available next Saturday Nov 19th at Llanidloes Community centre due to a couple of folk having to drop out due to work commitments...so if you fancy having a go at this lovely subject please contact me---its a very easy one to do...you will use oils on a 16in x 20in box canvas and a range of brushes such as my famous bashing and tickling brushes.....you have a wide wide choice of colours in which to create this painting....and its suitable for all ages and abilities..  the cost of this workshop is just £35 which includes all the materials you will use including light refreshments   -contact me via my website  if you would like to join us there!  www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Birch Tree Workshop

We had an early start yesterday to go to Llanidloes to do the Birches workshop--Elaine had organised it for me and sorted out the room..the light was good there and there was plenty of room for all of us..

most of the folk were first timers...and nervous as is usual! However the nerves soon went when we started to paint...

Karen had made the journey from Bishops Castle and chose to do her painting in shocking pink,purple and silver..a combination that worked well--and it took on a lovely fantasy feeling to it....its being hung in Karens conservatory which has a pink theme...

This was Joy's second painting ever....you wouldn't believe it to see her end result---she was joined by her hubby John who painted for the first time..

John was very confident with his brush...his monochrome colours made his painting come to life very quickly

Elaine organised the workshop for me...and she wasn't feeling 100% bless her...but it didn't stop her creating this lovely work of art...

Tracey earned herself a nickname yesterday----Bull At A Gate....we were all creased at her --there was no stopping her when she was in front of her canvas...she found it hard to be slow and controlled at times when painting the trees etc.but she turned out to be  a champion splatter er....being a bull at a gate doing that turned into the right thing to do!
The whole class erupted into hysterical laughter at one point when I started telling someone to do the splattering "harder ,harder, faster , faster--that's it--it coming now" Rita had tears in her eyes from laughing so much--and we couldn't look at one another without starting to giggle again.....but you have to do the splattering hard or it just doesn't work!

getting the splattering done..

Catherine has just started using acrylics and said she had picked up some great tips in the class..

Rita was great fun and we had lots of laughs with her...she surprised herself with her results..

Christine has made the journey over to Ludlow before and was very happy that we went to Llanni to do the workshops there..

Mary hadn't painted before,,and seemed to find it quite easy--she was quick to make decisions about where to put trees in her painting

Di made a beautiful job of her painting--only her 2nd one ever....

brilliant paintings everyone..well done

Catherine had to leave a little early so isn't in the final line up..

lovely everyone----Johns trying to hide behind his painting

well done everyone!

Suprise..

When I looked out of the window this morning I saw a light coloured bird way up the top of the field behind us...grabbing my camera -which has a good zoom lens , and zooming in.I realised that it was a pure white pheasant....along with her normal coloured mate...

what a lovely surprise...

the white tail seems longer than the normal coloured one...

we have thrown out the excess parrot food out into the field to try and get them to come nearer so I can get some better photos...Jake and Paddy waste such a lot of it--especially Jake who chucks it for yards! We usually throw it out on the bird tables for the wild birds who love it!

When I first spotted the light bird I thought it was the local heron who has been a cheeky bugger lately...he was stood on the shed roof the other day,,,,

so we have double netted the pond as a precaution and left the lily pads for cover for the fish to hide under...the pond is very deep and has very steep sides so he cant land in the water and he wouldn't reach far into the middle of the pond from the edge ..but better safe than sorry...

I nearly got a shot of him flying off---he is just behind the trunk of the tree where the branches come of near the top..