Posted in Serendipity, Small Town Life, tagged gift wrapping, Humane Society of Warren County on December 16, 2014| Leave a Comment »
The Humane Society of Warren County does a wonderful job finding homes for so many homeless pets. The Studio is offering a gift wrapping service today from 9-1 and next Tuesday from 9-3 to benefit them. Bring your Christmas presents to The Studio at 105 E Main Street, Front Royal and we will wrap them for you for a donation to the Humane Society.
Please help us help them. Thanks-
Posted in Serendipity, tagged blog, blogging, posting on December 8, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Wow! I could never have imagined when I started “Life of a Daily Painter” blog in February 2008 that I would still be blogging today….and that I would ever post 2000 times!
I started blogging as a way to share the daily paintings that I was creating and to hopefully sell some as I try to make a living as an artist. But after a year or so the blog developed into more.
As I started teaching more I would share the work of my students. They enjoy seeing their work and hearing your comments on what they are doing.
And I when my shop, Delilah’s converted to an artist’s co-op, I started sharing more of the other kinds of art and crafts that I was doing like crochet and jewelry. And now that the shop has once again transformed to The Studio – A Place for Learning (a creative teaching co-op) I am sharing the creativity of others who take all sorts of classes there.
And all the while the blog has been intermingled with stories about my dogs (here is one of my favorite about Truman) , some painting tips, museum travel suggestions (here is one that features the “French” Lincoln), recipes, and crochet patterns.
And all the while many of you have continued to follow me from the beginning and others found me along the way. I am so grateful to you all for that.
The blog has become an old friend…one that I visit with every morning for a few minutes. Thanks for following along. I hope you will continue visiting with me here too!
Posted in Recipes, Serendipity, tagged Carrot Cake, Carrot Cake Recipe on November 28, 2014| 1 Comment »
Ingredients for Carrot Cake
Batter should look like this
Big Mama’s Carrot Cake
Yesterday I made Big Mama’s Carrot Cake to take to Thanksgiving Dinner. It was a hit! It always is.
Big Mama made the best cakes and the recipes I have of hers have always been favorites. Several people asked for the recipe so here it is. When I make one to take to a gathering with lots of people I always make 1 1/2 times the recipe in order to have a large cake. Enjoy.
2 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups cooking oil
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 cups finely grated carrots
Combine oil, sugar and eggs. Beat well. Add dry ingredients to this mixture. Mix well and then add carrots. Mix them in and then pour into 3 layer pans which have been greased and floured. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. (Be sure to watch them toward the end of the time as each oven bakes differently.) Cool.
Carrot Cake Nut Frosting
½ cup butter
1 8 oz. cream cheese
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cup chopped pecans
Beat butter and cheese until fluffy. Add sugar and vanilla. Frost cake. Sprinkle a few pecans on each layer with the majority on the top.
Posted in Dogs, Serendipity, tagged Dogs, Mamie on November 27, 2014| 6 Comments »
Mamie’s Tutu
Mamie with Snow Dog
Her first day with us. Just like she had always been here.
Mamie Eisenhower Walker
Kissing Lincoln
Throw my toy please!
Sleeping with Pig
Mamie sleeping on MY pillow-her favorite nap spot
Today we celebrate Thanksgiving – the most honest of all holidays. We give thanks for the family and friends in our lives and for the bounty we enjoy. Today I am giving a special prayer of thanks for our wonderful Mamie. We lost her yesterday to liver failure.
We only had the pleasure of Mamie, a feisty little Cairn terrier, for a little more than 2 years. She came to us from previous homes who could not keep her. What a loss for them because she was an amazing little dog.
She loved pigs. We are not sure how she could tell the difference but she knew her pigs…..and she had many! And she loved to play fetch more than anything. We would throw her pig, a ball, a stuff toy, and most recently her squeaky airplanes (a gift from neighbors when she first got sick in July) down the hallway in the house for her to chase. And chase she would hundreds of times if you would throw it that many. She LOVED it!
And she loved playing with her brothers Jed and Lincoln….especially Lincoln who was patient when we first got Mamie to help her overcome her toy aggression. It took several months but she finally understood that he just wanted to play. (You can see more about Mamie in this anniversary post.)
Mamie was our sweet little girl. She was devilish and clever. She was adorable and manipulating. She knew how to work the room. And many of our Facebook friends loved Mamie as well. We post photos on Facebook almost each day of our visits to the dog park and many people got to know her that way.
So today we send up a prayer of Thanksgiving for the time we had with our little girl, Mamie. We loved her so much and are so happy that she is feeling no more pain. We will miss her forever.
Posted in Serendipity, Small Town Life, tagged Fleece Blanket, Girl Scouts, The Studio, The Studio-A Place for Learning on November 12, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Girl Scouts with completed blankets
Yesterday I worked with a Girl Scout troop on a project for our local animal shelter. I provided the fleece for the girls to make little blankets for the pups and kitties. They “made” the blankets yesterday and will deliver them to the Humane Society of Warren County along with some supplies they are collecting that are needed by the shelter. The shelter always could use help with supplies and they do such wonderful work that I am happy to help whenever I can. This project was a win-win….working with the Girl Scouts and helping the Animal Shelter. 🙂
The great thing about these blankets is that you can make them in any size – large enough for a person or smaller for a pet. Here are the Blanket Instructions:
Step 1 – Cut fleece to size
1. Decide the size you would like for your blanket and purchase two pieces of fleece to accommodate the size. Place the two pieces of fleece wrong sides together and cut them to size.
