Todays Class-Summer Day

We had a mix of first timers and some who had been before in today's class.
Sam, Gemma, Helen B, and Lyndsey had all been 4 times before.

Will aged 13 came along with his Aunty Sam for the first time, Jeannette I met at the market on Wednesday , Mercedes had been bought a gift voucher by her daughter Sara-Jane who also decided to join us and Helen lives in Normandy France and had found my website!

None of the first timers had ever painted before-and Mercedes said after the class that she hadn't expected to be able to paint anything any good!
Sara-Jane had a t-shirt on saying "I survived swine flu" which we all thought was just a joke -however it turns out that she HAD in fact been in intensive care on a ventilator for 11 days last November after catching swine flu.
Everyone was a bit nervous-there are a lot of brushes and techniques in this painting--8 brushes, 1 silicon tool and a knife to be precise.
However as I went through each stage in small bite sized bits no-one was left wondering what to do next.
Hardest part was the knife work on the waves-getting the pressure and angle right is quite difficult and all the first timers really came in at the deep end with the first painting they tackled.
We soon progressed with it though and by the time we stopped at 12pm for lunch we were nearly finished.
Its very handy having the cafe at the venue--the students were able to order what they wanted for lunch before the class started and it was all ready for them when we stopped. They do a beautiful melted cheese baghette for just £2 which went down well, as did the bacon butties.There is a lovely patio area for us to sit in the sun and eat as well which was nice as the sun was shining and warm.
We had a wide variety of poppies going in at the end-big ones, small ones-and everything in between-the time seemed to fly by.
We are seeing everyone again--Sam and Gem are coming to do the Birches and bringing her Mum and stepdad so it will be a real family affair!
Helen is going to coincide another trip to the UK with another class she wants to do--Bill made her a box to keep her painting safe en route back to France on Monday!
All in all a great class all round-everyone went away happy and with a lovely painting!

Tomorrow Class

Im really looking forward to tomorrow class. Ive got a good mixture of first timers and more experienced students coming.
In this painting they will learn to use a wide variety of brushes and also the knife as well.

It will be a busy few days--I have 9 in tomorrow,we are on the market on Sunday and I have a demo at Marden art and craft on Monday evening!

To a Phenomenal Woman

I found this on one of the forums I look at--

When I was in my younger days,

I weighed a few pounds less,

I needn't hold my tummy in

to wear a belted dress.

But now that I am older,

I've set my body free;

There's comfort of elastic

Where once my waist would be.

Inventor of those high-heeled shoes

My feet have not forgiven;

I have to wear a nine now,

But used to wear a seven.

And how about those blasted tights --

They're sized by weight, you see,

So how come when I put them on

The crotch is at my knee?

I need to wear these glasses

As the print's been getting smaller;

And it wasn't very long ago

I know that I was taller.

Though my hair has turned to grey

and my skin no longer fits,

On the inside, I'm the same old me,

the outside's changed a bit.

But, on a positive note...

I've learned that no matter what happens,

or how bad it seems today,

life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.

I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things:

a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.

I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents,

you'll miss them when they're gone from your life.

I've learned that making a "living" is

not the same thing as making a "life."

I've learned that life sometimes

gives you a second chance.

I've learned that you shouldn't go through life

just being a doormat.

You need to be able to throw something back.

I've learned that whenever I decide something

with an open heart,

I usually make the right decision.

I've learned that even when I have pains,

I don't have to be one.

I've learned that every day you should reach out

and touch someone.

People love a warm hug,

or just a friendly pat on the back.

I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did,

but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Tommys Painting

I had the pleasure of Tommy's company again today.
You may remember Tommy from last year when he came to the house and I showed him how to use acrylics rather than the watercolours he had been used to.
Tommy suffered brain damage in an accident more than 30 years ago when he was in the army.
It has left him very weak down one side.He had to sit down after a short while as his back was hurting him, so we got the easel set up on a small table in the kitchen for him.
Tommy also has double vision bless him so its not at all easy to him to paint-although he loves it.
We decided to have a go at The Birches today--as you don't have to be so precise with the paint.
He did the background quite quickly and the first layer of trees.
He found it easier to paint the trees from the top down instead of the usual bottom to top.
When it came to doing the birches he had great control over the brush when shading.
We went into the garage to do the splattering.
Tommy ended up with a few freckles of black paint as he pushed the bristles the wrong way!
After doing some more sponging at the base of his trees we were finished.
He has gone away with more big bottles of acrylic paint to carry on doing it at home.
His wife Margret thinks it will be easier for him to do in in colour rather than black and white next time due to his double vision, which we hadnt thought about beforehand.
Any way Tommy was happy with his painting and has learned some more techniques.
I will no doubt be seeing him again soon.

Encaustic Demo

Yesterday we spent an afternoon at the local craft club doing an encaustic demo for the ladies. It was our second time there!
Everyone was able to have several goes at it as well.

