Creating :: Art Class in a Box #3 ... The Winter Wreath

Hi there everyone 😃

It was Saturday a couple of weeks ago and  the forecast was a shocker ... heavy rain all day ... not only was the forecast a shocker it was spot on ... it was definitely not a gardening day?

I decided I was going to make the most of it and started off by getting my favourite ginger cake in the oven, before getting the dining table set up for a watercolour session ...

We’d been waiting for the right time to crack on with the next of the projects from our January Art Class in a Box and it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

This was the project I was most looking forward to completing ... and was the one that had really driven me to buying the kit ... the winter flower wreath ...

I was really drawn to the colours ... though I have to say that what I ended up with wasn’t quite as planned.

We traced the design onto our paper and, as we hadn’t done any florals before, we started off with a bit of a practice ...

It’s only our third attempt at water colours and already we’ve learned that how ever things look early on you need to stick with it ... as it’s only when you’ve finished you can really see how you’ve done ... if it doesn’t look quite right there are ways and means of pulling it back ...

The roses were a bit tricky and the colour of the petunias wasn’t quite right ... a bit too red ... but once we started to put the leaves in it did start to come together ...

I was quite chuffed with the final result ...

As was Martin ... who had been really frustrated with his first petunia and was almost on the edge of packing in or starting again ...

We just have one project left to complete ... the duck ... which looks pretty tricky, but who knows ... we’ve done all right so far.

I have to say it is the most relaxing way to spend an afternoon ... we just got all set up, stopped and started the YouTube tutorial and took our time.

We have had another play since ... working through a few Youtube tutorials ...

We’d definitely made the best of a bleak and miserable day and there was still ginger cake to be sampled 😜

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Random Ramblings :: A Lockdown Valentines

Hi there everyone 😃

For the last few years we’ve tried to do something special on Valentine’s Day. Last year we had a short break in Windsor, in 2019 we had a day out at Clumber Park and in 2018 we went out for lunch and did some antique shop mooching.

This year was a bit different ... with no excursions on the cards ... though we did have a go at something new.

Remember the Art Class in a Box I treated myself to with my Christmas money ...

Well ... last week I finally unboxed it all and had a good look at what was included ...

Then Martin and I had our first go at painting since leaving school many moons ago ... 

We completed a practice tutorial and both of us really enjoyed having a go ...

We didn’t have anything planned for Valentine’s Day other than a meal for two for £15 from Tesco. The weather was a bit rubbish so we decided to have a go at the first of the projects in the kit ...

It was a moonlit forest and we started with a colour washed sky, with a lifted moon ...

We then added a smattering of stars and a pine forest before finishing with a final colourwash in the foreground ...

After peeling away the Washi tape we were both quite impressed with our efforts, though they were a little different ...

I was so excited that I commandeered a frame from the lounge just to see what it looked like ...

I think I might just be a little bit hooked and am already imagining this year's Christmas cards.

We’d both really enjoyed having a go ... it was a really relaxing way to spend an hour or so and we are both really looking forward to having a go at the next project ... which looks a bit trickier. I couldn’t resist having another play though ... just with a simple graded wash background with some hydrangea flowers from the garden that I pressed last autumn ...

Our Tesco meal for two wasn’t quite as planned ... our starter, our main, one of our sides and our dessert were all substituted 🙈. I have to say though ... whoever had been picking and packing didn’t do badly at all.

Our starter should have been a Smoked Salmon and Watercress Tartlet and we ended up with Smoked Salmon Sliced Crescents ...

Our main should have been Pesto & Parmigiana Breaded Chicken, accompanied by Leeks, Petit Pois & Cabbage and Dauphinoise Potatoes. We actually ended up with Chicken Parmigiana, Petit Pois, Leeks & Pancetta ... we did get the Dauphinoise ...

for dessert we should have been eating Millionaire’s Tarts ... we actually ended up with Chocolate & Orange Cake Slices ...

The prosecco was as it should have been.

Overall it was all very tasty and hardly any effort to put together at all.

We spent our evening watching Dancing on Ice, wondering what on Earth they will do if anyone else drops out, followed by Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

Oh ... and this little fella appeared ...

An all together fairly relaxing kind of day 💜

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