Step 2 – Cut out corner squares
2. Cut a square out of each corner. The size you cut will determine the size of the “fringe”. For a large blanket cut about a 6-7″ square. For a smaller blanket cut the square about 4 inches.
Step 3 – Cut fringe.
3. Make cuts all the way around the blanket. The cuts should be about 1 to 1-1/2 inches. You want to keep the two pieces of fabric together because these two pieces of fringe are what you tie together. You can pin the two pieces of fabric together to keep it secure especially if you are working with a large blanket. The great thing about this blanket is that you do not have to cut them exactly the same. It will turn out great even if the cuts are not perfect.
Step 4 – Tie knots all the way around
4. Tie knots in the fringe all the way around. Be sure to double knot each fringe so that it doesn’t come untied.
5. Enjoy your new blanket!
Posted in Serendipity, Small Town Life, tagged Entrepreneur Cafe, The Studio, The Studio-A Place for Learning on October 22, 2014| 3 Comments »
The Studio’s Table at the Entrepreneur Cafe
WE WON!!! Yesterday I invited you to an event called “Entrepreneur Cafe” that our Chamber of Commerce hosts that gives 5 selected businesses an opportunity to vie for a prize package that included $500 cash and $1000 newspaper advertising budget. I am so excited that our project – to add audio-visual equipment to The Studio- was the one selected. Now I can’t wait to get it set up so we can watch instructional DVDs while creating. Yeah!!!
And even better than all of that, I got to tell a room full of people just what it is we do at The Studio. Everyone knows that we have art classes (because that is what I do) but most people have no idea that we offer so much more like embroidery, collage, photography, bookbinding, quilting, sewing, knitting, crochet, fabric arts, social media, kids crafts, Pinterest picks, air dry pottery, cookie decorating, cupcake decorations, gingerbread houses, and more, more, more!!!!! Did you know that?
Posted in Serendipity, Small Town Life, tagged Entrepreneur Cafe, The Studio-A Place for Learning on October 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »
We were thrilled that The Studio – A Place for Learning was chosen as one of the five small local businesses to compete tonight at the Entrepreneur Cafe from 5:30pm – 7pm at the Holiday Inn & Suites at Blue Ridge Shadows for a cash award of $500 and a marketing package valued at over $1000.
The café will provide a forum where these entrepreneurs can gain exposure while addressing funding needs. Members of the community are invited to participate. The five selected entrepreneurs present their project – giving a 5 minute presentation & 5 minutes for questions/answers from the audience regarding their goals, experience and business plan – and when all the presentations are complete, the attendees get to vote for the winner.
We are happy to be one of the five in this group of entrepreneurs:
Kendra’s Cookies – Kendra Allanson
Chris Wines – Extra Arms
The Studio: A Place for Learning – Kelly Walker
Donna Allanson Catering – Donna Allanson
1000 Cranes 4 Peace – Arlene Butler
Refreshments will be provided. And Dr. Miles Davis, Dean of Harry F. Byrd School of Business at Shenandoah University will be our keynote speaker. Come join us!
Posted in Little Known Facts, Serendipity, Travel, tagged National Gallery of Art, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec on October 20, 2014| 1 Comment »
Andrew Wyeth
I spent a delightful afternoon leading a tour group from The Village at Orchard Ridge to the National Gallery of Art in DC yesterday. We made the trip to see the wonderful Andrew Wyeth exhibit, “Looking Out- Looking In”. The exhibit closes the end of November and if you haven’t seen it yet you MUST go take a look. Amazing watercolors with a limited palette. Wonderful!
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. “Lady with a Dog”, oil on cardboard, 1891
Auguste Renoir, “Mlle Charlotte Berthier”, oil on canvas, 1883
We had some time to see a lot more art and I will share more with you this week. Here are two we saw in the Impressionist Galleries by Renoir and Toulouse-Lautrec. Of course, they caught my eye because they had pups in them. 🙂
Posted in Little Known Facts, Serendipity, tagged color block, Mark Rothko, Rothko on September 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Samples of Rothko’s color block paintings
Mark Rothko (September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970) was an American painter of Russian Jewish descent. He is generally identified as an Abstract Expressionist. You can read more about Rothko here.
He is most well-known for his “color block” paintings.
This is my favorite Rothko quote: “It’s a widely accepted notion among painters that it does not matter what one paints as long as it’s well painted.”
Posted in daily painter, Serendipity, tagged Best Local Artist, Northern Virginia Daily on September 20, 2014| Leave a Comment »
The winners were announced today in the Northern Virginia Daily reader poll. Many, many thanks for voting for me again as “Best Local Artist”. I really appreciate your support. 🙂
The Studio 