Sally Arnold

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T00:08:00.002-05:00

Hope that you all have a very Blessed Christmas!

Thanksgiving and Art

2011-12-05T22:09:00.001-05:00

The Thanksgiving holidays were wonderful with family. We had a crowd with Becky's family and mine along with Pat and Greg joining us. Terry, Jr., Melisa and Michael were with her family this year but we'll all be together at Christmas at Becky's home. As usual the four wheelers got a workout; big kids, little kids, it doesn't matter they love zooming around the property on it. Becky and I can't watch.

Todd, Lori and the girls came up on Wednesday and spent till Sunday. Lots of fun for all of us. Todd took each of the girls deer hunting with him. Lori washed lots of dishes for me, and we all ate and ate and ate. They hiked, played lots of games, and watched movies too.

Alexandria

Bailey

Ava

Bailey busy at work

Alexandria, Bailey and Ava's Artist Trading Cards

Lori and Ava getting started

When the girls come up we always have art projects, so this time was no exception. I wanted to try to find something that would be fun for all of them to do together. So I introduced them to artist trading cards. These are little cards 2 1/2" X 3 1/2" that artists paint, collage, draw or whatever they want to do to create what they want to express on the card. Each of them made there own card and we ran out of time or we probably would have made more.

Alex and Todd taking a Break

I got each of them their initial made out of chipboard so they could do whatever they want on it. It can be hung from a ribbon or in a wall grouping of their things. I gathered up all kinds of papers, fabric, sequins and jewels for them to collage with. They bedazzled their letters with all of the embellishments of their choice. Lori helped and we managed to keep everyone on track to complete their artwork. Bailey is the one who really concentrates and plans her project. She really got into it and collaged fabric all over her letter before she started adding other things. I think everyone, even Lori had a good time with the glue and scissors.

Alex wanted to make a Christmas card, Bailey did the frog by the pond, and Ava and Lori did the Princess and paper dolls card. If you have kids of all ages I think they really do get into it once they get started. You can use photographs, magazines, stickers whatever you have on hand, you can even cut just card stock to whatever size you want and let them get started. I assure you it's additive and quiet. Just Google Artist Trading Cards and see what all people do with them. I've done some that are encaustic that I'll post on my artist section.

Creating Art with Citrasolv

2011-11-06T18:07:00.111-05:00

Sustenance 8" X 8" Collage

Magazine sheet Citrisolve applied.

Citrasolv is something that you can play with and create art in many ways. Friends of mine have added the Citrasolv papers to jewelry, boxes, whatever you can dream up. I have tried to use it as inspiration because it is really beautiful, but I've never used the actual papers (you can though). I usually photograph them on various other papers or just paint them using them as inspiration. Everything is one of a kind and it just depends on how you have manipulated it as to what appears. The colors and shapes can be really exciting.

I will describe how I have gone from the first sheet of National Geographic Magazine which I put the Citrasolv solution on, to the finished collage that is 8 X 8 inch gallery wrapped board. I took the altered sheet of NG and photographed it, then I printed it on fiber material sheets. You can find all kinds of papers now that you can print on so try different ones for different effects. After I printed the sheet, I got out my collage papers which are a variety of handmade papers of all types to add to it. I use medium as my adhesive but you can use whatever you are use to working with. You just collage as normal using all of the papers, working them into the design that pleases you. In collage you tear the papers into shapes and adhere them to your substrate, when completed you need to spray the artwork with a UV Spray to protect the colors in the artwork.

Citrasolv is like an orange natural stripper but you use it to disturb the ink on magazine pages, National Geographic works the best, but I have successfully used other magazines. They must have very good ink and paper for them to work. Do this outside and wear old clothes this can be messy and smells like very strong oranges. Use a chip brush or paint brush (mine was 1" wide) and paint plenty of the Citrasolv on the magazine pages, one after another (front and back) and close the book, let it rest for 5 or 10 minutes then put pressure and rolling on the magazine even with a rolling pin or bottle, squish the ink out of the magazine. The pages can be touched and you will see how the ink will react to different things. You can touch the pages together and pull them apart to get neat effects. The binding on the magazine will come apart and the sheets will separate and you lay them out to dry individually, best side up. While the sheets are wet you can press the sheets together and pull them apart, moving the ink around on the page. When they are dry the ink doesn't move around anymore. Also... wear gloves.

Supplies: NG Magazine, Citrasolv CONCENTRATE(Ingle's in the area with ammonia and cleaners be sure you get the concentrate), gloves, chip/paint brush (cheap one); optional supplies after the magazine pages are created are UV Spray, adhesive of your choice, different types of paper to run through the printer.

I loved creating the piece with the Citrasolv, hope you do to!

It's been a long time...

2011-11-06T17:48:00.000-05:00

I went and helped my sister do a program for a garden club last Thursday. Becky's a Master Gardener and will do programs occasionally for the promotion of gardening. So she wanted me to help her do this one on Tussie Mussies. Becky and I went to a book signing for Geraldine Adamich Laufer's book, "Tussie-Mussies: The Victorian Art of Expressing Yourself in the Language of Flowers". This is a beautiful book and we were trying to determine how long ago it was when we had met her. We couldn't believe it had been 18 years ago! My I can't believe we are getting so old.

When I got to Becky's house she had already picked flowers, leaves, berries and herbs for our class. She had florist tape, ribbons and lace to finish them off to perfection so off we went. We had a room full of ladies that were very attentive as Becky talked and then we each made one to explain and show them how. We helped them all make their own Tussie Mussies and met many lovely people and one made me want to start blogging again. I've been doing things lately that you all might enjoy and so I will try to show you what I've been doing.

To make Tussie Mussies all you need is florist tape to wrap the flower stems and then you can add ribbon or lace to decorate it but you really don't need it. The first thing is to select what you want in your center; I usually will use either one flower or three. I always use an odd number. Wrap the stem of your flower down to the length that you want to hold. Then you just keep adding flowers one at a time (and wrapping tape down the stem each time) until you have it like you want. The outer layer can be leaves to help make the flowers stand out. Keep in mind that you can add berries and all kinds of things, let your imagination take over. The wrapping keeps the flower stems from decaying and the little bouquets will last a really long time. Sometimes they even dry out beautifully. Keep them in water, a nice stemmed glass is a great thing to display them in.

Once you get use to making them you will find how easy they are to do with not really very many flowers. I have made alot of wedding bouquets in this manner even using the really nice silk flowers that look real. Hope you enjoy making them as much as I do!

After the Leftovers...

2010-11-28T14:48:00.001-05:00

Hope that all of you had a wonderful Turkey Day. We had one of the best ever! I can't believe that out of a 23 pound turkey there is only a leg left and one thick piece of ham. Don't we all look satisfied... There are a bunch of us.

Well we have had all of the preparations, fellowship, excitement and love of being together, eaten all of the good food, rested; and now what. Today I've just been thinking of all the fun that we had. Memories, hope that you have some good ones too.

Sally...

Just some fun pictures...

2010-11-27T15:56:00.001-05:00

All of our grandkids, mine and Becky's

Michael and Bailey followed by Katie, Stanley & Maddox

Becky and Miles

Pat entertaining Miles

Alex, Michael and Miles (looks like everyone gravitates to the baby)

Katie, Stan and Maddox

Alex relaxing

Alexandria and Miles

Even pretending to drive and ride is fun

Bailey and Ava (2 cuties)

Almost Thanksgiving...

2010-11-23T21:41:00.001-05:00

We came up to the mountains Monday to start preparing for the holiday. Michael came up with us and has been helping Terry with things outside. He's also a deer hunter now, so that has kept him busy every morning and evening. They get that hunting bug and don't get tired of it. He killed his first deer earlier in the season and now knows how much work it is after you kill it, so he is looking for a great big buck, nothing little the next time. I also have gotten chauffered around some since he's now the owner of a learner's license. We had to make a run to the Dollar Store, never gets enough driving time. I'm so proud of him, he is growing into such a fine young man. He is now about 4 inches taller than me, I can't hardly believe it.

Thanksgiving is such an important holiday and it really doesn't get enough attention. We all have so much to be thankful for that we really don't even think about, it's only when you lose something do you realize what you have. I am so thankful for my family and friends and the love shared with others.

We will have our Thanksgiving at the mountain house in Ellijay, GA. All of my kids, grandkids, Pat and Greg will be there and so will all of my sisters's family. Lots of cooking and cleaning for me but I love having them all here. Everyone will bring dishes too and I'm sure we'll have way too much food, but it's all so much fun. We'll make a day of it, probably eating more than once or twice.

The kids always seem to have a good time with the four wheelers and little motorcycle. Sometime the big kids go deer hunting early morning and late afternoon. Sometimes they even play paintball, but I haven't heard that that's on the agenda this time. We'll have lots of little ones to keep up with and I'm really hoping it doesn't rain, but it won't dampen our spirits. They'll have lots of room in the studio to dance and play.

Becky and I are suppose to remind each other that we need to take lots of pictures. We want them for the Christmas cards and hopefully my blog.

So I hope that you all enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday and this year we think about all of our blessings.

God Bless You All!
Sally

Procrastination...

2010-11-12T01:24:00.000-05:00

Procrastination refers to the act of putting off actions or tasks to a later time.

(From Wikipedia)

Procrastinating is easy to do and then gets easier with each time we put off the task. I can't believe that it has been almost a year since I've written on my blog. I hope to do better about this. I've also worked on my art site too and added some new paintings, but I'm still behind in photographing paintings and updating my inventory list.

Hoping to get fit

Terry and I have been really enjoying "retirement". Traveling in the Chinook motorhome is trying to become the main extra-curricular activity. Terry is working on something for the motor home all the time, making a bigger bed, hooking up TV and satellite radio. He built me a beautiful section of shelving that works great in the kitchen area that holds all of the can goods, along with extra shelving and hooks. He's also added things to the outside of the camper to hold the batteries and bicycles. Since the last update, we've joined the Chinook Camping Club and attended a rally in Crossville, Tennessee. Lots of fun.

St. Andrews Resident

This year we've managed to go to St. Andrews State Park in Panama City, Florida. A beautiful park that prompted us to go and buy bicycles so we could ride around and see things. This was a great way to get around St. Andrews and I also thought that it would be such a good exercise when we got home. I really wasn't thinking, Florida is nice and flat, Snellville is nice and hilly, and forget Ellijay with it's north Georgia mountains. So the bikes aren't getting quite as much use as I had planned, but they do get a little use in Snellville and around the campgrounds. This little bird was walking along the shoreline.

We are trying to visit all of the National Parks and don't have many left to go, so we added two more to our list. We worked our way up to Minnesota and Voyageurs National Park located at International Falls. Voyageurs is a water-based park where you must leave your car and take to the water to fully experience the lakes, islands, and shorelines of the park. We did take a boat trip around the park and it was quite beautiful. There are really unusual rock formations from the glaciers melting thousands of years ago. The voyageurs, who paddled large birch bark canoes carrying trade goods and furs between the Canadian northwest and Montreal is why the park is called Voyageurs. They sure must have been some strong people to withstand all it took to survive.

Boat to Isle Royale

We left International Falls and headed north to Canada, going across the top and through a Canadian Provencial Park to Thunder Bay, Canada. We spent the night here and then traveled down to Grand Portage where we were able to get a boat to Isle Royale. Minnesota and Michigan both sort of claim Isle Royale but it is really in Michigan. We camped in a beautiful spot right on Lake Superior, looking out to beautiful scenery and had visits from beavers that were raising a family under the marina dock. Early one morning they were playing in the harbour and then raised a ruckus because we were watching them. One went out into the lake one evening and came back with a huge tree top. So in between our scrabble games we were entertained by the wildlife.

Isle Royale’s physical isolation and primitive wilderness is beautiful and inhabited by wolves and moose. The story goes that the wolves walked over on the ice and the moose swam over in the summer. Accessible only by boat or seaplane, people experience the park by hiking its trails, paddling its inland waterways

Isle Royal Ranger talk

and exploring its rugged coast. We went on the nature walk with the Ranger and it is to me a very lonely place to visit. You really are roughing it and we saw groups of young people that had hiked the island and were catching the boat to go back to civilization with us. There were a group of teenage girls that sat near us on the boat and they were beyond dirty, I think they probably just threw there clothes away when they got home. If you go to Isle Royale be prepared to rough it. I'm sure they were all having the time of their life though, because it is all quite beautiful. There are sunken ships in the waters approaching the island because of the treacherous Lake Superior waters and an old lighthouse. We enjoyed our visit but I was glad that we could get back on the boat and go back to my creature comforts. There are only about 22,000 people visit Isle Royale every year compared to the Grand Canyon that has over 4 million. Everyone should visit the National Parks they are really beautiful and a wonderful experience for young and old alike.