We had some stunning results from everyone.
As usual lots of weird things appeared in the melted wax-including a shark with his mouth open!

We are off to Marden Craft club next Monday evening to do another encaustic evening.

Karens 40th

After a really enjoyable class on Saturday it was time to get ready for Karen's 40th birthday party.
I met Karen a while ago when she commissioned a sunflower painting from me.
Since then she has bought numerous paintings from me and also painted her own beautiful paintings in my classes.
We have become very close friends and speak daily!
It was lovely to meet up with Karen and her partner Steve last night-the food was lovely--I had the birthday fruitcake for breakfast this morning,before we left for the bootsale!
The landlady of the Inn on The Green where the party was held was very keen to have a painting class in the pub-and Im waiting to hear the numbers etc so we can arrange it. Sounds like they all want to do the popular Summer Day painting. Watch this space !

Mystical Moon class -April 17th

After being at Hereford hospital on Tuesday I was glad that I had a quiet class on Saturday.
Jenny was with me for the first time and Sara for the 7th.
We were using acrylic and everyone opted to use the blues tones rather than the purples and greys to paint this picture.
Once we had the first coat on and dried it became easier!
The paint was still drying quickly so I got the special medium out which prolongs the working time of the paint.
When it came time to paint in the moon there was a bit of alteration going on for a while as the moons got bigger-Jenny had a great eye and managed to get a perfect circle right away! We used a special holographic paint on the moon which is quite subtle, but catches the light and has lots of multi coloured twinkles in it.,
when it came to doing the foliage it was hard to decide which colour to use as highlight it. I used all the colours-green, gold, bronze and violet to show them the results.
Jenny decided to use the green and bronze and Sara used the violet.
The results were stunning--and both students went home with some acrylic varnish to coat their painting with after 24 hours.
The varnish will make a big big difference to the paintings as well as protecting them .
You need to leave the pictures for 24 hours to make sure the paint is completly dry otherwise you will find the painting starting to crack after a time-and that is not good!
As usual when teaching at home the parrots were a a bit of a distraction-especialy Jake who was constantly chatting away.
Bill put both of them outside as the weather was warm and sunny, and Sara was able to give Paddy a lovely shower with the spray bottle which he adores!

Freecycle

We have had a bit of a blitz in the garage this week to make room for the ever increasing boxes of canvas we use in classes!
Today we got rid of 16 boxes of boot sale stuff to one chap.We used to do boots sales every week at one time, but since we stopped the boxes have just taken up loads of room in the garage.
So between Freecycle and Facebook it was emptied today!
2 new airbeds went to fellow facebook-ers and another big box of ribbon, lace and other oddments went to a freecycler who runs childrens craft groups.
Tomorrow the leather computer chair and a bedside cabinet will be going on there! What would we do without Freecycle?

Distant Thunder ll

Ive had an enjoyable time painting Distant Thunder.
Its a 36in x 36in oil painting on a Loxely Gold canvas.
Ive put a close up detail of the sky and waves below.
Very dramatic painting-Ive used very thick paint for the waves, and the texture works well.
You can see more details on my website
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Hospital

After suffering from a nasty abscess since last Oct the doc decided it was time to send me to hospital to have it dealt with.
Ive lost count of the amount of antibiotics Ive had during that time but Ive built up a resistance to them and they don't work for me now!
After being examined by the Doc yesterday-she sent me straight to hospital , so had to rush home and pack my bags.
We got there at 4pm and I was put into one of the sexy backless gowns and my bracelet put on to say I'm allergic to penicillin ready to go to theatre.
However when the surgeon came round to see me first she decided to try and burst it without surgery-which I was glad about.
Anyway she did the job, and I was back home by 7.30pm.
It feels much easier today and I feel better today than I have for sometime.
Hopefully it has done the trick--they are sending the swabs off to see what sort of antibiotics will be best to treat me with in the future.

I'm going to have an easy week.I didn't go to the market today- I had a lovely lie in til 10.30am and then this afternoon I re-did an old oil painting
.Its a couple of years old and had got a bit scuffed in places-from taking it in and out of bubble wrap bags at shows-not really noticeable but I knew they were there.
I ended up completly re painting it and Im very pleased with the results.

Todays Class--April 10th "Yesterday"

