All Sorts!

We spent last weekend at Much Marcle Steam Rally...

The space we had was good---but that was as far as it goes....written complaints going in to the chairman of the show..

With the weather being as beautiful as its been we have been able to sit down outside every evening and watch the fish in the pond....they all have their little characters  and its fascinating to watch them in action! All the new ones have settled in lovely and some have been pairing up !

The bottom layer of the garden is looking good...very colourful--the sweet peas are coming into flower and are smelling beautiful!

The calla Lily that Becky bought Bill many years ago has started to flower--its looking quite pretty with more flowers appearing each day!

I had little Tommy this morning while his mummy went to work...he made himself comfortable in his pushchair and went to sleep-legs up over the bar in his pushchair bless him...we went to visit my Mum who lives just round the corner from him and had a lovely time...

The water lilies are starting to bloom, colour isn't showing up great in this picture--but some are pink and some a beautiful cream colour...

I'm so chuffed----my orchids have flowered again! they usually die after flowering with me LOL--but I have learnt not to water them very often and it seems to be the secret...my other orchid is not far behind either

What A Day!!!!!!!!

I bought Bill a flying lesson voucher from nearby Shobdon airfield in 2007 for Christmas,,,,it got mislaid for several years and came back to light recently...so Bill booked up for a flight in a couple of weeks time as they were very busy! Then last night he had a call to say there had been a cancellation and he could go today at 1.30pm..So off we went with our friends Marion and Phil....ideal weather for it--we all sat in the sun waiting for Bill to fly away!

The little 2 seater plane

must admit I didn't fancy going up--the cockpit was tiny!

Bill got in there quite easily! Getting out was another matter LOL

Got some cracking shots of Ludlow---

cant believe how big it looks from the air!

to the left of this picture is Greenacres and the light coloured field is the one we look out on from our house..

brilliant view!

WOW!

Booking in was done here!

Bill had a lovely certificate to show he had flown the plane!

We came home for a lovely BBQ to find a message from one of my students saying she had some fish for our pond--we had seen her and her hubby on Wednesdays market and she mentioned she would have to get rid of the fish as her pond had started leaking.. so off we went to their house after the BBQ to collect them! All 57 of them!!!!!!! All shapes and sizes including some tiny fry..some real beauties they are!

ready to go in,..

swimming away happily

The large ghost koi is called Patrick--after Patrick Swiz of the film Ghost fame..

some beautiful big shubumkins..

the big koi is called Inky because he looks like he has ink spots on him...they all seem to have settled down OK,,,the filter will have to be cleaned out more often now no doubt but it will be so worth it...they are a beautiful sight! All in all a  very busy day--all quite unexpected..but what fun we have had! A tiring weekend ahead-- we are off to set up my display at Much Marcle Steam show tomorrow ready for the weekend show...never done this one before--so am hoping it will be a good one--the sun will be shining at least and we will be taking the  fan with us to keep us cool in the marquee..Im really looking forward to it!

The Waterfall Workshop July 13th

We had a lot of fun on Saturday,,one of my students Anne had to arrive early as her hubby had to be somewhere else, so she came to the house at 8am ,,,it was lovely to have a chat while getting ready to go to class...and she was a huge help helping me unload the van at the other end!  When we started the class I showed a few different ways of creating the initial background...it was amazing to see how Megan's background took on the form of a moth! Tony however could see a werewolf in Janes background--however-none of us could see it! It was a smallish class with 7 students--3 of them had been once before and 4 newbies--all of whom I had met at either Shobdon or Bromyard show in the previous weeks...

Jane's painting was very quiet and tranquil..it was hard to believe that she had not painted since school.

Carrie has painted before using water mixable oils so this was a new experience for her and she loved it...

Tony was I think, a little sceptical that he would be able to achieve anything any good in the class--however he was amazed-as were all the students by their results,-they all followed my instructions well and we had most of the painting done by 12pm when we stopped for lunch,

I loved Ann's mackerel sky background..it created a lot of depth in her painting..

Emily soon got the hang of the 'bush' brush and had some beautiful effects happening!

Teressa seemed to find it easy going! Beautiful!

I love the beautiful vibrant results achieved by Megan..she just has to add the water lines and the moon to her painting

Jane's finished picture..the rays from the moon give it quite a spiritual feel I think!

Carries finished painting--love how she added the moon peeping out from behind the tree..

Tony used quite a limited palette  in his picture and it worked really well...

Ann's painting also used a limited palette, love her waterfall with the splashes,-we wiped out a little of her branch on the tree after because it looked as though the moon was balancing on it--but it only took seconds to rectify-which is the beauty of oils!

Teresa's painting was quite vibrant, loved the colours--and the waterfall is just perfect!

Emily did so well..she had a huge boot on her foot/leg as she had a stress fracture! I was amazed she was able to stand to do this beautiful picture!

Well done everyone--will look forward to seeing you all again!

Anne came home with us as Martin couldn't pick her up til later-- It was lovely to sit by the pond having a Pimms or 2 and put the world to rights!  We both felt like we had known each other for years! It was lovely to see Martin and her 2 sons reaction to her painting--they were all chuffed with it! We will see Anne again for the Serenity painting in 2 weeks!

New Workshop... Oriental Dawn

I have added a new workshop to this years dates--Saturday 14th Sept we will be painting "Oriental Dawn" in oils on either a 16" x20" or a 20" x 16" canvas .
Its not a brand new subject actualy--I used to teach it quite a few years ago! A nice easy one to do- you will learn a variety of techniques and learn to use several different brushes-including the 'bashing' brush and the 'tickling' brush..check out the website  and see what else is coming up....www.paintingmyway.co.uk

There are only a few places left on the new abstract workshop on 28th Sept -"Around The Twist" --this will be a great fun one to do--something a little different to the usual paintings I teach!

There will be a wide variation of styles to do--and the paintings will be very individual...Im really looking forward to this one!

Bromyard Gala and Home...

It was really roasting hot in the marquee on Sunday...

but a nice cold pint soon cooled us down!

some great music all weekend...

then back home to sit by the pond and relax with a drink or three and watch the fish! The pond is completely clear now..

they are all looking good and healthy...

as the night gets darker we switch on the underwater lights--and the fish get so excited by them-so funny to watch them swimming around chasing one another in the light!

and my new optic fibre lights look just beautiful swaying in the gentle breeze...