I went to Folly Beach with my artist friends and we painted plein air. They rent a beautiful house on the beach and all week you just immerse yourself in art, from painting plein air and in the house, to talking art and visiting galleries in Charleston; it's really great. While in Charleston I managed to work in a little genealogy, finding some relatives at the Magnolia Cemetery and a book that mentions my Cordes family that lived in Charleston in the 1800's. My sister went with me so we had alot of fun with the "Folly Group" and have made some new friends.

Beautiful Lake Claytor

Didn't even unpack, Terry wanted to go to Shenandoah National Park before the leaves were gone, so we packed up and took off. The leaves were maybe a little past their peak but not far from it, the color was gorgeous turning the darker jewel colors. The first night we stayed at Claytor Lake State Park in Virginia and were in a tornado watch. Stayed snug though but it was really starting to get cold. By the time we got to Shenandoah it was really cold and we used the furnace. The drive through Shenandoah is so pretty and this time I was able to plein air paint some. Maybe I'll get the hang of it sooner rather than later. As always the deer are everywhere and also saw Ranger programs on the Owls. We were lucky that was the last program for the year (campfire talks at night and the owl viewing and talk the next morning). We even hiked a little on the Appalachian Trail.

Stayed for two nights and then headed back down the parkway towards Danville and spent the night, Halloween, at Paradise Lake. They had a hayride for the kids and they were going around the lake and you could hear them laughing and hollering, finally stopping about 10 pm. Went on to bed and then up about 8 to have breakfast and then get back on the road heading towards Asheville. We were going to go down the Blue Ridge Parkway but decided we'd had enough of twisting roads and took the better road.

The campground in Asheville, Mama Gerties, was extremely nice. Wasn't real big but up on the side of a mountain looking out with lots of foliage. We went into Asheville the next day and visited art galleries and had lunch, then headed on home to pick up Toby, who was staying with Pat and Greg.

I think we're getting our money's worth out of our little Chinook camper. Hope I haven't bored you all too much with my travel. I know my kids always dread going through all of the "pictures" when we get home, not quite the same as being there I guess. Terry and I are making lots of good memories though.

Till later,

Sally

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T20:21:00.004-05:00

I can't believe how quickly this last year has gone by. I think that is a sign of getting older, time just seems to be flying by. Hopefully, 2010 will be a much better year for everyone. Sure has been a long time since I have written on my blog. It is very easy to get lazy and not write on it.

My agenda is full for awhile. I have to get to work and prepare for an art show and sale in Gainesville, GA for the State Master Gardeners Convention. They juried artists into a show and sale where you will be able to show your "Garden Art". I want to get some more of my small encaustics done for the show. I'll have oils, pastels and encaustics in it with the theme being gardens, flowers, etc. The date is January 22nd, 23rd so I have to get busy on organizing my work that will be submitted.

Terry's ready to go someplace in the camper... it will have to be South because the campgrounds are closed up North. I guess we'll head towards Florida next, maybe around February. I have gotten really inspired to be more committed to plein air painting. I have joined a site of Plein air painters you can check it out by clicking on the badge in the right column of my blog. There are so many beautiful beach type pictures with palm trees, dunes and sandy beaches.. I' ll be looking for them when were headed South on the next trip.

Hope that you are all doing well and my prayer is that God will richly bless each one of you in this New Year with Peace, Love and Joy!
Sally

Leaf Lookers.... that's us!

2009-10-28T21:28:00.028-04:00

Well Terry and I have been "leaf lookers" for the last ten days. Off in our little camper again on our way to Vermont. We thought we should have gone earlier, but I had a workshop with Ann Templeton, a fabulous artist. It was great and I can't wait to paint, but had to put it off because the leaves were quickly turning. We left on Monday October 19th. Worked our way up through Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York before we finally got to Vermont. The leaves are beautiful!

We spent some time in the Shenandoah National Forest camping at the Big Meadow. It was beautiful with all of the color. I painted a little watercolor while Terry went out and hiked the trail at the Big Meadow. He came back excited because he had managed to see some larger deer with horns and even a black bear. There had been 4 inches of snow a few days before and you could still see remnants of it. I bet it was really pretty too. The weather was beautiful for us cool but not cold.

We are really enjoying this driving around by the seat of our pants. Through Pennsylvania I tried hard to get a picture of the Amish buggies. I would see one every blue moon but miss the picture. I finally got this one but missed the horses head.

In New York we were looking for a campground and went to the first one to find no one there. It was sort of being built or renovated and there was just a note on the door, we chose not to stay there. The second one we rode to we went down the back road very slowly but never did find where it was, right road but no campground. So as we are leaving to go back to I-81 we saw another sign. So... we finally found a beautiful campground by East Lake. We stayed the night there and they had beautiful stone buildings with lots of fir trees that were huge. They had lots for children to do in the summertime, pool, putt-putt golf, horseback riding and game rooms. It was really nice but had a beautiful old charm with those stone buildings.

Finally we were in Vermont! We stayed in Manchester the first night there. A really pretty old town with high end boutique shops for men and women. We also managed to make our way into the Orvis shop.... a fisherman's dream. The campgrounds are mostly closed up North after October 15th, most after September; but I think it depends on their weather. They were having beautiful weather this year so I think some were staying open longer. We still had to look to find one open.

In Shelburne we went to the Shelburne Museum, a fantastic museum. They were having a special event showing of motorcycles and Tiffany glass lamps. I was able to make lots of pictures of the 38 historic buildings that they have on the property. You were even able to make pictures inside as long as you didn't use a flash. So I really enjoyed this museum and we spent almost all day there. What we didn't realize was that it was the last normal day of the museum being open for the season. The next day they were having a Halloween party and expected 2000 people to attend.... not quite what we were looking for.

Here are a few of the things that we saw in the exhibits, they had alot of original artwork, here a Monet (Haybales), but also got to see Degas, and many others they held in their private collection. The Mary Cassatt painting was my favorite.

On our way over to the mountains of Vermont we passed by Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Factory. Couldn't pass that up so we did the tour and got our sample of Triple Caramel Chocolate Chunk! All it does is make you want more and go to their counter and buy another icecream treat....

We saw so many beautiful barns, bridges, and rivers. I love the silos. Some more interesting things were a beaver lodge.. but we didn't see any beavers, but we did look for them. A really neat red light, portable. Now doesn't that make alot of sense. The latest in landscape elements, the wind turbine, is popping up everywhere. I would love to have one in Ellijay to provide our power.

Vermont has lots of covered bridges and so we managed to find alot of them. They were tucked everywhere and along with the bridges we managed to find a Maple Sugar House. The lady was so nice when we pulled up and asked her if she was open. A lot of the Maple Sugar houses are privately owned by families who own the property and make the syrup. She said she would be glad to show us their "factory" if we'd like to see it. I was amazed at how syrup is made. I still thought that they put the little tin pales at the tree to collect the sap. Not so... they have tubing that goes from tree to tree and a vacuum draws it down to their collector tank. All of the tanks and cooking vats are stainless steel and I never would have thought inside their barn they had all of this equipment. She showed us everything and then offered us to taste the different kinds of syrup. That was especially nice and also not what I thought. The light to dark amber syrup is all equal, the color is determined by the weather/temperature. Each time they make syrup they keep a sample and they were just beautiful sitting up in the window with the light coming through them. I hope to paint a picture of that. The taste test was also a surprise. I have always thought that the better syrup was the dark amber.... with the taste test my favorite was the "fancy", a very light amber, the darker the amber the stronger taste and I didn't like it nearly as much. So we learned all about the maple syrup industry and couldn't leave without buying some fancy maple syrup.

Worked our way back over to Burlington and went up the islands of Lake Champlain. It was really nice and I love the older houses up North. They have such charm. We don't have anything like them down here. We left Vermont at the Canadian border and crossed over into New York again. Now we were on our way home.

Once we make the turn from being "on the way to" to "on the way back" it changes my mind to start wanting to get home. I start thinking more about the kids and Toby and, and.... we are a little more direct about our directions. We really are having fun with our camper... Terry drove 2800 miles on this trip. When we were driving out Old Bucktown Road to our home we both were looking at the beautiful leaves and Tickenettlely Creek by our home.. decided that the leaves are just as pretty here as they are anywhere!

Take care... Sally

It's Starting... Fall

2009-10-08T06:23:00.008-04:00

Well the crisp, cool, clean air is back. I was looking out my kitchen window and there it was.... fall. Just a little more color than I thought that there had been when we arrived on Sunday. I love fall with the warmth coming from the fire in the evenings and the days where you can wear a light sweater and jeans. I'm really not a summer person. I'm now able to tackle the weeds in the flower bed and get them cleaned up. When it's hot I just don't do good with the weeds and bugs. So I thought you would enjoy these early fall pictures.

The first picture was as we were leaving down by the gate and the second one out in the back looking up the mountain.

Had to share my gourds. I picked the ones where the stems had turned brown, they are all different shapes this year. I have plans for the round one, believe it's called a cannon ball gourd. We'll see if they dry properly and don't go yucky.

Take care, Sally.....

Rain Rain Go Away Come Again Some Other Day!

2009-09-16T13:50:00.014-04:00

Boy have we really had the rain! We came up to the mountains on Sunday and it started raining that night and hasn't stopped. Ellijay made the news with flooding of the rivers and creeks. This summer our little creek would dry up in the heat of the day and today it is nice and big. I really feel sorry for the people who are dealing with flooding. You are just so helpless when that raging river swells out of it's banks.

Terry has been watching our big pond and I have been watching our little fish pond come over the banks. Hopefully my fish will stay at the bottom of the pond. I think the hawk has been visiting my pond while we've been gone. My largest orange and black koi has disappeared... boo hoo!

I think of my mother always saying "survival of the fittest" as I noticed my fish disappearing. That made me think of other little sayings that she would tell my sister and I... "Pretty is as pretty does", when she was trying to emphasize something regarding our behavior. I was talking to a friend about how important your parents are. They really do influence the direction of your path. Hope that I am teaching important things that someday my kids will say, ... my mother use to say... and right now I can't think of anything that I say. That's not a good sign.

I decided that I needed to walk around outside and see what all of the wetness was doing. I think when it has rained a bunch one of the things that you notice are the mushrooms. They pop up everywhere and on my walk I began to see all kinds of neat mushrooms. Along the path that I was walking it looked like a deer had gone in front of me and was pulling them up and then eating some.

The first one that I saw was down by the garden tucked into the grass and weeds, a white one that had alot of the pretty flutting.
Then the mushrooms that looked like they had been pulled up. First the brown one that was upturned and had a bulb at the bottom of the stem.

This mushroom was small but had a really long thin stem. Also a different mushroom from the others I'd seen, but it too, had been pulled up.

The one thing that all of this rain has done (and it's not just the recent rain) is the weeds in the garden have gone completely crazy. When I walk in the garden they are as tall as I am. I was picking okra but think I'm not wanting to even go in there anymore till the cold knocks it down. I haven't seen weeds like this before, I guess they loved the fertilizer we put on the garden.

You can also see the gourds growing on the fence and I thought I'd give you a close up. One is a cannon ball gourd and the others are bottle type gourds. They are still blooming like crazy too. I thought that the blooms were pretty too.

This is what Terry hates when it rains and washes out the driveway. The inlet end of the pipe was completely covered with mud, so he had to open it up again. We were lucky though, Terry doesn't have too much to fix and you can see I saw lots of pretty sites that the rain helps to create.

Terry's view of the rain is the driveway... my view is the wet woods that feels so damp but looks so sparkling clean.

Home Sweet Home...

2009-08-16T07:56:00.013-04:00

It's great to be home in Ellijay. We got to get Toby and he was thrilled that we were home. What was so funny was that I had brought Pat a little red bag with a thank you present in it... Toby thought I had brought him a present. So he kept knudging me to give him the bag and he was so excited about the present. When I gave it to Pat he acted like I'd made a mistake and wanted her to give it to him. He did this because I always buy him toy animals, he has a whole zoo. I don't ever spend but a dollar or two at Big Lots for them but I really see how spoiled he is with them after the little present for Pat.

I will start back up at Mackinaw Bridge, Michigan about our trip. We stayed there two nights and really enjoyed it. When you cross over the bridge you are in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I really don't understand how that State got divided like it is because the Upper Peninsula seems like it should become Wisconsin.. oh well, that's what they decided.

We were heading for Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan and Canada. This is where the Soo Locks are and Lake Huron is connected to Lake Superior. There is a beautiful park where the locks are and they have stands for viewers to watch the boats go through the locks. It is all very interesting. Here you can see the boat coming in and then after the lock is filled with water, raising the boat to the level of Lake Superior to make the transition out.

