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

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

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!

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...

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

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!

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....

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...

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....

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...

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!

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...

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