More Class Dates

I've just added some more dates to the painting classes page. There's some special offers on there, there's some shorter and cheaper classes too. Many of you will be interested in another Pop Art class, to be held in the new venue in Stowupland on Tuesday October 12th. Be sure to book in early for that one as I know it will be an opportunity for many of you to produce a very unique portrait in time to give as a Christmas gift. (Ooooops....... did I use that 'C' word a little too early? Only 15 days to go, not that I'm counting.)

The Good Life?

This morning I had some running around to do, delivering art supplies to some more local customers. My last stop was Peggy, and I enjoyed having a leisurely cup of tea with her and her husband John. I took them along a selection of my free range eggs as I know Peggy used to keep chickens when she was younger. I enjoyed swapping gardening tips with John too. I'm getting quite a reputation, not to mention a few nicknames. From Sue 'Have A Cake' Warne to Felicity (as in The Good Life), to name but a couple. This year I hope to grow my own vegetables and this afternoon I shall start propogating my first batches of seeds. Lucky I chatted to John about this, as he has a few of his own beans andseeds to give me - much more personal this way as opposed to buying the seeds over the counter. He did advise me not to bother with the rhubard seeds though - much better to buy a crown apparently. I'll give them a go anyway, but I understand it could well be a couple of years before we enjoy a rhubarb crumble of our own. Hopefully we'll have better and quicker luck with the fruit. With 2 new trees to add to the garden we'll look forward to some Cox's eating apples and some cooking apples.

Once upon a time.....

Way way way back, when I first thought about teaching the wet on wet technique, I had a couple of eager young 'Guinea Pigs' who patiently let me practice with them. Micheala, a young teenager and daughter of a neighbour was enjoying art at High School. Her art lessons with me went hand in hand with her school work. Micheala has now left school and is working, soon to take her driving test too! She has painted a few paintings on her own and given them as gifts to family and friends.

Stacey, another young lady, happily let me try out new subjects on her and her friends a few years ago. She has since painted both privately and in classes. Although she's not attended a class for a couple of years, we met up late last year at an Exhibition. I was stewarding at the time and walked around with her browsing the many works. Stacey had just purchased her house and proudly informed me she had decorated it with her own works of art. 'Sue', she said, 'I learned the technique from you and now I'm painting my way'. Many thanks for your guidance'.

More recently, another student has been showing me her 'home' work. Joan has learned the basics and she is now confidently experimenting with all manner of colour and tools. Joan is currently taking part in an Easter Exhibition and has already has sold several of her paintings privately. You can see her Bluebell Wood above.

Regular students, Katie and Des, have made all manner of paintings covering a wide variety of painting subjects. They take what they learn from a class and use it in their own way. You can see examples of their work on their own blogspot showcase here: http://wwwkadeart.blogspot.com/ After learning how to make an animal portrait, Des used the technique and created a wonderful oil painting of their pet cat, Tizzy.

Once the technique and the brushes have been mastered the world is as big as your own imagination. It just goes to show that oil painting really is great fun for everyone and a very rewarding hobby.