We stopped at a diner to eat and when we pulled in the truck next to us had a Gwinnett County tag. So Terry goes in and decides which table is from Gwinnett. His choice was wrong the lady and man sitting at the first table he asked said no, but the next table with the two biker looking guys said... we are. They invited him to have a seat but he declined because of me. They were from Lilburn and own a motorcycle shop there. Just so happens that when we pulled in to stay the night at a campground outside of Newberry, MI they were there. They had their big truck toy hauler and a large motor home along with two Harleys.

The next morning we were up early and off to Tahquamenon Falls and Whitefish up on Lake Superior. The falls were beautiful and had a very nice trail that went to the Upper Falls and then also to the lower falls. The falls have alot of tannin in the water giving them a brown cast at times depending on the light. The water is so treacherous there and they must have alot of people getting hurt in this area. Then when you get to the lower falls and the lake below it is so peaceful.

The next stop was Whitefish where there was a "beach"! Who would have thought that the Great Lakes had beautiful sand beaches. No shells but really pretty colorful rocks and we found some rock gathers. We actually became rock gathers too. We asked this couple, who were really into rock collecting, what kind of rock were they looking for. Winds up it was agate. The man showed us a good one he'd found so that was all it took for us to start looking. We managed to find pockets and arms to carry quite alot back to the camper.

Just loved this little boy. He (and his dad) had gathered driftwood and made a fort. He proudly posed for me in front of his creation. Our day at the beach was really nice. Hard to believe that this is in Michigan.

We needed to get on up the road or down I guess, so we headed to towards Wisconsin. We camped in Michigan but very close to Wisconsin on Lake Michigan. The camp, No-nah-mah Resort was on property that had been originally the site of a timber company. The small canals connected to the lake were used to hold the timber before it was processed. There was a beautiful copper incinerator that looked like a silo there. On the way though there we were trying to escape a storm. The clouds were really scarry! Poor Terry the storm caught up with us when we arrived at the camp to register.

Terry says this incinerator isn't copper but it sure looks like it to me. The lady at the camp said that it was built in the early nineteen hundreds. Terry took this picture and I love the reflection in the water.

So it's a pretty day and we're off again, or as Terry says "Were on the road again".

The next place we stayed the night was Illinois Beach State Park. It was just north of Chicago and very nice, we could see the "beach" Lake Michigan from our camper site. Then we headed to Chicago which was a nightmare. It took us 3 hours to go about 80 miles because I think they have the worst traffic ever. Atlanta is bad but nothing compared to Chicago. Finally we hit the Indiana state line and my visit with my mother's family. That was just wonderful.

All along the way we're seeing huge wind turbine farms that they are building in Indiana and beautiful farms sprinkled across the countryside. After leaving Indiana we thought we would go a secondary road down through Kentucky. Big Mistake! It took forever, twisting and turning with roads being worked on and detours; but it's still seeing pretty country. I think you get a little more anxious about getting home once you're headed that way.

We spent the final night in Berea, Kentucky, we enjoyed that stop on our way up. In Old Town there they had open studios you could go through and we enjoyed looking at the furniture craftsmen, weavers, glass blowers and other artisans.

Well we got home about 6:30 pm and hurried to get our puppy. We're home and there is truly no place like home. Georgia is a beautiful state and we don't need to take a back seat to any other state. Now we've got to get back to Snellville today and our kids and grandkids.... we really do miss them.

Take care. Sally...

Hooray!!! I finally got some internet...

2009-08-12T22:39:00.013-04:00

Well I had thought that I would be able to "blog on the road" but ... the campgrounds that we've stayed at didn't have WiFi or if they did I was too tired. So now I have so many things to tell you about my trip, but today was the highlight. So I'll tell you about today and then talk about the trip.

Today we were close to West Point, Indiana (where my mother's (brother) family was from) and so I called to see if it was convenient to stop. I called Becky to see if she had a phone number and she did. To my surprise, they answered, and it was fine to stop by. I was (I think) about 15-16 the last time I was there, so I was thrilled to see them. Seems like when you get married you don't travel with your family, so you get out of touch. Jack and Vonda looked wonderful and I was so glad to get to visit with them. Jackie, their daughter, came over to their house to see us too. She said her Daddy will be 90 on Saturday. He had been in the hospital recently but he and Vonda looked just like I remember them. We had dinner with Jackie and her husband, Gary and it was really great to share about our families and what's going on with us now. I hope Jackie and Gary will come to see us in Georgia and we can stay in touch. I feel like I found a long lost friend... it was great.

I have put our picture here... we're still those young girls.

Now for the trip... I can't believe that we left Georgia a week ago. We have really had a great trip and we aren't home yet. We left August 5th and went up through Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan. Some of our highlights; Kentucky Artisan Center in Berea, Ky. was a fabulous art center full of original works in art, metal sculptures, pottery and glass. We enjoyed looking at everything and they also had really good icecream. I just loved the "Frog Artist".

Is he not just the cutest thing you've ever seen? I think that he was actually made in copper... reminds me that I have to get working on my copper vine for Terry's gate... he's through and I'm not.

We spent the first night at Oakdale Campground in Quincy, Ohio. It was on the Miami River and when we pulled into register, there was a boat on a trailer pulled up behind us and we had it blocked. Terry was kidding with the park lady and said he'd be glad to move if he could drive the boat. She told him she could arrange it. We all laughed. Terry set up the camper and I cooked our supper. So we were eating our dinner when this man came up in a golf cart with "Cece" his little black poodle and asked us if we'd like to take a boat ride. We were both shocked but said yes. It was a very nice pontoon type boat and we floated down the river and it was really pretty with the sun setting. It reminded me of a wide Okefenokee swamp boat ride we went on last year. Willowy trees and even big wild turkeys were trying to roost in the trees and they didn't like the boat when we'd go by. It was such a wonderful surprise to go on the boat ride. Thanks Lavon.. we really enjoyed it. You meet the nicest people in campgrounds.

The second night we stayed at some "Chinook Club" peoples place that Terry communicated with on the internet. He joined the Chinook website after we got our camper (which is a Chinook). Anyway when he said we were going to Michigan and the Mackinaw Bridge, Toni and Theresa invited us to stop. When we got close and called them, Toni answered with a very British accent. Small world, they are from England and Terry was born there. They live in a lovely place in their Chinook during the summer (Michigan is cool and their children live there) and travel back to their home in Arizona when it starts getting cold. They have a piece of land in a very nice development with golf course, lakes, etc. They are able to "camp" on the site or build a home, but when they leave they cannot leave anything there. They have a large trailor that they've made an office for them and then part is for storage. Their Chinook is beautiful with alot bigger bath and kitchen than ours has. I can't imagine living in mine for 5 months but they love it. We really enjoyed our visit with the too. They have made two trailor spaces on their property, so we were able to use one of them.

This is the famous Mackinaw Bridge... it is a beautiful sight. The mist made it even prettier and it was a little scary when we rode over it.

This was the "destination" for our trip.

Well we keep ambling along and are next night is at the Mill Creek Camp which is on Lake Huron with Mackinaw Bridge to our left and Mackinac Island directly across from us. Very pretty views at this camp. We took a ferry over to the Island and it was just beautiful. There isn't any motorized vehicles on the Island, everything is moved by horse drawn wagons and carriages. People rent bikes at the shops and ride around the island... we walked. It was stormy when we left on the ferry but around lunchtime it stopped raining. A little rain doesn't stop us though.

The shipping is all about what created the Great Lakes and the Soo Locks. We were also able to go and see them. They really are interesting. This was viewed from the island.

This is Terry in front of Doud's Market.. I guess their only grocery store if you live there. All of their supplies are brought to them on the ferrys, plus all of the tourists.

Horses carry everything from people to all of their supplies. They are beautiful draft horses and very well cared for.

More horses and bicycles.

I'm not through yet but it is late and I have to go to bed... Terry said I needed to sleep because we have to travel tomorrow. I've just missed my internet so much. I have discovered some amazing new things with my smart phone though when you're desperate for internet... it will do things I didn't even know about. That will be for another journal.

Take care and Goodnight! Sally...

It's been awhile...

2009-07-31T21:12:00.007-04:00

Seems like the summer just arrived but now it's almost gone. The grand kids are starting school, not like we use to after Labor Day, but the first week of August. Just doesn't seem right to me. I was looking back and thought that I would update you on progress in Ellijay.

The garden has been growing great and requiring lots of attention. When you are part-time gardeners it can get away from you very quickly. We have been canning and freezing beans, squash and okra, but to date we still haven't picked a big, red, ripe tomato. I have picked maybe a dozen of the Roma plum tomatoes. My Beefsteak and Better Boy plants haven't even thought about getting red. So we are still waiting to have a good ole tomato sandwich. The gourd plants are starting to climb up the fence and put on gourds, while the sunflowers are starting to bloom. It is the little variety that is blooming first. Hopefully I'll have some big ones bloom a little later. I gave up on the weeds, just couldn't keep up with them at this point. The vegetable plants are strong enough that it doesn't seem to be bothering them now, just doesn't look very pretty.

Terry finished the gate entrance, with help from Michael. He came up and Terry had him laying block and rocking. I think they did a great job. So on my directions now I can't say turn at the rusted red iron gate anymore.

Our Granddaughters came up the first of the week and we had fun with them. They helped in the garden picking beans, squash and okra. I can't believe how they are all growing up so quickly. We also had fun with some art projects. They love riding on the four wheeler and Alex is mastering Michael's little motorcycle now. So I think they had fun too before going back to school. Bailey is the more girly girl and Alex is the tomboy right now.

Terry and I are going to go on another trip in the camper. He's decided he wants to go to Michigan up by the Great Lakes. So we'll be off doing that next. I can't believe how friendly the Chinook campers are. They have a website and he is a member of it. When he mentioned we were going to Michigan some of them have campsites and offered for us to stay there.

Take care until later,

Sally...

Starting a new chapter...

2009-07-14T21:33:00.009-04:00

Well Terry and I have started a new chapter in our life... I'm afraid that it is called "Old Age" but I hope not. We've decided that while we can we are going to travel. In order to do this we have bought a small motor home or RV. Our little Chinook is 21 ft. long and has a small kitchen and bath so we will be fully self contained, plus it is fairly economical for a motor home.

We are on our "Shake Down" trip now. We decided to go to Gatlinburg and the Pigeon Forge area of Tennessee, through the smokey mountains. The scenery was really beautiful coming over the mountains. Thought I'd attach a picture of the beautiful vista and also our new toy.

We are having fun... and I guess that is what it's all about. Terry and I are not big shoppers so that isn't what we have come for, but we have managed to buy a few things that we've found we need for the camper. We are in a really nice camping area by Waldon River with all of the utilities, etc. We have taken walks after dinner, looking at the "rigs" that these people have and it is unreal how some of them travel.... real luxury. I think some of the people live year round in their motor homes. We don't plan on doing that... we miss Toby. In the beginning we thought we would take him, but then decided that that wasn't a real good idea. He just wouldn't have enough room, etc. He stays with Pat and Greg and they like to spoil him too.

So, we are doing pretty good with our camping so far. I've only set the smoke alarm off once while I was cooking breakfast! The dishes and pans that I bought so far seem like they are going to be fine... I'm looking for really space saving stuff... all of the bowls nestled one in another and go in the microwave. There isn't alot of room so I have to have it really super organized and I'm not quite there yet.

I am really hoping to become a better plein air painter with this new venture. I painted this morning for about thirty minutes and was pleased, even though I need to make some corrections to it. Those two trees are really the same size, but I do know that I need to make one bigger than the other.

So we've started that new phase and so far I like it.

Take care, Sally... "Along Waldon Stream" 9"X 12" Pastel

Some new Encaustics...

2009-06-30T20:59:00.010-04:00

Pond Lilies Abstracted
Encaustic
5" X 7"

Red Roses
Encaustic
4.5" X 6.5"

White Flowers Teal Vase
Encaustic
6.5" X 4.5

I've finally gotten to get back to my encaustics. I thought I would do some small florals, they are so much fun to do. This afternoon I did my koi pond waterlilies. One thing about the encaustics is that it frees me to be really loose. You certainly can't be tight with it. I really do love working with the wax, it is so exciting. When you start out you really don't know how it will turn out. As you work the wax might flow and create something really neat that changes everything or the color mixes and does something; you never know what will happen.

It is so hard to photograph the encaustic pieces. The wax either has a glare on it from the texture or else the color fades away. You can never get that beautiful translucency to show. I looked back at the painting of "Winter Trees" that I entered in a show and got rejected, it doesn't even look like the painting and the color is totally washed out. I really need to figure this out.

Finally got to work on my gourd...

