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Archive for January, 2015

Another Daisy

Posted in Crochet, tagged on January 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »

DaisyA few weeks ago we had a visitor for a week – Daisy.  (You can read more about her here.)  While she was here I made her a little sweater and a friend in Kentucky saw it and wanted one  for her Daisy.  I just finished it up and will be getting it off in the mail soon.  Crocheting dog sweaters is fun and if you crochet you can click the Crochet tab above and give this pattern a try.  Have fun.

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The Four Agreements

Posted in Books, tagged , on January 20, 2015| Leave a Comment »

10369612_788485357858622_6616022686814635377_nSeveral years ago I wrote about a little book that is one of my favorites.  It still is.  And yesterday while speaking with some friends it came to me that I needed to review it since I haven’t read it in a year or so.  The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz is a small, simple book with a really big message.

This amazing little book if taken to heart will change you forever.  You can read my first post about it here.

As an artist Agreement #2 is important.  If you take personally everything anyone says about your work will destroy you.  Their opinion about your work is NOT about you but all about them.  I have to keep that in mind – all the time!

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Lea’s Paint Party

Posted in Paint Parties, tagged , , , on January 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Lea's Paint Party

Lea’s Paint Party

A few months ago Lea’s husband bought a Gift Certificate for a Paint Party to give her for her birthday.  What a fun gift because not only did Lea get to paint but she got to invite friends to join her.

And they all created these great small paintings!  Good work everyone.

 

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Pet Portraits!

Posted in Animals, Dogs, Paint Parties, Pet Portaits, tagged , , , , on January 18, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Paint Party Pets Jan 17We had a great time with the “Paint Your Pet’s Portrait” Party yesterday.  Great work!

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Color Mixing-Almost 300 Years Ago

Posted in Tips for Better Painting, tagged on January 17, 2015| 1 Comment »

colors-1colors-2A friend shared with me on Facebook a few days ago a fascinating story about an 1862 artist, Boogert,  almost 300 years ago who made a color mixing manual of almost 800 pages.  It is truly amazing that this was all done by hand.   The article starts like this:

“In 1692 an artist known only as “A. Boogert” sat down to write a book in Dutch about mixing watercolors. Not only would he begin the book with a bit about the use of color in painting, but would go on to explain how to create certain hues and change the tone by adding one, two, or three parts of water. The premise sounds simple enough, but the final product is almost unfathomable in its detail and scope.”  See the entire story by clicking the  link above or here.

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Let’s Make a Day Trip to Philly!

Posted in Travel, tagged , , on January 16, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Dr BarnesA couple of years ago I posted about a trip to Philadelphia where a group of us went to see the Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Barnes Foundation.  (You can read about it here and here.)  Dr. Barnes was a fascinating person and his art collection is amazing.  You need to see it if you haven’t already.  I can’t wait to see it again.

We are going to Philly on a day trip on Sunday, March 8th.  We will leave Front Royal via Motor Coach at 8:30 and return late Sunday evening.  You have two options on this trip.  You can spend the afternoon at The Barnes or you can go see the Philadelphia Flower Show.  If you are interested in going you can get all the contact information here ( FINAL Barnes Foundation) .  Consider making a day trip with us.  It will be worth it.

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Terrific Art Classes Yesterday

Posted in Art Class, tagged , , on January 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Robin and Carla Paint Poppies

Robin and Carla Paint Poppies

Kids Class with Cardinals

Kids Class with Cardinals

We had 3 terrific art classes yesterday, as we usually do on Wednesdays.  We had a mother-daughter guest duo paint with us in the morning.  They did super work on the poppy field….and Mom said “I have never painted before.  I can’t paint”.   And of course, I said, “Yes, you can!”  And she did.  🙂

And our afternoon kid’s class painted these lovely little female cardinals in the snow.  Great work!!!

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The 3-Day Challenge Continues…

Posted in Animals, Pet Portaits, tagged , , , on January 14, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Bob CatYesterday I continued with the 3-Day Challenge on Facebook where I was asked to post three paintings a day for a week and challenge another artist to do the same.  My three paintings yesterday were of pet portraits…one of my favorite subjects.  One of the paintings I shared was of Bob Cat, one of Allen’s warehouse kitties.  He is a handsome cat and got his name because he loves to sit on the seat of the Bobcat equipment there.  If he was a human his job would be “heavy equipment operator”.  🙂

Painting pets is so great fun.  You can do it too at our 3rd Saturday Paint Party coming up this Saturday at 3 pm at The Studio.  Check out more information here.

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The 3-A-Day Challenge

Posted in Animals, Farm Animals, tagged , , , on January 13, 2015| Leave a Comment »

 

"Mr. Cottswold", oil, 6"x8"

“Mr. Cottswold”, oil, 6″x8″

JackAnother GoatI was challenged by a friend and fellow artist to participate in the 3-A-Day Challenge where I have to post 3 paintings per day for one week on my wall on Facebook.  Today is Day 3 of the challenge.  The first day I posted three paintings that were demonstration paintings from Paint Parties and yesterday I posted 3  paintings from the Farm Animal series that I did several years ago.  The farm animals lit up the comment section…and they reminded me how much fun they were to do.  Here are the three paintings I shared.

Not sure what I will be showing for my three for today but it has been fun going back and looking at some of the older paintings that I have done.  Thanks Cindy for the challenge.

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Diamond Lattice Infinity Scarf

Posted in Crochet, The Studio/Classes, tagged , on January 12, 2015| 1 Comment »

2015-01-11 17 35 39_resized Crochet InfinityWe had our Beginning Crochet Class at The Studio yesterday with a full house.  Everyone got a great start on their Diamond Lattice Infinity Scarf.

This is a super easy pattern for beginning crocheters and it’s pretty enough that long-time crocheters will want to do it too.  Many thanks to Jen Keng of Classy Crochet for making this pattern available for us to use.  I love that you can find wonderful patterns all over the internet to keep trying new and fun projects.

Here is the pattern (or you can see it on the site link above).  This pattern works best with bulky yarn.

Easy Diamond Lattice Infinity Scarf

Chain 30.  (You can chain 25 if you want a little smaller scarf.)

Row 1: Slip stitch into the 10th chain from the hook.  Chain 5, count every 5 chains, slip stitch, repeat to the end.

Row 2: Chain 5, turn, and slip stitch into the middle of the chain 5 loop.  Repeat: chain 5 and slip stitch into the middle chain of each loop.

End of row 2.  Chain 5, turn, and repeat.  Continue until scarf is desired length.

Join by laying the ends together and whipping them up with a large yarn needle.

 

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