We had a lovely time in class today painting "Yesterday"
Gill came along for the first time with Karen who was painting her third picture with me.
Dave was with us for the second time.
We met Dave on the market a few weeks ago.
He had been painting at home for a while,and thought his results were quite good.
However he said that after coming to the Mellow Moods class he could see a big difference in his work, and he had gone back and painted 4 more versions of Mellow Moods after class!.
As I tell the students-the classes are all about learning how to use the materials-NOT producing a carbon copy of my painting.
Its about learning what a bashing brush will do and how to create water with a fan brush, what effect a tickling brush will do etc etc.
Thats why all of my painting subjects all have something different to learn in them and why I teach oil, acrylic and mixed media classes.
Tim has been twice before and used oils and oil and acrylic-but today was his first complete acrylic class.
He found it really different to before and didnt really like it at first as it dryed so quickly!
I got the acrylic medium out for everyone to use-it helps the paint flow and stay wet a bit longer.Then once we got the second coat on everyone found it easier.
We had some stunning effects-some used the orange/reds some the blues/purples and some the browns and creams.
The metallic paint we used on the water was also used at the end to add highlights to the trees that some of the students put in.
Gill added a golden moon in the metallic paint which tied in the sky and water nicely--and Kaitlyn added a lovely moon using the violet metallic paint.
Its a shame the effect dose not show up well in the photos.However the students will all see just how the paintings change in the different light as the day goes on.
It was difficult to get everyone together for the photos as the large canvas take up so much room!
Wont be long til Im in bed now--got to be up early tomorrow to be on the book and craft market.

Muxton Ladies Club

After a very busy day on the market we packed up slightly earlier than normal to get home and pack the car for the demo at Muxtons Ladies Club in Telford.
I knew they had around a hundred members and that made it the biggest group I had done a demo for--I wasnt nervous untilo i walked in and saw all the chairs put out--Bill said "what time does the film start then?" to one of the ladies who had opened up the room!
It soon filled up and to my suprise a lady came over and said she had been to one of my classes last year! After a moment I reconised her-I have a terrible memory for faces-but I do meet sooooo many people during the year at classes ,markets and other events I think I can be excused!
Val had been to paint the birches after we met her at Welland Steam rally.She quickly went through my photograph album which contains the pics of all my students and their paintings, and was proudly showing everyone around!
They were a great bunch of ladies and we had lots of laughs while I recounted various things that had happened since I had started painting.
The paintings came along quickly as usual-though it took much longer to walk round after each one was finished and show the ladies in close up just how much detail was put in with little effort!
They were all amazed at the reflections in the water of The Waterfall, and the poppies and waves on the Summer day.
While we were there I had a message of little Kaitlyns mum booking her in for another 8 classes!
Margret won the raffle and chose The Waterfall, a lady nicknamed Stan won the Summer Day painting and as they were such a large group I donated an extra prize of a gift Voucher which was won by Rozanne.
All in all it was a brilliant evening-we all enjoyed it-we got home at turned 11pm completly tired out and slept like logs!
Im sure we will be seeing some of the ladies again-there was lots of interest in classes.

Busy Times!

We are starting back on the regular Wednesday market tomorrow. We have got everything ready for an early start. We have done a couple of Sunday ones which were quite busy , but are not expecting to be rushed off our feet on the Wednesday one just yet!
There may be some visitors still around though-you never know what the day will bring!
We will be packing up a bit earlier than usual because I have a demo to do tomorrow night in Telford for a ladies club. Its one of the biggest so far with 100 members--I'm sure it wont be much different to doing one in front of 30 !
I have spent an hour getting my bags ready--its surprising how many bags we get through with sales of cards etc when we do these events!
Ive also got my photograph album up to date with all the students photos--people love to see just what is achieved in the classes and it gives them the encouragement to join up for a class themselves when they can actualy see the the paintings done in class.
Ive got a full class on saturday and we are on the market again on Sunday, so a busy week for us.

The Sunshine After The Rain class Oct 30th--New Subject

Im introducing another new class subject for this year.
The Sunshine After The rain shows the sunshine breaking through the trees after a shower of rain, the puddles of water shimmer and shine in the light.
We use a black canvas to paint in oils on.
I think this will prove to be a popular subject so please book early to ensure a place.
contact me through the website
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

New Sunflowers class Nov 6th

After saturdays sucessful class I have have set another date for The Sunflowers-- Nov 6th.
We will use oils on a 12in x 24in chunky canvas.
If you would like to join this class which is suitable for all ages including first timers and children please contact me via the website
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

New dates for classes

I have just updated the classes until Oct 9th.
There are a couple of new classes which will be interesting to do. If you check out the website
www.paintingmyway.co.uk
there will be details of how many places are left etc.
You can also now book and pay online for classes--you will have a choice of paypal or cheque when you press the buy now button.
Please include your phone number so I can contact you if need be.

Mystical Moon class -April 17th acrylic

I have a few places left for this popular class-we use acrylic paint on a 12in x 24in chunky canvas.
The sides can be painted in class and its dry for you to take home.
We use a special metallic paint to highlight the foliage and the moon.
A choice of colours in class-purple, blue or grey.

for more details or to book please check out the website
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Summer Day class-April 24th

I have 2 places left in this popular class--you will use oils and a variety of brushes and techniques including a knife.
check put the website for more details
www.paintingmyway.co.uk

Forest Pool class May 1st--oil

I still have a few places left in this class. We use oils on a black canvas.
Its suitable for all ages and abilities-including first timers.
You will learn to use a variety of brushes and techniques during the 4 hour workshop
please check out the website for more details

www.paintingmyway.co.uk