2009-06-03T11:32:00.008-04:00

Well I wanted to show you all what I finally got to do with my gourd. Remember I had grown gourds last summer in the garden. One gourd that made it; (actually, there are a few more outside but they really don't look too good,) I've been wanting to paint. I liked this one because I managed to save the top of it. I don't know if I'm through or not, I have a surprise that I'm dying to do to it but it could very well ruin it. I'm going to Southern Colours on Friday and see what they think. Terry told me he didn't think he would do it, so I'm waiting to find out what "my artist friends think". Let me know what you think too, it involves cutting into the gourd.

I was finally getting time to do my encaustics so I started out with an impressionistic realistic piece and then moved on to my abstract. As I kept working on it I was starring at the forlorn gourd in front of me... so I decided why not.

I loved the little abstract piece, I call it "Secure" and it is 5" X 7". I guess the gourd is just a "Gourd Rattle Encaustic" for now. That is unless I go on with my plan.

I thought these were really different. Hope you enjoy seeing them. (Forgive the photography.)

You can also check out some of my new paintings on my website.

Sally...

Getting ready with the garden...

2009-06-01T14:39:00.008-04:00

Well it actually started at the end of March, early April, getting ready for the garden. Terry started turning the ground over with the tractor when it was still cold. When it warmed up (which was really late this year) he used the tiller to pulverize the dirt and sort of layout the rows. I also started tomato seeds in little tiny peat disks. They did really good and then we had to go on vacation. We took them over to Pat and Greg's porch to be babysat while we were away. I had potted up some of the larger ones in big pots and then alot of them into disposable cups and poked a whole in the bottom for drainage. So when we came home the larger pots had wound up in Greg's box of tomatoes that he has like a cold frame but uses it to keep the rabbits and deer away. They loved the box and had little tomatoes on them. I brought the rest home and got them planted in the garden. The weather was not wonderful for them, especially since we go and come. Right now they are still thin lankey plants and I hope that changes soon. I planted the rest of the little ones and if they don't do I'll have to resort to the garden center for a few more.

We learned from last year a little bit more of what we want to grow and not grow because of the work. As much as I love butter peas we haven't planted any because they are labor intensive. I have planted Christmas Pole Butterbeans in their place. This is a big speckled butter bean... it's pretty I hope it taste good. I have a good variety of plants this year... beets, sugar snap peas, pole beans and Dutch half runners, the usual squash, cucumbers, and okra. Now it just needs to grow.

This year I have expanded the gourds and sunflowers to long rows around the garden. One end is dedicated to all kinds of gourds, we'll see how they do. I planted a big variety of sunflowers since last year I only used the bird seed and they didn't do too good.

I look at the garden and I'm anxious to see how it will look in a month... I'll keep you posted.

Sally...

Vacation time... Rapid City, South Dakota

2009-05-17T08:37:00.012-04:00

Vacations are always times that you look forward too, but I'm impatient and really don't like to wait for the day to arrive. So I was quite pleased when we finally decided where we wanted to go and it was all able to fall into place so quickly (only about a week).

Terry wants to go to all of the National Parks and so that helped us to decide to go to Mount Rushmore National Park. We flew into Denver from Atlanta and then took a commuter plane up to Rapid City, South Dakota. Everything was just great and Rapid City is a really neat western city. The pace is much slower than Atlanta has become and a really wonderful relief. There is a park along the Rapid River that runs through town and it is really beautiful with these gorgeous yellow trees along the river. I never did find out what kind of trees they were. I'll try to show you some of the highlights.

First of all is Mount Rushmore, what everyone thinks of when you go to Rapid City, but there is alot more than that. It is a very nice park with trails that you can hike. We are probabaly spoiled with Stone Mountain's carving. Driving by it all of the time, I don't think about all that it took to do the carving. The same man that carved Stone Mountain did Mount Rushmore and Stone Mountain was first. ( Mount Rushmore National Memorial, near Keystone, South Dakota, is a monumental granite sculpture by Gutzon Borglum 1867–1941.)

The mountain goats have been in the Mount Rushmore park since the beginning. The graze around the bottom areas of grass below the carving. We hiked the trail ( a loop in front of the carving), but you can make special arrangements with the Park and take a hike with the Rangers up to the carving.

The next place we visited was Custer State Park and this is where herds of buffalo are. These two big bulls were almost standing guard. It says corral but the buffalo aren't corralled, they are able to roam free. They are really huge, strong animals that I wouldn't want to get in their way.

We have been to Yellowstone and the buffalo roam free there too, but for some reason I believe these are "wilder". I guess there are not as many people around them. We were lucky to see these buffalos fighting (or playing rough) . We got some really neat pictures of them fighting with the dust coming up. Looks just like the Old West!

The antelope and deer are everywhere too. You will see that one of our main ventures is to capture the animals. I usually will keep a journal and "count of animals" but I was really lazy this time. We saw multitudes of deer, antelope and wild turkeys, prairie dogs and these burros. The burros were wild and lived in the park. I think there job is to harrass the park visitors. They are really moochers and eat whatever you give them, even though you are not to feed the animals. They will also bite you if you don't feed them. The baby's were so cute!

Prairie dogs are also everywhere, they take over areas of the prairie covering it with mounds where they dig out their tunnels. They have "cities" and run from mound to mound playing and making their barking noises.

The exciting animal we spotted was the Big Horn Sheep. There are not alot of them in Custer State Park so we were excited when we found these four by the stream running in the park.

You can see in this picture that this ram was not real happy with us. He was really making some facial expressions to show his disapproval of us making his photograph. They are really beautiful animals. The horns are so neat! The ewes have the small little horns and aren't nearly as large.

Devil's Tower is another really unusual place. Terry says that it was his favorite place. The first picture is on the way to Devil's Tower that is in Wyoming. The snow was blowing and the clouds were fabulous and making that unusual light that peaks in and out of the clouds. When we got to the Tower it was freezing cold with pretty strong winds blowing and the snow flurries hitting you in the face.

Terry decided he wanted to climb the trail to the base of the mountain that circles around the tower. While he did that I got out my art supplies and started some pen and ink along with watercolors. I sat on a park bench bundled up with coat and gloves while I painted. It was really freezing. Finally when I finished my hands and nose were almost numb. I loved doing it though. I did find that the medium I was always afraid of (pen and ink) became something I truly enjoyed. Whenever we would stop for a picture and Terry would walk around. I would get out my pen and ink and draw like crazy till he would come back, usually 5 or 10 minutes at the most. It was a great art exercise that I really want to keep up. Instead of a painting a day, I should at least be able to do a drawing a day. Then maybe after I do this for awhile I can do a painting a day.

Devils Tower (Lakota: Mato Tipila, which means “Bear Tower”) is a monolithic igneous intrusion or volcanic neck located in the Black Hills near Hulett. It is a volcano where the outside of it has eroded away leaving the inside core which are lava tubes. The colors are beautiful in person.

The Needles Highway is another scenic route to take. When we went through this area we also had snow and wind. The views were really beautiful looking out at long vistas of mountains out

to the plains. The mountains are like skinny slabs turned sideways and then they'll have these very small tunnels to go through. I'm sure that some larger cars or campers are unable to make it through.

Spearfish Canyon was a beautiful drive with waterfalls and beautiful vistas.

Badlands National Park was very isolated and bordered the Indian Reservation. It was alot like the "hoodoos" at Bryce National Park.

The trip was really fun and we thoroughly enjoyed all of the different places we went. Terry took me to Deadwood where I gambled just a little, to Sturgis where all the motorcycles go to, and also went to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. We ended with our shopping trip for little things for the grandkids in Rapid City.

I would recommend the trip to any of you that like a more "nature" vacation with lots of beautiful sights to see.... Sally

Plein-aire by the lake in stormy weather...

2009-04-11T11:26:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was my day to paint with Southern Colours and we had planned a plein air day at a little park not far from St. Stephens. The weather forecast was severe weather and so most of them were planning to paint at Kudzu since the St. Stephens was having services. A few of us were really wanting to paint outside so I thought I'd see how it was at Briscoe Park under a pavilion... not too bad, but then the weather started looking better and I thought the little park by St. Stephens would probably be okay too.

So we met at the little park to paint. The weather wasn't wonderful but that sort of made the scene more exciting too. When we set up I discovered I had forgotten my easel so I wound up finding a post to sit my box on to paint. Worked out fine in the end but narrowed my view and sometimes that is just what I need.

Here is my start and close to finish. I was using the Mark Hanson limited palette of Rembrant Permanet Red, M.C. Graham Ultramarine Blue and Cad Yellow Light with white. I had never used this before, but the other day Sallie and I went to Binder's (I had birthday money) and we got the special colors we didn't already have. The red is beautiful. So it was a new adventure, new place to paint, new palette of limited colors, and stormy weather! I had a lot of fun and was pleased with my start... needs just a little tweaking here and there.

Have a very blessed Easter with your families! ... Sally

My What a Day! Bitter with the Sweet

2009-04-05T21:24:00.010-04:00

I have so many things to tell you today I don't know where to start! First of all.... the big 60 is tomorrow.... the BITTER; but my goodness the SWEET WAS INCREDIBLE!

My sister Becky had a surprise birthday at her home in Gainesville for me. Boy you cannot imagine how shocked I was. I sort of suspected that just maybe she would have my kids and grandkids over and have a family party, but this was a real shocker!

As Terry and I got there, my grandson, Michael was playing ball with Becky's son Alex and grandson Maddox. Just what I thought... a family party which I thought was terrific. So I go into the backdoor and in Becky's kitchen (I think they were singing) bunches of people. I saw Diana, Ron and Beth then realized it was Southern Colours; and other friends and family... a huge crowd. I couldn't believe that they were all there for me! I had a fabulous time with family and such SPECIAL FRIENDS. I got some pretty special presents too, it is pretty SWEET to be 60 and know that people really do care about you. Or was it the food... that was pretty good too and Becky always has everything to perfection. She is a really special sister... wouldn't take anything for her.

I received many beautiful presents that you all shouldn't have done, but they were all wonderful and best of all the cards... they are always wonderful and make you feel so good or are really cute and make you laugh.

I'll have to just tell you about the most unusual one from Carl and Sallie. I got a beautiful piece of copper... to make my morning glory vine! On my previous blog I was talking about the gate that Terry is building and how I want to make a vine, birds and a bird nest to go into the top opening of the gate. In addition to that I got a Sallie Atkins handmade bird's nest made of copper, brass and other wire... it is just beautiful, plus a wonderful poem.

"To Sally with a Y"

I have a friend named Sally

Who simply is the best.

No matter what the challenge,

she tackles it with zest.

Her husband made the framework,

for their new garden gate.

It needed decoration

and Sally couldn't wait.

From many metal pieces,

small leaves and vines she wove.

To add to her creation

Here's a bird's nest made with love.

From Sallie with an ie

So I am still amazed as I went through the beautiful cards again after we got home. You all are really special and I really do care about each one of you! Thank you all so very much for making me feel really special.

Just had to send this picture along to you too... they were just beautiful.

My sister and her green thumb, she gave me a beautiful white rose that I hope loves my mountain house and will thrive up there.

Thank you all again.... Sally

Our New Gate!

2009-03-25T11:59:00.004-04:00

We have wanted to make a new gate for a long time. Did you catch the "make"? I am very fortunate that I have been married 41 years to a very talented man. He is always anxious to build something, especially when we can save money doing it.

Terry decided we would finally replace the old red gate (it's laying on the ground on the right) with a new wood/metal gate. He needed a new project and we needed a new gate since the old one was rusting out.

He has been working on a design for a few weeks and so we went to Home Depot last week and purchased the initial materials for him to build with. I like this design best with the upswoop top and we plan to fill the top section with metal vines.... morning glory type. I actually would have loved barbed wire with vines all over, but he is taming me some.

So I thought I would share the progress of the gate. He built it in the basement over a couple of days in the mountains without any help from me. I got to help when he had to hang it... the really hard part is where I'm needed. Worked out really good though it is straight and came together good, but he always does pretty good at what he does.

We still have alot we are going to do to the entrance and gate. The top opening in the gate will have the metal vine that I wanted and we'll have to work on that. The gate will have stone columns on either side and then a fence (like Anderson Creek's but you probably don't know what that looks like) that is black 3 horizontal slats on a 6X6 post. I think we'll either paint the gate black or dark green.

So you'll have to stay tuned to see how the gate takes shape. Right now Toby thinks that we have put him in jail!

From fire to water...

2009-03-18T08:21:00.006-04:00

Spring is almost here and the buds are popping out everywhere. This is my bridal wreath spirea that was catching the light through the dew. This reminded me of a poem I'd written a while ago.

