Welcome to Melanie’s May Monthly News. Another month has flown by and we have been getting up to quite a lot this month, with a few days out, lots of running and plenty of portraits being created. The first portrait is an 18 x 14 pencil drawing of a gorgeous cat called Swiffer. It headed over to the USA and my client was thrilled….
That is beautiful, Melanie! I love it, and looking forward to seeing it in person!I do not see anything that needs changed. It will fit great in my new home. Thank you so much for creating such a beautiful and realistic portrait of my Swiffer!
Haviland
Melanie’s May Monthly News – Margam Country Park
This month we met up with friends at Margam Country Park and it was fantastic! A wonderful place to visit if you are in Wales. Very family friendly and you only have to pay to park. We had a lovely wander around, saw some farm animals and picnicked. The trees were really quite large and some were beautiful.
The tree below is the Chapter House Beech Tree which won a Tree of the Year and you can read about it on the BBC news Website – Wales Tree of the Year. The tree is a Fern Leafed Beech tree, ornamental and highly unusual. Apparently TV shows have been filmed around it including Dr Who!
My favourite tree and view of the day. Isn’t it stunning!
My friends 8yr old daughter decided to collect daisies while we were on our picnic, so as to make Lily look even more beautiful! She succeeded in her task! Lily took it all in her stride. She was very good, also I think she was more intent on watching everyone eating their sandwiches!!
She had a really lovely day and Emily had bought Lily a new toy, which is a pug dog. You can’t really see the front of the toy below, however Lily played with it when we got home and took it to the sofa with her to sleep. How cute!
Pet Portrait in Oil of Denny
This painting of Denny was completed earlier this year, however we have been waiting for the frame to be made and it finally was completed this month. We love the frame, it goes so well with the painting of Denny. It was a 12 x 10 oil which Nicholas completed and has just headed over the the USA. We hope you like it as much as our client Yunni did!
I love it thank you so much. It looks perfect, love the painting and the frame.
Yunni
Melanie’s May Monthly News – The Cottage Garden
The front garden pots are also starting to look lovely and most are flowering. I haven’t had so much time for the garden this year so it has really had to fend for itself. Luckily it seems to be doing well under it’s own guidance.
It’s lovely to see the geraniums growing well, this one is also starting to flower, a very light pink.
Of course plenty of weeds have been growing ahead of me, however the weather here has been wet and warm. It’s not only good for the garden but good for the weeds too! Although we have had some terribly cold days and cold winds which have hampered garden activities this month.
I love perennials, plants that come back year after year where I don’t have to do anything with them as such. This beautiful Delphinium attracts the bees and you can spot one below. I actually think he was sunbathing… or perhaps napping….!!
Oil Painting of Shadow and Moose
The oil painting of Shadow and Moose was completed in May for a special birthday for our client in the USA. The painting was completed by Nicholas at our 18 x 14 size in oils on canvas. Brian was delighted with the painting and was able to take a photo of the recipient, Jen with both Shadow and Moose too! We absolutely love it and cant thank Brian enough for taking it for us so that we can show it on our website an blog! Thank you Brian!
Melanie and Nicholas!
Here is Jen, Moose, and Shadow with your BEAUTIFUL portrait. Thank you again for your hard work, everyone is envious and my brother may be reaching out to get a portrait of his cat! You two made this process so simple and we are so happy with it all turned out!
Cheers,Brian
I used our new packaging for Shadow and Moose, you can see below. I have however, chosen a new colour range of packaging for the oil paintings, just to keep them separate from the drawings. We will reveal all soon!
Chicks… and Chickens!!
The baby chicks are growing fast! This is a photo of Daisy. She is a Cream Legbar hen and is growing her topknot feathers beautifully. They are now living outside, however still separated from my other two hens snowy and Honey. Snowy incidentally has been quite naughty recently…
Can you spot a naughty chicken in my garden??
When I came over to see her, she ducked her head down as if to say.., I’m not here!!
She had settled down right in the middle of my geranium outside the studio. If you are thinking… ‘She must want to lay an egg!’ I know that she didn’t want to lay, as she had already laid that morning as I happened to catch her getting off the nest! They are so comical and keep us entertained daily.
Logs..Logs & More Logs!
This month has been all about logs. My task was to consolidate all of the logs we had in the sheds from last winter and then stack logs from two bays we stacked last year at the bottom of the garden. It was a lot of wheelbarrows and took a number of days to stack! We should have plenty of logs to keep us warm this winter. Nicholas is still splitting and stacking the trees we have had cut down from Ash die back. I can start to stack those in our sheds next year!
Melanie’s May Monthly News – Still Running…..
This month, apart from still training for our half marathon, we did the Park Run in Aberystwyth. The photo below shows me in mid air, taken by a park run volunteer. My time was 28.38 for the 5k so I am improving each time. After our half marathon next month, we will all go again and see if we can beat our times.
The photo of us all below is Sue, Harvey, myself and Sarah! Can’t wait to go again!
We hope you have enjoyed Melanie’s May Monthly News. If you missed last months and you would like to see the chicks as babies, head on over to Melanie’s April Monthly News. They are very cute and worth taking a peak at!!
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