Melanie’s July Monthly News

Welcome to Melanie’s July monthly news, another month has flown by again and here we are with lots more photos and news. Lily and myself have still been doing our early morning trundles down the lane and have come across some amazing sights on our travels. My favourite photo so far is the one below. The sun is coming up on a beautiful day with the blue sky and haze lifting. You can just about see Lily in the scene too. What could be better!

Melanie’s July Monthly News
Melanie’s July Monthly News

The photo below was just a little further up the lane, the grass has really been growing fast in the middle of the track too, as very little traffic goes along there, particularly this year!

Lane walk
Lane walk

When you get to the top gateway there is a lovely view across a very pretty field. The owners let the grass and hedges grow to encourage wildlife which is wonderful. I often see a variety of birds along there including Stonechats, Bull finches, Black Caps and a wide array of butterflies and moths. The whole walk is a pure slice of heaven.

Top of the lane view
Top of the lane view

On the way home I took a photo of a field with the grass cut ready to collect for silage. The grass almost mimicking waves breaking gently on a beach.

Melanie’s July Monthly News
Melanie’s July Monthly News – Cut field of Grass

Melanie’s July Monthly News – Newport

Retrictions have eased here a little in Wales, we have been behind England and Scotland. So when the travel restrictions ended, our first day out was to our favourite place called Newport (Pembs). Photo below of Nicholas and Lily on a lovely seat along the way.

Nicholas and Lily
Nicholas and Lily

The photo below shows one of the views from the seat above looking across the estuary. The tide was well and truly out that day!

Newport Pembs
Newport Pembs

Mwnt

Another day out that we took when the travel restrictions ended was to a coastal visit to a lovely place called Mwnt. We have been many times before and have mentioned it here on our blog, but it is such an amazing place its always worth another mention. Mwnt church is a 13th century Grade 1 listed building and is so well looked after. Worth visiting if you are heading to Wales.

Mwnt Church
Mwnt Church

We love taking lily for a stroll when we are there and you can see the direction we were heading! The weather was beautiful and the sky was so blue, although we have had our fair share of rain this year too!

Lily at Mwnt
Lily at Mwnt

Melanie’s July Monthly News – Laugharne

We love heading to little coastal towns and Laugharne is on the estuary just west of our nearest main town of Carmarthen. It is such a pretty place to visit. We had a picnic in the car and a stroll around the base of the castle following a circular walk there.

Laugharne
Laugharne

As we strolled around the walkway, we happened upon a boat full of flowers which was very pretty. Laugharne is another great place to visit made famous of course by ‘Keeping Faith’, the excellent welsh TV show and of course course its connections with Dylan Thomas!

Walk at Laugharne
Walk at Laugharne

Melanie’s July Monthly News – Garden

I have found it difficult to keep up with the garden this year with things being busty here however it seems to be growing well. The squash are thriving, the runner beans and climbing and the tomatoes and cucumbers are gradually growing fruit. We have only harvested a few peas so far but giving it all time is key. We need a few more days of full sunshine really to bring everything on well.

Squash
Squash

Our buhsy tomatoes are doing well although no flowers quite yet.

Tomatoes
Tomatoes

The pond is looking wonderful at the moment too and we have had a number of Lily flowers which are stunning. I hope you enjoy the two photos of a couple of them below.

Lillies
Lillies
Lillies in the pond
Lillies in the pond

Lilys Birthday

Lily turned 7 this year and we just cant believe how fast the years and flown by. It seems like only yesterday when we collected her as a tiny puppy. She loves opening presents and so I wrapped a toy and some treats for her. First photo below is her tearing the paper….

Lily's Birthday
Lily’s Birthday

…then she found the toy inside!!! Such a spoilt little girl, she has a heap of toys to last a lifetime!