Loving

Loving isn't always easy and as we think it ought to be. Sometimes it teaches us and shows us things we don't want to see.

Loving is protecting the ones that we hold dear, yet loving is releasing them so they too can learn to care.

Like sunshine to the wintered branch it slowly starts to grow; buds hidden deep within ... no life for us to see.

But wait and God will rain on it and soon the bud appears, tiny, fragile, full of life but it doesn't stop here.

The sun must keep on shining and not without the rain a beautiful fragrant flower will bloom, evidence our God is near.

Loving can't be put in words it's something you know and feel, trust that when we give our love others will see it's real.

And know that love abounds in God and not in our own strength and through the perfect love of God together we can be.

The bud might still be within the trunk hidden from our view, but winter is almost over the light is shining through. Warming in the love of God, our faith in Him is true.

Alex and his first fire

2009-03-04T03:36:00.004-05:00

This is a picture of Alex, my nephew and Becky's oldest son. He decided not too long ago that he would become a volunteer fireman. He lives in Big Canoe in Dawson county so a volunteer fireman is a good thing to do. You don't realize how important they are until you have a place in a rural area where there isn't a fire station close by.

My experience with fires in rural areas happened many years ago after we had our place in Ellijay. We were visiting our neighbors out at the end of our dirt road. Junie and Willard Mooney, at that time, over 50 year old brothers, who were also twins but looked absolutely nothing alike. We were sitting in Willard's front yard talking about gardens and hearing tales of when they were young. Willard's house was an old wooden frame house, just two rooms with a wood burning kitchen stove. All of a sudden we heard a telephone ring, this was a real shock, since we didn't have a phone in the mountains. Willard jumped up to answer the phone and it was another neighbor calling to tell him there was a fire down by the Arnold's house. Our house at that time was the cabin sitting down by the road, we'd go there every Friday evening and return back home to Snellville on Sunday evening. Well we jumped up and took off back to our cabin... hoping that it would not be on fire, worried to death about our dog that we had left inside.

When we got back to the cabin it was all fine, but the field up on Bucktown Road was burning very quickly. The pasture grass that had not been cut was dry and brittle so that the fire was moving along the grassy cleared stretch between the creek and the road towards our front pasture and cabin. You immediately feel a little panic when you see the fire coming towards your property. Kevin, who owned the property next to ours had been burning brush and cleaning up when the fire got away from him. He had driven to the nearest neighbor to call for help. Kevin also didn't live on the property but would just come up to target practice and get away from the City. He didn't have a cabin but would occasionally tent camp at his place. Terry got the tractor and began cutting the edge of the field by our front pasture to knock down the grass so it would not allow the fire to spread as quickly. What was so amazing to us at the time, were all of the volunteers. Neighbors from all over the area began arriving to help put out the fire, along with the old fire truck from the station that was at Big Creek, quite a long ways away. People were beating out the fire with branches and the ground was soon just blackened with the fire all put out.

Times have changed quite a bit since then, 25+ years brings about alot of changes. Now the volunteer firemen go to school and become certified, trained to do that important job of putting out fires. You don't realize how important that is until you are experienceing a fire. Especially in the mountains where the water is pumped out of the creek nearby... not connecting the hose to the nearby fire hydrant.

I look at Alex and I can still see that little boy that would play with my boys... now they are all grown up, turned into men. Work for Alex is computers, software, programming and all of the analytical stuff that goes with it; but who would know that if there is a fire near Big Canoe he will be out there helping to put out the fire and the destruction that goes with it.

Thanks Alex... love your Aunt Sally...

Great News!

2009-02-09T12:46:00.011-05:00

Well I received these pictures today from Todd, my youngest son, and thought that I would "blog" about them. First, I did ask him if it was okay to share the pictures and he said it was fine. I know he is really proud of what will soon be his more complete family. Todd and Lori are going to get married April 25, 2009. So Terry and I are thrilled to be going to have Lori and Ava join our family.

As I have talked about family before, it means so much to have family. We look forward to celebrating special occasions and being apart of Lori and Ava's lives; just as we are glad to have them a part of ours. I look at them sitting on top of Stone Mountain with the beautiful world around them and I'm so happy that they are happy. You know how Mothers are, they always want the best for their children and grandchildren.

So this morning as I was making back the sofabed where the girls always like to sleep (I think because Toby like to jump up their with them) when I keep them, I asked Terry if he thought the three girls could fit on the sofabed. He thought so, for awhile anyway, till they get a little bit bigger. It is exciting to watch Michael, Alexandria and Bailey growing up so quickly before my eyes; and now we'll have Ava too. They grow up really fast so we need to enjoy them while we can, they do reach an age where it's not quite as cool to be with grandparents.

Left is Ava (5), center is Bailey Hope (6) and Alexandria (9) on the right.

Don't they look like they are just brimming with energy... and my what beautiful girls they are.

The Only Difference Between Men and Boys....

2009-01-28T00:01:00.010-05:00

I just can't resist showing these pictures. Today was sort of a gloomy day and I decided I would go out with my camera, feed the fish, get the mail, and just walk around looking for interesting things to photograph. Well this is what I found. Terry stays very busy all of the time. Everything he does though has a special "tool" to do the job. So I look out and he really reminds me of my boys and their Tonka toys and the phrase "the only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys". Terry is wanting to clear out the underbrush so that we can see the animals better as they sneak up to eat the blueberries, my lemon yellow daylilies, or even the hosta right next to the house. The underbrush is just mountain laurel that blooms in the spring and jillions of little pines that jump to a foot tall before you can turn around good, but Terry loves digging it all up with the good old Ford 1910 with front-end loader that he would love to trade in for a newer, bigger model. He really needs it to do all the jobs around the house. Michael, our Grandson has even put in some good plugs for how much he needs a new tractor.

As you can see in the second picture he is plowing up all of the grass as he disposes of the branches. That is one way to prepare the soil when you have to seed again. He really loves working outside with all of his tools. He has chainsaws to cut trees down and a woodsplitter to prepare the firewood. He even uses the four-wheeler to haul things, especially when we had the garden. To have the garden he had to get a tiller... another must have tool.

I don't know if when you had little boys and all of the toys you bought them, but he trained my boys right. They had toy chainsaws, toy trucks and cars, and loved their Tonka machines. We even bought the boys a toy John Deere green tractor when they were little. We trained them right, typical men all of their tasks require tools.

My tasks... we just don't have any fun toys to do our jobs. Just stop and think about it. Is a vacuum fun?

Terry's coming in for lunch. Later. Sally...

Friends...

2009-01-24T23:44:00.009-05:00

Whenever I have to run errands up in the Gainesville-Dahlonega area I can count on Linda Dragonette to go with me. So Saturday was to be a fun-filled "artist" day. She had just lost her dog, Junior, so she was very sad over the loss. Sometimes when you can get out and just talk about things it makes you feel so much better. So we shared about our pets and how losing them is so hard. Pets are like family but different.... they don't ever get mad at you. I know it takes a long time to get over the loss of a pet, I think that you finally after the loss, begin to start thinking of all of the good memories of things that your pet did. So that finally the good takes over the bad, sad feelings of loss. It just takes time, but it does get better. The Arnold's are bad about their animals, we get too attached.

Linda had told me how good the Plein Air Painters of Georgia show at the Quinlan was, so we were going to see it. We started our day out at the Quinlan. It is really a wonderful show, they all out did themselves with their paintings. The Quinlan is such a pretty space now and they were decorating for a wedding reception. The beautifully decorated tables with calla lilies and lace tablecloths just added to the whole ambiance of the gallery. I know the people at the reception will really enjoy the paintings. If you're in the area of Gainesville, stop by the Quinlan, you'll love seeing the show.

I had to pick up some of my paintings in Dahlonega. So as I'm getting them together, it's nice when your friend talks about how nice they are. Sometimes you need that little extra encouragement about your art; maybe that's why I brought Linda, she is always so encouraging. Helps to improve the way you're feeling about everything. I had forgotten how many oils I had done, caught me by surprise when you are looking at paintings and all of a sudden you realize they're yours. I'll have to photograph them and put them on my art blog. They are mostly of the north Georgia mountains and river scenes. In Gainesville and Dahlonega it is so sad to see so many places struggling for business. I guess it is really everywhere, hope the economy begins to pick up soon. Seems like everywhere they need a boost.

Also, had fun swapping paintings. When someone wants to trade one of their paintings for one of yours that they just fell in love with. I couldn't believe that I was going to get one of hers... the really special one of the little barn with the beautiful light falling on the field in front of it. I was painting that day with her and still remember the scene of the golden light shining on the field and building with lots of moodiness behind it. She caught it all and now it's mine. She wanted my Green Door, a painting that I did of a little front door area at Bellingrath Gardens in Victoria, BC Canada. The painting is on the slideshow.

Always have to stop and take pictures. So in Dahlonega by the river we stopped and made pictures to paint from. The river was really rushing with ripples letting the light dance across it. Thought I would share these pictures with you.

I've really been stocking up on my artists things... Friday night Terry and I went to Margaret Dyers opening reception of her show at the Genema Gallery at ChristChurch just off of Peachtree. The paintings are gorgeous. You just have to go and take them in, the color is amazing the way she layers and weaves it into the most beautiful compositions. Pictures just don't begin to do them justice.

So after being back in Snellville a few days getting my art fix, while Terry is playing with radio controlled planes and ice hockey; we are just about ready to fly back up to the mountains.

Just wanted to talk about how important friends are. Sharing the ups and downs, good times and bad, it is wonderful to have friends. We had a good time and I'm glad Linda is my friend.

Take care. Sally....

Paintings, fruit and flowers....

2009-01-24T21:02:00.021-05:00

Persimmon and Pomegranates

Pastel, 15" X 15"

Well here is the finished painting of my persimmon. The dish was one that they had at St. Stephens where Southern Colours paints on Fridays. The dish was really neat, metal with the embossed fruit pattern on it. A deep dish that held the fruit almost like a bowl would, but I sat it up on it's side and nestled the fruit down in the crown royal bag... did I disguise it enough?

So I finished most of the painting at the Church and then just did a little more and here it is.

Basket of Lilies

Pastel, 12" X 9"

Thinking about the Church dish, we also have wonderful flowers to paint from too. We all kid each other about the funeral flowers. We are doing our part when it comes to recycling. The ladies at the Church that prepare the flowers know that we love to paint them, so on Fridays, they'll leave them out so we can see if there are any we want.

Here is a quick Friday painting of the flowers with another Church prop... the basket. So whether they are funeral flowers or from a church service we enjoy and get good use out of the beautiful flowers that are left. Sally...

Persimmon, a very strange fruit...

2009-01-18T10:51:00.012-05:00

As artist, we are always trying to find things to paint. My latest "setup" has been for a still life. Sallie Atkins and I went to DeKalb Farmers Market before Christmas to get specialties for gifts. I love to go to the Farmers Market because they have every kind of vegetable and fruit you can think of. I wish you could photograph in there; but you can't, so I always wind up buying things (that I'm not sure I'd eat) for my painting set-ups. Then you have to paint like crazy before the stuff ruins.

On this trip to the market, Sallie and I were looking at the persimmons. They were beautiful and the color was just gorgeous with all different colors in it. I have pictures of the various stages of my persimmon. We both bought one and then Sallie promptly painted hers. I just kept looking at mine and finally last week I decided I would set it up to paint on Friday at Southern Colours.

I managed to get most of my painting done, so I didn't need it any more for my still life. The persimmon was well on it's way to becoming soft..., so before it ruined I decided I would cut it open. Then I could make pictures of it and you all will know what it looks like too. And, yes, I did taste it. Terry and I both tasted it.... just like a peachy taste, but where those little lines are that make a little bit darker mark, it almost has a jelly texture and taste... that made me a little sqeemish, but it was really just the texture... from peach texture to jelly texture, weird. The persimmon was good though, so don't be afraid to buy one.

I loved painting it, especially the cap with all of the shadows in the crevices. I will photograph the painting when I'm finished and put it on the blog for you to see.

We're up in the mountains and they say we might have a little of the white stuff. If we do I'll make pictures.

Sally....

Happy New Year!

2009-01-07T00:23:00.007-05:00

Well it seems like 2008 just flew by, I guess it was the year of the good, bad and ugly. The good was Terry is retired and we are kind of foot loose and fancy free. I really enjoyed having him around more and going to the mountain house more. The bad was Terry had rotator cuff surgery on the other shoulder. And the ugly... well I guess the stock market was really ugly... don't like to think about that. So I think we are all ready for a New Year, starting fresh again.

