The ladies of the Stowmarket WI had a little suprise at last night's oil painting demonstration - so did Alan and I - and so did a lady called Colleen. As my sister and mother live close to the venue and as neither of them had ever seen me give a 'talk' I asked them along as guests. The WI welcomed them into their group and they were already sat down and settled before Alan and I even arrived. I recognised several familiar faces within the audience and was delighted to re-unite with a workmate, Colleen, from my office days, going back a good 10 years or more. Colleen knows me only as a Credit Manager, totally unaware of my artist alter ego. So, Colleen's suprise was to see the new me enjoying a very, very different career. Our suprise was the fact that it was the Stowmarket WI's 25th Anniversary. Instead of the usual tea and cakes we had champagne and celebration cake (much to the delight of Alan who somehow managed to find himself with 2 glasses of champers.) But I think the best suprise of all was the one I gave the ladies, and hopefully my family too. During the talk I referred to several of my paintings which were on display. I explained how they had come about, the inspiration behind some of them, the simple technique behind others. I was explaining how we would make falling snow and asked the audience if they would like to see a painting with this effect. 'Yes', they enthused......and as I pulled out a painting from behind the table there was a loud 'Ahhhhhhhh'. 'What do you think of this?', I asked. 'Lovely, beautiful....' and several other very positive comments were passed. 'Well', I said, 'This painting isn't mine. This painting is from one of my students. This painting is from someone who defied me to get a decent picture out of her, determined to be my first failure and she's sitting right among you all - my mum!'. I hope the audience reaction confirmed to mum just how far she'd travelled and how well she had done on her art journey.
Art Instructor