Valet and Easel

Last week the weather wasn't reliable enough to go for my bike ride. So, I replaced the pedal power with wax-on, wax-off power and gave my car a full valet instead. To be honest a bike ride would have been much quicker but I do feel I've burned off more calories with all the bending and stretching and scrubbing - plus the car looks a lot better for it. My custom-built easel has finally been removed from the boot too - which means I can put the back seats up. This too got a scrub down and I've almost removed most of the oil paint from it (the easel, not the boot). I'll be favouring the stand up easel over the table-top easel for the next few days in my private classes. I should really use this beautiful easel more often when I am at home.

Word Searches

People find my website by a variety of ways. When I view my statistics I'm often smiling at the wierd combination of word searches that seem to pull up my website. Yesterday I had a hit from someone searching 'where to get a tattoo of husband's name'. Another hit came from 'arabic lettering'. A third hit came from 'dip in horizon'. Just a handful of examples for you, and I'll make a point in future to mention further bizarre search words.

Same composition, different method

Sometimes in a class, depending on the type of painting we are doing, I can offer students a variety of colour schemes. Unfortunately, this is not one of those times. I just thought I'd show you 'Serengeti Solitude'. I'm sure you're thinking it's exactly the same as the painting below, only a different colour and a different sized canvas. In part you'd be correct in your assumption, but the two paintings are made in entirely different ways. Which one do you prefer? I think my preference would be the blue.... Aren't those acacia trees just something? They remind me of the Cedar, the emblem on the Lebanese National Flag.

Woops - a - daisy !

I had a bit of an accident when hanging the Serengeti painting up to dry. I have several nails in walls around the house and that's where my wet paintings get sometimes get hung, plus it gives me a chance to live with them for a bit. I gallery wrapped this painting (or, in layman's terms, I painted around the edges). Just as this painting was in position it slipped from my hands it hit the lounge carpet on it's side and then fell face down. A bit like buttered toast really. Did I panic? Nope! Out came Grandma's Secret Spot Remover and within seconds the BLACK oil paint was removed from the carpet. But that wasn't all.......I had a big black smudge across the front of the painting. So out came my trusty wipe out tool. Off came the smudge and it was soon repaired and back to normal again. If this happens to you - for £5.50 the spot remover will take out paint stains from clothes and furnishings and for £5.99 the wipe-out tool will take out any random blobs from your paintings. You can see a little indentation on the bottom picture that was caused by pressure - this will become flat again as the painting dries out.

Class Subjects - new additions

Some new class dates have been added to the Class Timetable, along with some new class subjects. Here's one I have recently finished, entitled 'Serengeti Sunrise'. This painting was very nearly giraffes........in fact, I still might do a giraffe one.

Anniversary September Class

I've had a little change of mind. I've realised next month celebrates the 6th anniversary of the first time I ever seriously dabbled with oil paints. It's the month I created the first ever oil painting I sold at exhibition too. That painting was 'Peach Dawn' and it was my version of a Bob Ross painting project. Earlier this week I just felt like painting it again - for old time's sake. I had a biggy and a little 'un on the go at the same time. Anyway's, I digress, I'm going to make 'Peach Dawn' our Spetember painting subject at Capel St Mary Village Hall on Sunday 13th. If you'd like to coma along and paint this pretty scene, do give me a call on 01473 311938 or drop me a line on info@ayoubart.co.uk This painting was life-changing for me. Who knows, it might just change your life too.......

Lets get Tropical, Tropical

A woman's perogative - I've made a couple of changes to my Class Timetable. I'm changing this month's painting subject at The Green Room (Saturday July 25th) and next month's painting subject at Capel St Mary Village Hall (Sunday August 16th). I've been influenced by a couple of things: 1) The rather hot weather we've been experiencing the last few days and 2) The photos from my daughter's holiday. She spent a couple of weeks in the Caribbean and during that time she took a boat trip to Paradise Island. Fingers crossed the sun will be shining and the windows and doors will be flung open when we paint this. If you'd like to come along do give me a call on 01473 311938 or drop me a line on info@ayoubart.co.uk There's a couple of new techniques involved, just to keep you on your toes. You can see a much larger image of this painting in the Class Subject's Gallery HERE