I have been doing some little encaustics. Just little 5 X 7's that shouldn't take long but you can fool around with them experimenting with color and textures. Texture is one of my favorite things. When I look at these little paintings I'm probably way to textured with them. I might try putting some of the XD Damar Medium on top of them and see if that settles them down a little. I need to concentrate on making these small ones more simple with just a few shapes. I know what I need to do, but it is hard to make myself do it.

The little vases of flowers are just fun to do. I really didn't have anything to go by, but I should have; they would have been "more proper" paintings if I had planned them. I just had fun with them dolloping the wax flowers on building them up so that they become almost 3D. It really is fun, but I guess they should really be flattened out some so they are not so busy.

I'm trying to be more abstract with the encaustics so I'm trying to let go and not worry about the ebb and flow of the wax. Tomorrow I'm going to work on some larger pieces. I have a painting of trees that is almost finished. I've decided that I like the furniture grade plywood better than the masonite. I especially like to have the plywood cradled. The painting has a much more finished look when it has the base on the plywood. The 5 X 7's are on Ampersand masonite panels.

Have a wonderful New Year... Sally

Christmas Cards...

2008-12-10T21:22:00.015-05:00

When I was a little girl my family got loads of Christmas cards. My mother always displayed them in the living room. We had venetian blinds and the cards would be slipped on them with the picture showing. We had windows across the front and side of the living room and by Christmas they were completely covered with beautiful cards from friends from all over.

This blog will include instructions on how to make your own Christmas cards.

I decided that I was going to "try" to make my Christmas cards this year, even though I really don't send out many cards. You know how you have so much energy at the beginning of the holidays and as the days tick off it slowly fades. I think too that because we are "artist" we think that we are expected to do a Christmas card. After New Years I usually have forgotten about my lack of making a card. Even in December I will tell myself, just make it a New Years Card, but after that I just put it out of my mind.

I started out trying to decide what I wanted on the card and settled on a manger scene. The first thing I did was get my little manger scene out with the Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus figures. I wanted the composition to be different so I placed them in various ways and photographed them. I had sat them on a damask pillow sham and in the picture you could see the swirls in the damask. I played with the picture in photoshop trying all different "artistic enhancements" until I got the photo the way I wanted it. Then I proceeded to paint it. The painting took various stages some I like and then some I didn't. I finally decided to photograph the painting and see if I could decide where to go with it. Well... that helped me a little. At this point though I had the photograph that I would use for the card.

PowerPoint is my program of choice for getting things lined up and holding them where they need to be, but you can use any program. Word works fine too you just have to set different margins but you can insert pictures very easily with it too. I inserted my photo of my painting and also some text and arranged it so that I could get one card out of a letter size piece of paper. I used a photograph paper because I liked the glossy richness of color that the final product produces. With this method all of the sides visible on the card are the good side of photo paper, it prints everything on one side.

As you can see from the photo of the layout piece, after printing it is ready to fold. I first fold the letter size piece in half so that the picture is folded to the correct height. Then you just fold it in half side ways to make your card. When folding I use a bone (I think that is what they call it) to produce very tightly folded edges. Then all you have to do is put it in an envelope that I bought a box of called Invitation envelopes they are 5-1/2 Baronial - 4-3/8" X 5-3/4".

So now you can all run right over to the computer and start making your cards.... they don't have to be Christmas cards. I like this method because it is so hard to get your painting printed on the blank greeting cards exactly right. You can do this with any paper that is a little bit heavy.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanakahua to you all.... Sally

I can't believe it....

2008-12-09T11:06:00.003-05:00

Well... I really can't believe that it has been almost one month since I have written in my blog! Not that anyone has noticed but me. I have thought alot about it but it is like I said in a previous blog, you just have to start writing and it will happen. We will see...

The holidays bring lots of activities and I have been quite involved in them. My holiday dinner was Thanksgiving and everyone (18 of us) came up to the mountains for a wonderful day of food and family. Becky and all of her family came up and spent the day, along with Melisa's parents, Mike and Nancy. We really had a great time, everyone brought great food; with turkey, stuffings and dressings, ham, sweet potato souffle, garden vegetables, and only Katy can make pumpkin pies, just like my Mother's with real whipped cream.... so we ate and ate.

The "kids" had fun riding on the four wheelers and little motorcycle. Which at one time seemed huge when about 6 year old Michael got it (his feet didn't even touch the ground). So it was time for Alexandria to learn to ride it and Bailey had a little want to, but not quite a I'm going to. Alexandria did really good, started right out real steady; it was only later that she saw a tree and her Dad. All part of the learning curve but she mastered riding pretty quick. Michael has graduated to the four wheeler, even though he still zips around on the motorcycle when he has to share the four wheeler with someone else. He even took Nancy (Michael's Nana) on a ride around "Terrebonne" (our place) to show her all of the mountain activities and views. The kids were able to come the evening before Thanksgiving and didn't have to go home till the Sunday after. We had a really great family time. After the last of them left, Terry said, "that was a wonderful time"... it really was and I wanted to curl up and go to sleep. You really have to stay busy (as a mother) all of the cooking and cleaning, it really isn't noticed by anyone else but you. Really is worth it though! I can always nap later.

My sister will have Christmas and we will all go there for lunchtime dinner (hope that clarifies the time). I always think about my mother and talking about dinner and supper.... I think I can have dinner at lunch but supper is always in the evening? So Becky will have the "elegant" Christmas, she will have everything decorated to perfection and we will have another wonderful time.

I love Christmas. Trying to keep the commercialism out of it is very hard, but with the economy maybe it will make people realize what is really important. To think that it all started with that little babe in the manger, and the gift that we have all been given through that baby Jesus.

I hope that you all enjoy each day of this season of Christmas or Hanukkah, may you all be blessed with love, peace, and joy... Sally

A Day With My Sister

2008-11-10T07:25:00.013-05:00

Today I decided to go and spend the day with my sister, Becky. As I mentioned before Becky is a Master Gardener (she is also a really good artists with different priorities). It is really something how as kids you can fight and squabble and then all of a sudden when you grow up everything can change. You find you want to be together, like best friends, but different.

I will give you a little tour of a "Gardener's Yard". First of all, I think that the light must just shine different on yards like this. They have beautiful vistas everywhere you look, even secret gardens that you have to look for. Do you see these iris blooming... I have never seen iris blooming at this time of year, but I think she said it was some variety that is brand new. That is another thing, all of these "brand new" things I think are only shared with these special "Master Gardener Groups" because they pamper and spoil their plants. With me it's prepare the soil?

She has flowers still blooming everywhere. I really believe some of them are mixed up because they are blooming and shouldn't be. There are some really unusual and strange plants too, the purple one, datura, is just fabulous looking and look at that gorgeous foxglove.

Becky's little grandson, Maddox, is really lucky. She has fixed a children's garden on the upper level of the yard, complete with pot man and gourd girl. There are gnomes and a flying pig, that Maddox calls a bug. When she turns the pig on and it's wings start flapping he just gets so excited. There is also normal stuff too like a sandbox.

Becky made gourd girl and pot man, she also did the big feet complete with glistening toenails in the foreground of the pot man picture.

She is making hypertufa pots, and troughs and all kinds of things out of concrete mixtures; like the feet that lead the way to the children's garden, leaves, planter pots, troughs, and mushrooms.

Well, I'm worn out from visiting her. She never rests; busy, busy, busy all of the time. As I look around my home and yard, I'm trying to decide what to do next... I'll just have to think about it for awhile. Sally...

My Gourds...

2008-10-29T22:13:00.012-04:00

Well here they are my six neat gourds. I cut them off the vines the other day and left neat stems, a few leaves and tendrils. I can not wait till they get dried so that I can actually do something to them. Wonder how long that will take???

My sister came up to the mountains and gave me the news that I need to forget about these gourds for about six months. So I won't be able to use them until next year. As Ron Pircio would say Bummer!

I can use them right now though for my still life paintings.

You can look back on my older blogs and see them hanging on the fence.

Sally...

Making Concrete Leaves...

2008-10-29T21:09:00.014-04:00

When my artists friends, Southern Colours, came up to my mountain house we made concrete leaves. It was alot of fun and they really turned out pretty. I'm going to give you step by step directions in case you might want to make them.

I am hoping that mine come out okay, since it is right around freezing. I did them this morning after the sun came out good, but I can't move them into the basement, so they are under the porch. I covered them good so I will keep my fingers crossed that they turn out.

The materials that you need are: Quikrete Vinyl Concrete Patcher, leaves, water, small pale, stir stick, and a wheel barrel or something to hold sand or a sand pile.

The first thing that you do is lay out your leaves and depending on the size of the leaf, you make a mound to lay the leaf over. Place the leaf on the sand mound FACE DOWN and then you will mound the concrete on top of the leaf. You mix the concrete vinyl patcher with water to a consistency of a stiff batter. I've included a picture of the mixed concrete. My sister told me how to do this and they have tried all different methods of making these leaves. The vinyl patcher is strong and doesn't need any additives.

The leaf needs to have a sand border around it to keep the concrete on the leaf. If it does come down and touches the sand it make a pretty sand edge on the leaf. Personally I like the sandy edge on the leaf but you can put plastic down over the sand, then the leaf and concrete. It works best if you mound the concrete up in the middle of the leaf and start patting it down to the edges. You have to keep patting and the water in the concrete comes to the surface. This is good and it is getting rid of the little air bubbles that form against the leaf. You want the concrete patted smooth against the leaf, at least 1/2 inch thick. The thickness depends a little on what you plan to do with your leaf. Small leaves don't have to be very thick, but the larger leaves need to be thick enough to keep them from breaking, probably an inch and more in the middle back. I've also read where you can reinforce the leaf by putting some metal wire within the concrete (be sure to cover the wire good). I also read that you can make a wire hanger and put it on the back to hang the leaf if you want to. After you get the leaf covered you can press another leaf onto the top of it and have an impression on both sides. The top impression is not as dramatic as the bottom one.

After you have done this you need to wait.... 24 hours is good, but the next day look at it and test the edge to see if it moves easily. Carefully lift it up and turn it over. Sometimes it might take longer for it to dry and small leaves might not take that long.
In this picture you can see how the leaf made an impression in the sand mound and I turned the leaf over and removed the natural leaf. Turned out pretty.

Now this is what not to do... you remember that I said to wait 24 hours or more for large leaves? Well this is what happens when the leaf has not dried enough. Ugh!!! I just barely snapped the first picture took the camera down and there it was breaking. The leaf was just on uneven sand but it just wasn't dry enough. Possibly if I had cushioned it better after I turned it over it might not have cracked.... but it isn't worth it. Just wait till you can look at the concrete and see the dryness in it as opposed to the dark gray of the wet concrete.

My experimental dish type piece using the ground pine pressed in isn't completely dry either. I am being extremely careful of it now that I know what can happen. The concrete platter is what I wanted to turn out. After it dries I can brush sand out of it and seal it, using it inside or out. I'm afraid to do too much to it yet. You can see the edges are a light gray but the center is still the darker (wet looking) gray. The picture doesn't show the ground pine impression very well, it will be pretty once it's dried and I can clean it up.

Have fun and be patient, not impatient like me.... Sally

Fall in the North Georgia Mountains...

2008-10-29T19:40:00.014-04:00

Welcome to my place in North Georgia. This is the road in front of my home and it is alive with fall colors. I love painting this view, especially in the spring, but now I'm thinking that fall might just be the prettiest. I decided today that I need to walk around again and take pictures before fall disappeared. I guess you might call this "the peak", supposedly the very best time to experience the fall colors. Many of you might not be able to see the North Georgia Fall, so I will send you pictures of fall at my home.

I love fall, mainly because I enjoy the changing seasons. Born in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida there was not fall, at least I don't remember it as a little girl. The colors of fall are so pretty and I guess the warm hues of reds and golds complement the cool in the air, making it spectacular. In this picture the beautiful clear cool blue sky really sets off the reds and oranges in the maple leaves.

This was an oak tree still bright with its gold leaves. I also like the slivery bark of the tree here with the light bouncing off of it. Hopefully I will have some paintings in here somewhere.

Here the persimmons are still hanging on. If I could get up to them I might try to make some persimmon jam. I've heard that after they have had frost on them they turn sweet instead of being really tart. Mrs. Weaver makes persimmon jam out of them. They are up very high though and as soon as they land on the ground, the deer and raccoons make them disappear.

We have sumac sprinked around the property and I caught this in the light right in front of the house. The light was hitting it perfectly to make it stand out against the stone background of the house.

The fall is quickly slipping away, with the leaves dropping as the wind blows. Here you can see it's still beautiful from my studio windows. It is really neat to be able to paint from my picture windows if I want to stay inside. Who can stay in though when it's this pretty outside.

Have a great Halloween!

Sally....

The Southern Colours Art Retreat...

