Country Living

I have not had a chance to think never mind write my blog this week! It has been an exciting week at the Country Living Show in London,  5 days demonstrating each day from 9.30 till 6pm then 9pm on Wednesday, consequently I needed a catch up day yesterday to answer all my mail and recover!
I met hundreds of would-be painters, all wanting me to show them various painting techniques and tips, I think the most popular were the chickens! Yep, chickens were big at the CL Show.

In fact there seem to be more chickens on aprons, mugs and tea cosies than anything else. No sooner had I painted one than someone else arrived and said... I missed it..... paint me one too! Each chicken is unique of course, well indeed each chicken naturally is, but I used my wonderful Pyramid brush which made them so easy to paint.
Another popular subject were the Iris, and using the same brush I mould the flowers creating lovely expressive shapes in seconds. No drawing is needed, you just choose a starting point and go for it!  

Painting should be about having fun, and hopefully I inspired some new painters to have a go!

A hectic week

My feet have not touched the ground this last week!
I seem to have spent quite a bit of time sitting in traffic getting to and from workshops and demos, nearly getting stranded in the snow but escaping and reaching home at 1am! those are the times when I just hope the phone doesn't ring early the next day.
I seem to have done mainly figures and townscapes which I always enjoy. This is what I did with the group in Salisbury yesterday. We began by painting some small figures to loosen up, then the figures became larger and a bit more tricky. We also practised wet in wet backgrounds which look easy, but goodness how those paints can move! This was the scene we all painted using a photo as reference of a street in Mousehole in Cornwall. We did our final painting in just  2 hours in the afternoon.

This was the first time they had ever organised a workshop and the organisers were a bit nervous. The pressure was on them for everyone to have a good day, and of course succeed. luckily by the of the day many were saying 'when can we have another one!' which was great.
I then travelled yesterday evening to  Wareham on the South Coast, where I did two demos, one of a group of figures and the other of a crowded London street scene. Another busy day!

Exmouth Demonstration

I know you want to see what I pained for the Exmouth Art Society, but first I must just tell you about a lovely place to have a meal. As I needed to be at the venue for 9.00am we travelled down the night before and stayed in Topsham. Its a wonderful little place, lots of atmosphere, old boats, quaint buildings and a fab restaurant called 'The Galley' which specialises in sea food and overlooks the harbour. The head chef is Ed McLachlan (Masterchef's apprentice winner 2009) the meal was delicious, very memorable and well worth a visit.
Anyway, back to the painting, the Exmouth group were lovely, very welcoming, a friendly group who seem to enjoy rather delicious biscuits as well as painting.
They had asked for a coastal scene with boats, and this is what I painted for them.

A splash of fun 12 x 16 inches
 

Thank you to all of you who sat so quietly throughout while I chatted away!

After the 2 hour demo we headed for Budleigh Salterton where we walked on the beach, took some photos and narrowly missed getting a parking ticket as we overstayed our time limit in the car park. Back home now with our sea side memories.