Lily's Birthday with toys
Lily’s Birthday with toys

The Pet Portrait of Lucy

Work has been busy this month and Nicholas has completed two beautiful paintings. The first below is of a dog called Lucy for returning clients. I will be adding Lucy to our website in my next round of updates. The painting was stunning and our clients Tracy and Paul were delighted as you can read below……

The Pet Portrait of Lucy
The Pet Portrait of Lucy
Detail of Lucys Pet Portrait
Detail of Lucys Pet Portrait
Lucys portrait framed
Lucys portrait framed
Lucy's portrait with the previous painting we completed for the family
Lucy’s portrait with the previous painting we completed for the family

Dear Melanie and Nicholas,

Your portrait of our Lucy arrived last week in perfect condition.
It took us a few days to choose a display location as we wanted Lucy’s portrait and the portrait you painted several years ago of, our dear Curly, to be displayed side by side.

As before, we’re overwhelmed by how Nicholas is able to bring the photographs of our beloved companions to life on canvas.  Lucy’s eyes (like Curly’s) are full of the love she gave everyone.  Thank you!

We’ve always believed rescue dogs, like Curly and Lucy, deserve the best of everything in their second life and your portraits certainly exemplify this motto.

We couldn’t be happier and as we mentioned before, we will always return for memorials of our sweet companions.  

So, PLEASE never contemplate any retirement plans!

Thank you again!  Yours sincerely,
Tracy and Paul Maguire

The Pet Portrait of Nell

Clients Tracy and Kevin came to visit us before lockdown to bring Nell to be photographed at our studio. We absolutely love meeting our clients and their pets as we don’t always get a chance. We work with clients from all over the world so we rarely get a chance to meet up.

Nell was a very well behaved and gorgeous dog, she modelled beautifully. Nicholas thoroughly enjoyed painting her, you can see the oil painting below which was a 12 x 10 on Italian Linen canvas.

When the painting was complete, Tracey and Kevin very kindly took the photo below for us to use on our website and I will be adding it there very soon!

Nell with her portrait

Finally we hope that you have enjoyed viewing all of the photos from our little travels this month along with the artwork too. If you missed our last monthly blog post you can read it here – Melanie’s June Monthly News. Keep safe everyone!

Are you enjoying our blog? Why not sign up to our Melanie’s Monthly News, which comes right into your inbox each month! You can sign up at the bottom of our website or at the top of the blog. Please don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel too. You are more than welcome to comment below, we love hearing from our readers!

13 thoughts on “Melanie’s July Monthly News

  1. Hi Melanie and Nicholas

    Gosh, these paintings are stunning.
    The dogs all dressed up, wow, the details are so fine, I can imagine plenty of eye strain creating the hat with bobbles and cape!
    Quite different.

    Lovely photographs too.

    Kind regards
    Angela Burt

    1. Hi Angela,

      Thank you so much for your lovely message and kind words about the portraits. Glad that you enjoyed seeing the photos too! Very kind of you to say!!! 🙂 🙂

      Melanie xxx

  2. What an amazing group of photos! I feel like I’m there walking down that lane. Thanks for posting them.

    1. Hi Melanie and Nicolas by way what a beautiful work on the paintings. I so enjoy you your photos of you and lily truly loves extraordinary. An extra treat are photos of you and the idyllic countryside so comforting and beautiful, makes one want to relocate to Wales. Happy birthday to lily. A specific and heart full sincere thankful to you Melanie for th tip
      you gave me about background shading it has helped enormously helpful. I have been so happy that with your tip. Thank you much. Please keep taking great photos of your beautiful country. I being from a bucolic origin am so interested in people and interaction with their rural connection. Eg, The grass hay photo
      Keep it up great newsletter.

      1. Hi Bob,

        I am thrilled that you loved viewing our paintings and the photos of our countryside walks. It’s great that you look forward to reading them. I am also thrilled that the tip on drawing was helpful for you too! We will keep taking photos when we are out and about, not so far afield as usual at the moment but i’m sure as things relax here we will venture further soon!

        Thank you for your lovely message Bob

        Melanie x

  3. Wonderful pictorial record, thanks for taking us along on your walks. What a magical place to call home!

    p.s. Nell portrait is so beautiful, and how nice to see the model herself too.

    1. Hi Kathleen,

      I am thrilled that you enjoyed viewing the photos this month! Also that you loved the painting of Nell. We hope that you are keeping well and surviving these crazy times. Sending very best wishes to you and your family.

      Melanie x

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.