2008-10-18T19:43:00.028-04:00

Finally the day was there for us to begin our "Artist Retreat" in the mountains. It is sort of like over the river and through the woods, and a few of them got slightly lost when they just couldn't believe that you went through a rusty red gate across a pasture (with no visible tire marks) and up a hill that looked like it went no where. Poor Tracie went on out the road till she thought she better turn around, then going up to a house with a driveway that she was afraid her little Mercedes couldn't make it up. So then she climbed the hill up to the house, where she met my inlaws that told her she was almost there. I know she was nearly dead after climbing that hill that's almost a mountain. In spite of it all everyone eventually found there way to 28 Bucktown Trail.

On Thursday after we got there we walked around and showed everyone the various places that we thought they might like to paint. Only part of the people were there on Thursday, the rest coming up on Friday. So after we walked around and decided where we wanted to paint, I took them with their painting easels and supplies on the four-wheeler so they would have more time painting before the weather changed. Just after I got everyone settled, Tracy said it's raining, and to pastelists that is a real problem. I went and got Sallie, who was down by the big pond; and no sooner had I gotten her than the rain stopped. She set up in the open garage to finish her painting, while I went to check on Donna and Cyndi that wanted to keep on painting.

I had promised we were going to do a "surprise" so Sallie and I began to prepare for it. We were going to make concrete leaves. We had gotten the sand put in the wheel barrel and the concrete mix ready so when they were through painting they could each make their leaf. The leaves after they were made had to sit 24 hours to set good before they should be ready to move. We had alot of fun making the leaves. Sallie had brought angel trumpet leaves and a napa cabbage and I had bought some ornamental cabbage to get leaves off of too. It was a very successful venture and everyone took home really beautiful concrete leaves that looked like they had been dusted with fall. Sallie had brought mineral pigments from a painting trip to France for us to use on our leaves. So when we were making them we dusted the leaf with the burgundy and ochre pigments. They looked like fall when the green leaf was pealed off to reveal the leaf detail in the concrete.

As usual they brought tons of good food, from chili on the first cool night to bagels and lox for Saturday brunch, and everything good in between. It was all delicious! Best of all was that they did all the work and I just enjoyed being with all of them.

On Friday the drizzle was becoming more intense, but that didn't stop us, after all we are artists. We were painting everywhere from the open garage, screened porch, patio under the screen porch, front porch and Cyndi had even set up in the upstairs bedroom window. All of the spots had various fall vistas. Then the rest of them had been gathering up my things to set up a table full of various still lifes to paint in the studio. We all were painting as fast as we could.

Friday night I did an encaustic demo for them. This let them see why I am so in love with the encaustics. As usual I probably should have stopped before I did, but I just love layering that wax. I also tried to show them different applications using the different tools.

The one thing that didn't cooperate was the moon. The clouds and fog set in and didn't allow us to paint either of the evenings. We still had plenty to do. We took time to visit and tell a few stories. You know when Diana comes that she has all sorts of activities planned for entertainment. We were really to tired by then to need much entertainment. Like with the painting everywhere, we were also sleeping everywhere.

I am going to put on the Southern Colours website about our trip and the others are sending me pictures since I didn't take any. Use this link to read and see more... http://www.southerncoloursactivities.blogspot.com/

We all had a great time but I have to catch up on my sleep now. Sally...

Fall and Southern Colours

2008-10-11T18:33:00.005-04:00

Well it has been along time since I've written but I have really been busy with a bunch of different things. It's Fall and the trees are starting to change. The picture was taken at our home in the mountains last Wednesday evening after it had rained and rained. The sky was absolutely beautiful, pink clouds with purple, blue and yellow swirling around in the sky. The red and yellows in the trees were reflecting the sky and it just had a really warm glow.

My Southern Colours Art group are coming up this next week to paint. Becoming an annual field trip for us to recreate the beautiful fall colors on paper and canvas. We have alot of fun just immersing ourselves in ART! Nothing stops us, if it rains we can do still lifes inside, and when it's sunny, plein air of the "country scenes". Last year we painted harvest moon paintings at night in the cold and had so much fun producing some really neat paintings. This year we are going to do nocturnal paintings. Starting even earlier in the evening, not waiting for the moon to come up, I want to catch that twilight glow. It only lasts for a little while, hope I can paint fast enough! The moonlight will be there too because it will be close to the full moon. Sallie Atkins read online that Marc Hanson uses little booklights with full spectrum bulbs to do his nocturnal paintings by. Well .... we are ready, have the lights, paints and want to.

I've been busy trying to get everything ready for my artists friends. They are all great about arranging and bringing the food, we always have so much. It's really fun, for just a little bit, to just relax and think about painting. Then to see what you can accomplish in a short time is surprising. Do you have to be an artist to understand that? Sally...

One more thing about pets...

2008-10-01T23:17:00.003-04:00

The last time we went off for vacation, Linda Dragonette rode up to the mountains with me to drop Toby off at Terry's folks. They usually keep him when we go off. She said as we left he (Toby) looked at her like "don't leave me with the old people" as he was crying to go with us. Pat says he cries for an hour or so then he gets okay.

Well we are going to Terry's high school reunion and will be gone a few days so we left him again. As we were driving off today this was the sight I had.

What do you think he's thinking? Sally...

Pets...

2008-09-28T16:52:00.007-04:00

Can any one ever resist a new puppy? I would like to introduce you to Toby our precious little white labrador retriever. We couldn't take him home yet, just picking him out of the litter. You know that "first pick" is always the best. The little collar that we put on him then, let the people that had the puppies, know that he was ours.

I really didn't want another dog since we had had "Jacob" for about 15 years, a chocolate lab that was like part of the family. I wanted to try life without a dog for awhile because you have to always be thinking of them when you go off or come home late, etc. Terry still wanted a dog and Todd, our youngest son, had just happened to find the lab puppies. Terry had a dream that we got a white lab puppy and named "him" Toby. Look what appeared right away. I think that I was set up. He was cute but I probably would have picked one of the girl puppies if I had to pick one.....they were all cute. Needless to say, I went along with the crowd and we got a new puppy.

We promptly made ALL of the mistakes. First of all I could not crate him. If you are going to have a dog, they need to be able to run around inside and out. Second, I just helped him a little and he managed to get up on the bed and lay down with us one morning. Sort of cute when he is 5 pounds but now he is 90 pounds.

We believe that he was just about the most destructive dog on earth, getting from a puppy to a 2 1/2 year old dog. His favorite was pillow foam... I would come home from work to find the living room had experienced a snow storm from the couch pillows. What is so bad is that I would bring the downstairs couch pillows up if we had company (so you could sit on the couch) and forget to take them back down. I learned very quickly to not do that again. He tore one of the downstairs pillows once and made it a center cushion instead of a left side cushion. One morning while Terry was in the shower, I went to make coffee and when I came back, he was proudly bringing my eyeglasses to me ... forget that they were new and one side was crunched. Clickers ... we went through them like crazy, he really loved to chew them until the batteries fell out.

One of the funniest things that happened was when Nedra came and picked me up to go to somewhere, when I got home there was a message on my recorder from my next door neighbor. They wanted me to call them as soon as I got the message. Apparently Toby had gotten my keys that have a clicker on them to open the car and it has a panic alarm on it. Well Toby was chewing or biting it and the panic alarm was going on and off. They had tried to get me to come to the door but I didn't come and they were afraid I was trying to signal for help. It was only Toby! There are probably too many things Toby did to go through, but he would always be at the backdoor when I would come home from work with that I didn't mean to do it look.

If you and the dog can manage to live through the "puppy stage" and we did manage, you will come out with the best dog in the world. Toby has become our best friend and a part of the family. He is one of the most loving dogs we have ever had, but then, he gets away with more than any dog we have ever had. He demanded that we care about him even when he was bad, and he knew when he was bad.

The picture above was the day I went to the Sunflower Farm in Rutledge, GA with Southern Colours. I was making pictures of the sunflowers for potential paintings and I caught him checking out the sunflowers.

If you are thinking about a pet, don't hesitate. Maybe get a little bitty one, but we love Toby and he loves us. It really adds alot to your life, you'll be surprised. Sally...

Early Morning and the First Light

2008-09-24T06:42:00.017-04:00

I have been reading my friends blogs and they seem to be written with ease. I love Sallie and Ron's old pictures, with Sallie's wonderful stories of long ago and Ron's humor, then there are Margaret's paintings.... What should I do next?

I prepared my "Art Blog" so that I could write whatever I want here so that my art work site stayed "professional looking". Now when I can write whatever I want I can't decide what to write; is this writers block. Sort of like a painter with a white piece of paper? I know that when I have that white piece of paper I just have to get something on it and then it just starts, sort of magical. Like dance or even music you have to get the flow started and then if you're lucky it just begins to flow out in streams of words, or color, steps, notes, to create ART! What would we do without it. Have you ever thought of life without art? Everyones' artistic nuances help to make our lives more interesting. Art is everywhere.

As artist, we strive to develop an artistic eye. I think we all have it, we just need to realize the beauty in everything around us. It's there! Simple things can be beautiful. I'm lucky because right now I can go outside and look at the sky and see the beautiful cool atmosphere.

Thinking about it I decided I need to get up and take a field trip. Here is what has attracted my attention this early morning.

The moon flower was the first thing that caught my eye and nose this morning. This flower is gorgeous, looks like a morning glory on steroids.

I think the bud is my favorite picture that I made, but the picture just doesn't do it justice. The air is so cool this morning and that first light spilling over the trees and across the field all the way over to the bud. The light exposing the ribs of the petals still folded up and waiting for the evening to unfold and saturate the air with fragrance. It is just beautiful.

I want to paint today I'll have to make those first marks on the substrate to see what wants to appear. Some additional pictures from this early morning walk for you to see.

Future art projects are in the gourds. I have seen some absolutely gorgeous gourd art! Diana Dice has loaned me some art books on gourds to hopefully handle mine properly so they can become beautiful art. I love the shapes in this picture of the gourds against the sky.
The first color of fall is starting to show up in the trees, not very much but I spotted it here.

This is our little pond and I have a sprinkling of flowers here and there. The lantana has been really pretty this year. Can you just see the cool misty air around the lantana....

Well my paper isn't blank any more. Have a great day today and my hasn't God Blessed Us with his beautiful handiwork! ...Sally

My Week in the Mountains

2008-09-22T11:28:00.000-04:00

I re-posted the picture because the color wasn't accurate at all. Took the picture outside in shade so I hope light is right now. Sallie Atkins says to take the picture in the N/S/E/W positions and pick the most accurate one. You can look at the difference in the one below that was made in my studio around midnight. I also have a real problem in that I painted one of my studio walls red so I get reflections from it. Thank goodness the rest of the walls are a very neutral green hue.

Roses in Pot - Encaustic is what I have done this week in the mountains and I had to put every thing encaustic away to stop. I really don't know when to stop even though I try to stop. I'll look at the painting and think I just need to do this or that and keep messing with it.

The photograph of the painting with the texture isn't photographing very well. When I started this painting I decided I would take pictures of it as I went through various stages. The second painting is in the beginning stages and I really liked it too. Should I have stopped there? You never know what will develop. I really like the painting now and I can't work on it anymore because everything is put up.

I did try to plan a little bit better this time. I had a picture and the fake roses to look at. This painting I used the slotted brush on and it really creates a lot of texture. I still fused between my layers, but then I also in the end brushed on the extra damar medium. The extra damar medium fills in the texture but yet keeps it too by dropping down into the valleys. When it is fused it is clear but as you can see it has a glare when I try to photograph it.

I really love the texture that you can get with the encaustics. This piece probably has more than the pieces that I've done so far. The piece is the largest encaustic I've done to date,
24" X 24".

Well I didn't get too much done this week, but I have painted! When we got here on Sunday evening we had a little excitement. We always bring in our things, cooler, etc. and Terry said there's a snake! He wanted me to go and get the pellet gun so I took off after it. When I got back I hadn't gotten the pellets, so back I went after them. I was afraid the snake was going to bite Toby who was on the outside with Terry and I in the studio and the snake between us. So with Terry yelling at Toby to stay, then me coming out and yelling too; Toby just jumped over the snake and came to me. In the meantime the snake came in too and went over by the bookcases. Terry was afraid the snake would get under the bookcases and then we'd have a problem. So luckily we had a fish net with a long handle to catch the snake with. Terry managed it pretty easily with the net and took the snake outside and took care of it. The snake was a copperhead and for a copperhead it was a fair size about 2 inches in diameter. Sure would have hurt if it had bit one of us! Now we are looking everywhere as we are carrying on with things outside. The price one pays for living in the country!

Tomorrow I have to clean before we go home.... ugh! Sally...

It's there.... and then it's gone!

