Plein Air

My mother had been invited to have her farm with an historic mill, be a part of the first Montgomery Museum of Art and History Plein Air event.  She didn't get to see it.  But my sister Ann worked hard to make it happen since it was something Mama had wanted. 

Today was the event's finale where the artists entered their paintings in a competition and offered them for sale if they wanted.   Since this was the first year, only 18 people had signed up.  There were multiple historic locations to chose from.  Three artists chose our location. 

The artwork trickled in throughout the day.  

I bought this oil painting of Mill Creek.  

Linda bought this one of Mill Creek barn. 

And Ann, who had stayed on site for 2 days and had met the artists, bought the one of Bennett's Mill.  When I left the event, these were the only three paintings to have sold.  Maybe if they do it next year, more artists will see how lucrative this location can be.   

 

Hell's Kitchen

I took a little trip Saturday to see Ann and Matt and to use Mitchell's season ticket for a Broadway show at the Tanger Center.  

On the way, I stopped at a mid century modern store.  They specialize in refinishing and reupholstering mid century furniture.   I had seen this style chair on another site several years ago and had been looking for it ever since.  It is very comfortable and would go great with the leather and chrome sofa I have.  Only, I have rearranged the living room and am happy with the current layout.  Plus, the chair was $2250 as is and $3000 if reupholstered.  A little out of the thrift store price range I was wanting.  

I also saw this coffee table size stereo cabinet.  I have not seen one this height before.  I made me consider the possibility of having something like this under my new gallery wall instead of a bench.  It is definitely something to think about since I do have a pretty good record collection.  

Then it was onto the show, after a nice seafood dinner.  

According to Google,  

Hell's Kitchen is a Broadway musical by Alicia Keys, with a book by Kristoffer Diaz, inspired by Keys's life growing up in 1990's Manhattan, featuring her music, a coming-of-age story about a teen named Ali finding her voice, and a mother-daughter relationship at its core. 

No pictures were allowed during the show.  But I did snap one at the end. 

My review, the story was ok, the music was good, the singing talent was great, the dancing was a lot of jumping and arm waving.  Overall, it was an enjoyable evening.  Thank you Mitchell for the ticket and place to stay, and  thank you Ann for everything else. 

 

Evolution Of The Gallery Wall

A month ago I asked chatGPT to recommend a design update for this wall in my living room. 

Because I am using the free version, I am limited to how many pictures I can download and questions I can ask in a 24 hour period.  There was a lot to work through so it took some time.  Plus, every time I asked for it to mock up an image, it would change a major unchangeable item. 

These were the pictures I started with. 

I spent a lot of time working on different layouts. 

I streamlined the room and started with a blank slate on the wall. 

After asking real life people, I changed the layout again. 

There was lots of measuring and contemplating.  And maybe a few extra holes in the wall. 

But I finally finished it. I asked chatGPT to evaluate it. 

It wants me to raise it up 4 more inches (even though it recommended earlier to start it 6-8 inches lower),remove the horse brasses (lower right) and somehow tighten it up even more.

Joe said he liked it. I will take his opinion over chatGPT any day.   Now I get to look for an interesting mid century bench to replace the chest. 

Surprise Find

Remember the metal goats from my walk in Brevard?

I saw them on several people's porches in just a small neighborhood.  

Well, the trend has made it to southwest Virginia.  I could not believe it when I saw it in a thrift store here for $4.00.   It is cute as it can be. 

I checked Etsy and Ebay and it looks like it sells there for $50-$80 for this petite size.  

I hope that it will be the most realistic goat that I see in my yard. 

Handmade

I received two very special handmade gifts this year. 

Emily knitted this Sophie’s scarf. She said it is quite the rage. And she did it in pink, my favorite color. 

Then Virginia made this precious cross stitch nativity for me.  I immediately placed it on the mantle.  I am so glad they are seeing the value in handmade.  

