A place to paint - my new workshop

What a lovely weekend - loads of sunshine, perfect weather, and now I have a new painting workshop too !!

Up until now I have been working in my 'What I call' den - a sort of large shed at the bottom of the garden. This is great but my problem is that half of my work involves sawing things up and sanding  (so loads of sawdust) and the other half painting (sawdust not welcome !!). So I have been rotating between the two jobs - a week of sawing and sanding / a week of painting.

I needed a (cheap) place to paint, and I have been thinking about a tent as a possibility for a while. Still quite expensive though and also I needed one I could walk around in. Then over the weekend I discovered the base tent that halfords make - it's only £40 and huge - loads of space to paint and loads of headroom - really pleased with it :) (Let's hope it's waterproof !!)

Alton Craft Market - First fair of the year :)

First craft market of the year today, at Alton in Hampshire. The market is run superbly by the local Lions and you can find more information about the market on the website

http://www.altoncraftmarket.co.uk/

We arrived (me and middle son) at around 8am and were shown to our pitch which was down a small street connecting the high street to the market square. We set up fairly quickly and it was great to have Jack with me to help unload.

The morning was quite slow - the weather was a bit overcast and cold - but once lunch time approached things picked up nicely with a steady stream of customers and the sun came out. The market is put on at the same time as the Farmers Market which means there are plenty of people mooching around.

We got some great feedback on the products and sold a fair few items too (Chalkboards proving to be very popular). All in all a successful first outing and feeling a bit tired now.

I look forward to being back in Alton in May.