2008-09-10T01:06:00.000-04:00

I have been painting tonight...

I started out painting my raku pot and had put some pods in it for a still life. There was something bothering me so I usually will get my camera out, take a picture and that helps me to "see" what the painting actually looks like. I can distance myself from it and see better what it needs. So I got the heat gun out to work on the top area of the vase where the pods were. They got a little too fluid and the next thing I knew... I wind up with the painting on the left.

I probably could have gone back and scraped off the wax and redone it. I decided since I had messed it up I'd just get crazy because I couldn't hurt it at this point. So I tried some new things to create texture using the netting that is on bags of onions. I really liked the texture effect that I got from brushing the wax over the net and then lifting it off.

To me the painting is of some bouys that I saw by the docks in Kodiak, Alaska. You know how when oil gets in the water and it just kind of swirls around with reflections and dark water. I was just having fun creating all of the texture in the hot wax. I showed it to Terry and he thought it looked like beehives; so I guess it can be whatever you want it to be.

I really need to start planning a little better with thumbnail sketches, etc. I just get in a hurry and I always know that if I take that little bit of extra time it will save me in the long run. I'm just doing what I want... and it doesn't always come out.

More Encaustics

2008-09-03T12:42:00.000-04:00

Well here are my newest "Little Bouquet - Encaustic" and a revised "Blackstock's Vines - Encaustic". You can look back to the previous blog and see how much it changed, hopefully for the better. I finally got cranked up... or heated up and at 4:10 am decided that I had to stop and go to bed. I discovered that heat guns get extremely hot and you shouldn't get them near your skin. That helped me to realize that I needed to go to bed.

You will see how much Blackstock's Vines changed. I think I'm through for now on it. The photographing of the encaustics is very difficult and I'm still not sure the best way to do it. All of the glare is hard to overcome and see it like it really is.

The Little Bouquet is only 5.5" x 5" so I had to be very careful doing it since it was so small. I did it on a little leftover piece of maple so it can sit on a little easel on a table or shelf.

The wonderful thing about being an artist, you forget everything and just get in that "Art Zone" and time flies when you're having fun! The more encaustics I do the more I think this might be challenging my pastels. Sally...

I'll still have a garden but....

2008-09-02T13:08:00.001-04:00

Today the garden called. I had to pick more butter peas and okra. We really love having all of the fresh vegetables but I have decided that I'm going to be more careful on what I plant. The butter peas that I dearly love are really little jewels worth about $25 a pound when you figure the plowing, buying seed, fertilizer, and bug deters (if you don't want to attempt being organic); then there is the weeding, battleing the crows, picking, shelling (my poor fingers), cooking or freezing! Once it is put on the table it goes really quick! Then when I went to the grocery store the other day, the $3+/- a bag makes you think what a bargain they are at the store. They are still really good too, even from the store. Who would know... Sally

My New Art Blog

2008-09-01T09:26:00.001-04:00

Well I have been working on my "website" or blog. I am amazed at how much you can do with the blog software and even more thrilled that it is free. You can spend alot more time than you realize because you keep thinking of things to do to it. Really alot of fun though for me to be creating something, almost feels a little like I am working.

There is something about working and seeing something produced from your labor. When I am doing housework or cooking, you feel different than working at a job. I have always felt fulfilled in working at home but you know that it's not long until it has to be done all over again, and again, and again. The blog is different, something new and more "businesslike", I have enjoyed it for a change. Now don't get any ideas that I want to go back to work because I am quite happy in to my current lifestyle. My work is painting, gardening and it's wonderful to love working.

Please check out all of the new things I have done to the website. Under the "MY ARTWORK SITE" you will now go to another page to see my business. I'll keep all of the fun stuff here. You can return from each section to the ART HOME PAGE... I'm still trying to decide if I need to fix it so you can go anywhere from any page. What do you think? Still a little wild on colors but I'm playing with that too.
Sally...

Getting Started...

2008-08-23T19:30:00.000-04:00

Why is it so hard to get started. I don't care if it's painting, or any task, it's hard to get started sometimes for me. I need to get painting and I know what I want to paint. I'm sure once I get started I will not want to stop, but you have to get started! I can think that I need to do this or that first, but then before you know it I haven't done what I said I was going to do. Get started!

Well I finally got started! Like I knew, once I got started I wouldn't want to stop. This painting is from a trip Linda Dragonette and I made to Blackstock's Vineyard on an overcast day. I can't decide if I'm through yet. The painting is encaustic so it is "volatile". Drastic changes can happen quickly and are usually unrecoverable. In some respects when you have changes happen they can be very unexpected and beautiful, but that isn't always my experience. Since I started it last night, I held the heat gun a second too long and everything changed... so then I started over. I had alot more background in the beginning and I liked that but then it got too fluid and then it was gone. I'll have to let it sit and watch it for awhile to see what else it needs; maybe I'll take it to Southern Colours on Friday. Sally...

My Garden Helpers

2008-08-19T00:08:00.000-04:00

I'll talk today about one of my important jobs, a Grandmother. I am the Grandmother of Michael, Alexandria, and Bailey Hope Arnold. This is a very special job and one of the most important, along with mother and wife. I want to have a part in guiding and teaching these "little people" values, what is right and wrong, and to teach them things that they don't learn in books. To feel the love of family. To honour their father and mother, and to thank God for all of the blessings that He gives us. Grandparents can get away with a little spoiling and letting them know how special they are. Grandmothers help create memories for them with the family celebrations, for birthdays and special occasions... Memories, so nice to think back on.

This is Michael my grandson who is like all of the other "Arnold" men, he will do anything if he can run a machine or tool to do it. They all love their Tonka toys and the bigger the better. Michael is going to be 13 next month and I can hardly believe how he is growing into a handsome young man now. Terry and I love having him come up to the mountain house. He is a big help to his Granddaddy with doing the "farm things". I am so proud of Michael and how thoughtful he is. He still will give his Grandmother a hug at the ice hockey rink when he sees me, so I still feel pretty special.

Alexandria is my oldest Granddaughter at 9 years old and is a really beautiful child. She has always been so outgoing, singing and dancing. The girls came up a few weeks ago to the mountain house and helped me pick vegetables. They had alot of fun picking tomatoes, beans, okra and squash. We even had some eggplants for them to pick.

Bailey Hope is the baby... at 6 years old she is cute as can be. She is always picking my flowers. Whether the sunflowers in the garden or the lantana by the mailbox. We always put them in a little vase and sometimes use them to paint a picture. The girls like to do art projects so we collage, draw, color, and recently, we have been learning to watercolor. Both of the girls love to play in the studio with my fabric remnants. Dancing and pretending they are actresses, draping the fabric into gowns and flowing long capes.

Terry and I are very blessed to have our grandchildren. They just add so much spice to life. Sally...

My Venture into the Medium of Encaustics

2008-08-17T20:20:00.000-04:00

Encaustic - Glass Balls II

I have recently started painting with encaustics and have fallen in love with it. When I would see encaustic paintings on the internet or in galleries they were usually of a more abstract nature. I wanted to see if I could duplicate a pastel painting of hand blown glass balls that I had done, with my encaustics. The results, with the encaustic glass balls on the left and the pastel painting of glass balls on the right.

In case you are not familiar with encaustics it is painting with liquid wax and medium. From Wikipedia Encyclopedia the definition is "Encaustic painting, also known as hot wax painting, involves using heated beeswax to which colored pigments are added. The liquid/paste is then applied to a surface — usually prepared wood, though canvas and other materials are often used. " They have special tools and brushes that help in the painting process.

Pastel Painting - Glass Balls

Well.... I got started and am still playing with it but it is so fascinating to work with the wax. You can start off painting with something in mind and before you know it you could wind up with something entirely different. The wax when heated with the heat gun can make such beautiful flows, the depth of color is just gorgeous. There are so many ways that you can apply the wax. I have brass brushes, slotted brushes, various implements that go on a heated tool to gouge, press and manipulate the wax. Love it!

I was at Quinlan Art Center with friends and these glass balls were in a basket with a cloth and the light from the window was hitting them and they were full of sparkle. I thought they would make a very interesting painting and quite a challenge. I carry my little camera everywhere with me so I'm always ready to get the photographic reminder. At the time I had no idea of the challenge that I would make it because I had not gotten my encaustics yet. So I painted the glass balls and just had so much fun with them. After I received the encaustics I began playing with all of the tools and that fantastic heat gun that can zap everything before you know it. I've started out painting a flower and before you know it I'd have a pear because I would get carried away with fusing and those perky flowers would just melt right into a big fat bottomed pear.

The encaustic glass balls were my first attempt to paint realistically with my wax and only wax. I have not used any oils or collage. I was quite pleased with the results of the encaustic glass balls and how they are realistic, yet they have a depth and texture that is so interesting. The first few paintings in my slideshow are encaustics. You really need to see and feel them in person it is so neat. Sally...

For Goodness Grows

2008-08-09T15:40:00.000-04:00

Friday's are very "special" to me. I get to paint with my artist friends at St. Stephens in Lilburn. Since Terry and I are semi-moved to our mountain home in Ellijay, and gas is $4 +/- a gallon... painting on Friday's is really appreciated. We, Southern Colours, are all working on a project called "A Recipe For Art". This "project" is turning out to be a really neat painting experience and I love to look for the elements in each of the paintings, it is surprising how creative with items you can get.

My painting is "At for Goodness Grows", my sister and I had gone to see my Aunt in Washington, Georgia and on the way back we stopped at the nursery, For Goodness Grows. When you go with a Master Gardener, my sister Becky, you usually stop at every nursery going and coming; or else they are gathering seeds and cuttings. I guess they are as passionate about their plants as I am about my art. I love gardening... but I love painting more. Becky loves painting but she loves gardening more. I guess it is where we are right now in our lives. We have fun together and really enjoy going with each other, whether it is a trip to Charleston with the Master Gardener friends or a plein-air painting excursion with me and my friends. She is my sister and I love her.

It is amazing to me how you can take eight items:

Metal, Pepper, Wine glass, Pot, Flower, Seed Pod, Clock, Fabric

and must use five of them in a painting, then see how different they all are. In my painting "For Goodness Grows" the five elements that I chose are:

Flowers, Pot, Metal, Clock (Sundial), Fabric,

Now I have to decide when my painting is finished before it gets overworked! Maybe just a little more ....

The project is possibly going to turn into an exhibition. I am looking forward to seeing the paintings all together and see each of our styles reflected into the thought and medium we choose. I've done two paintings of the elements... the other one is in my slideshow and is called Pat's Hands, can you guess the five elements in that one? Sally...

My Cup Runneth Over

2008-08-06T11:44:00.001-04:00

Today I thought that I would talk about my painting "My Cup Runneth Over" and why I painted it. Terry and I have planted a garden this year, a really big garden 70ft. x 70ft. The garden has really been an ongoing project that requires lots of attention, but it has really been rewarding too.

After picking my cherry tomatoes one morning early, I thought they would make a beautiful little painting. I went an got one of my coffee cups and poured them into it and they spilled out around the table. The painting was done plein-aire on the screen porch so the light was all natural. The little cherry tomatoes just glowed the most beautiful red.

Part of the process of painting in plein-aire was my inspiration from a workshop with Bill Hosner that I had just attended where the focus was painting outdoors in natural light. It truly does make a wonderful difference if you can manage the heat and bugs. My screened porch was a wonderful approach to his method. I was pleased with my little painting and it reminded me again of all the Blessings that I have.

The garden has been a wonderful experience and I'll probably write more about it later.

Sally...

My First Day of Blogging

2008-08-04T15:06:00.000-04:00

Today is a first for me.... to blog!

I really don't know how to blog so I will just start writing about things that come to mind. I have started this blog to introduce my art to the internet world. I am already on several sites but I wanted to have something all my own. So here is my blog to act as the vehicle to show my artwork to you as it is created. I can talk about why I painted the subject and anything else that I might be painting it for. Sometimes I just paint and yet other times a painting might have a story about it.

Another interest of mine is travel. I love to travel. So I will maybe write about trips that were really alot of fun and might be of interest to others. Also, I love doing paintings of things I've seen on my trips. Sometimes they are plein-aire and sometimes they are studio paintings from photographs.

I have put a picture on the blog of a series of paintings I'm doing on the Kodiak Bears. My husband and I go to a very remote place called "Munsey's Bear Camp" and it is a fabulous trip to make. You fish and bear watch. The painting called Kodiak Fishing is from a day sitting by the river watching the amazing Kodiak bear fishing for salmon. We were up close and personal to experience an unbelievable animal. Thank goodness he is so involved in his fishing that he ignored us sitting on the bank of the river by some driftwood logs. I might write more later on this trip but for now .... Sally