And now I can finally reveal what I have been working on.  You might recall the goat I needle felted from a little kit I got at the Sheep and Goat festival.  Well, after that I decided to try my hand at needle felting a picture. 

I wanted to start simple so I chose to try to copy a picture my grandmother painted over 100 years ago.  I think it is a pretty good likeness. And my sister that I gave it to says she can’t stop looking at it. 

Then I tried something a little more complicated. 

This was a barn on my grandparents farm that blew down in the early 90’s. My needle felting was loosely based on this picture. I added the sheep because the sister I was giving it to raised sheep and got a master’s degree working with sheep.  Then I used a frame I had made years ago out of the wood from the barn. 

And I just couldn’t stop. I made this for my boss and another one with two sheep instead of the flowers for Virginia.   I definitely have a new hobby. 

 

25 Days Of Christmas, Day 23

Christmas decorating inspiration can come from just about anywhere.  But one of my most common spots for ideas is the thrift store. 

I have a photo shelf in the hallway to my bedroom where I display records.  Sometimes record covers with horses and sometimes records from my childhood. 

But at Christmas I change it out to Santas, angels or nativities. 

I have collected them from thrift stores over the years. Sometimes I just like the cover sometimes I like the music.  Some Santa’s are creepy. 

Some are fake. 

And some look, well, drunk. 

Then there is Classic Christmas. 

And finally, unexpected. Who would think of Colonel Sanders as Santa. Well, it is cheap artwork anyway. 
 

25 Days Of Christmas, Day 18

I started getting Facebook posts from “Pet Portraits by Hercule” over a year ago.  He draws pet caricatures for donations to a homeless charity and a pet charity in the UK.  The drawings and commentary are very humorous.  Today I saw that he was giving away a Christmas coloring page. 

Since I was at work I was able to download it and print off a couple for Sadie and Allie.  

Unfortunately, I did not see that last year’s was also available until I got home.  My printer doesn’t work so I won’t be doing this one.  But it has a unicorn. 

He also has a shop and sells Christmas cards, calendars and a variety of other merchandise.  If you want a bit of a laugh check out his website HERE or his Facebook page HERE.

 

CE

I went to a continuing education meeting in Asheville this weekend.  The first night I stayed a the hotel.  Then the next 2 I spent with Emily and Keiran. 

I listened to lectures on skin, 

ears, and kidneys.  The lectures were ok, nothing all that helpful.  Virginia requires 15 hours a years, so I am now done.  The conference had a sponsor for the lunch on Friday but we were on our own for lunch Saturday. 

Where I had stayed at the hotel and signed up for their free rewards program to get a lower rate, I had a coupon for free wings from the bar.  It was better than the meal on Friday.  

I stayed with Emily and Keiran in Brevard.  The town is known for its population of white squirrels.  They are everywhere.     According to the City of Brevard,

"The white squirrels in Brevard originated from a pair of white squirrels that escaped from a carnival truck in Florida around 1949. They were given to a local resident, who later gifted them to his niece. After one escaped and the other was released, they began breeding in the wild and established the local white squirrel population." 

Emily and I walked around her neighborhood this morning and I also spotted a few goats. 

I thought these were exceptionally lifelike renditions.  

 

Bricks

The barn that the cow and calf from the last post are at isn't somewhere I get to very often.

The previous owner had dumped a load of bricks in the shed part, I think to help keep hay off the ground. 

I found a very interesting hand made brick there.  Do you see what I see?

How about if I put it this way?  I went back and looked more and found...

lots of broken ones.  Don't you just love them? 

I need to find a really cool way to display them now.  

I set up a line of them in front of the wood stove.  You see them as soon as you come out of the garage door.  Joe said they were creepy.  He thought they looked like something a native on Gilligan's Island might have used to ward off evil spirits.  

I like all of the different expressions.  Angry or confused, I don't know which.  

defiantly happy, 

 maybe a little scared.   Any ideas what to do with them?