Thawed out yet??

Hope you all made it through our ice storm without damage.  We were fortunate we only lost power overnight but I found it hard to sleep when I don't have my nightlight.  It was really dark in the house so I was forced to open the shades to let in enough light to find my way around.  Like most of you I waited for the snow but only got ice.

We will have our regular meeting tomorrow in our new meeting room.  We checked it out this week and decided the room needs a little cleaning so that's what we will be doing first off.  Keep in mind we are entering a mans world so you know it may not be up to our standards.  Then we are going to practice Ros' strokes.  So bring your painting supplies and a dish for pot luck lunch and let's start planning our new year.  We are challenging each member to come up with something you can teach this year.  We have nine months remaining to paint this year and we need at least seven people to come forward with a month they are willing to teach.  Then we need six members to teach ornaments in the month of July and August.  This will give everyone a chance to teach.  If you feel uncomfortable doing it by yourself ask for another member to work with you.  If you feel you don't paint well enough to teach I say...Poo!  I have seen everyone's paintings and I know you are much better than you think.  If you need help finding something suitable to teach, ask us and we will help.  I will tell you about the first time I taught a class.  I was petrified!  I had to teach an oil painting in front of people I didn't even know.  I practiced my project at least a dozen times.  I wrote out my instructions as I painted, then when I finished I started all over again.  I painted that canvas so many times everyone in my family got the same painting....and you know I have a big family.  It turned out fine but I wasn't convinced.  The next class I taught I did the same thing...my family finally said they loved getting a painting but didn't all want to get the same thing!  Even now, I get butterfly's when I teach so I think it must be a normal feeling.

I am excited to tell you that I have the quilt we painted and will bring it to the meeting tomorrow.  It really is very pretty, I think you will be quite pleased.  We will discuss how we will handle the raffle at the meeting.

I found this fish on Pinterest and it reminded me of a reverse Zentangle.  Thought you might like to see.  Hope to see y'all tomorrow.  We're off to a good start!

Another seminar down...

We had a fantastic seminar this weekend painting with that brush abuser Ros Stallcup!  I checked everyone's paintings and they all turned out beautiful.  Dark backgrounds, light backgrounds, even purple backgrounds...some on canvas, some on wood or tin...we had a little bit of everything going on.  Ros was her usual self, very sharing and fun to paint with.  She is fast becoming one of our favorite teachers....we might want to think about having her next year.

Now, the bad news is we did lose money but the good news is it wasn't very much.  We will have a discussion about it at the meeting.  I want to thank those who went to dinner with us on Saturday night, eight of those attending joined us.  And the food at the Fish House was delicious and they gave us plenty.

As you know when we rent the community center for a seminar we are responsible for cleaning the room and removing any trash when we have completed the seminar.  This time we had to not only set the room up for the seminar...thanks to Jane, Jackie, and myself, but we had to reset it before we left which meant moving tables and chairs back in place, vacuuming (thanks Jane), wiping down tables and cleaning the kitchen.  I wanted to thank everyone who stayed behind and helped, it was so appreciated.  I especially wanted to thank Joan for taking the trash.  I live next to the woods and the raccoons and critters have learned to open my trash cans - I may have had a mess to clean up while waiting for the trash day on Friday.  You were a life saver and I have a special little something for you at the next meeting.  Thanks again to all of you.

Just a reminder, this year we would like to see EVERYONE sign up to teach a class.  We know some are not comfortable or do not feel confident enough to stand in front of everyone and teach.  But I know each and everyone of you have a talent in something even if it isn't painting.  We have to plan ahead so perhaps you could teach a small ornament during our summer Christmas Ornament Paint in.  Barbara has the schedule to exceed this year so you have plenty of time to come up with something.

Some of you may not have known it but Margaret went to see her daughter dance in Las Vegas last month and was unable to attend the Christmas lunch.  It must have been wonderful to see her come home with her trophies.  Congratulations, proud Mom, and to your beautiful daughter, Susan!

Our next meeting will be held at the Fire Station on Johnson Avenue, one block east of Davis Highway. That is across the street from the West Florida Hospital Rehab Center.  We will meet at 10 am.  This is a new place for us until we find something more suitable.  I will be posting again soon, stay tuned.

Our seminar will be held at the Beulah Senior/Community Center off Mobile Highway starting tomorrow at 9am.  The address is 7417 Woodside  Road about one block south of Mobile Highway behind the Beulah Elementary School.  If you pull up beulah community center on the web it will show you a map, on mapquest type in the address for driving directions.  Everyone is coming from so many different directions it will be difficult to address each one.  If you have a problem, give me a call at home. 850-969-9524 or on my cell 850-982-9524.  Please come early so we can get started at 9 am.  Also, bring a jacket if you get cold easily.  The thermostats is preset at 68 degrees.

Ros Stalcup Seminar

I know some of you did not receive the information about the class so I am posting it here. 


The Lilacs and Daisies were painted on a rectangular board with an insert.  The size is approximately 12"x16" oval.  The paints that were used are as follows


Cad Yellow     Avocado     Olive Green    Evergreen     Raw Sienna     Dioxazine Purple
Blue Violet     Shale Green     Eggshell     Paynes Grey     Blue Mist     Soft Lilac   Warm White
And we will use Glazing Medium


Basecoat:  Paint oval with Shale Green.  Paint frame board with Eggshell and edge with Soft Lilac.


Glass Floats and Shells


Surface:  Wire basket with wood lid 19"x7" (can easily be adjusted to fit many surfaces as I can reduce pattern and bring two sizes.)  The paints used were:


Hi Lite Flesh     Colonial Green     Evergreen     Raw Sienna     Soft Black     Black Green    
Antique Teal     Paynes Grey     Camel     Warm White   and we use Glazing Medium


Preparation:  Paint the surface with Hi Lite Flesh


These are the instructions I received from Ros.  She is furnishing the paints.  If you have any questions, call me (850) 969-9524.  We understand you will not have the exact surface as she painted on but I know you will use your imagination and come up with something unique - canvas, boat paddle (miniature of course), wood boxes, suitcases, trays, etc....so many things to choose from.  Please keep in mind the amount of room we have available. 


We will have a pot luck lunch on each day.  The club will furnish tea and soda.  We will take Ros to dinner and would love for each of you to join us even if it's just for a cup of coffee.  If you have an extension cord available, please stick one in your bag.  Until then.....

Hope you are all curled up keeping warm.  I can't remember the last time the temps got down in the teens!  I am so glad the holidays are over and we are getting back to normal.  Now, I am counting down the days until I can sit on the swing again and feel the warmth from the sun.



Our seminar is fast approaching.  Please read the previous posts for pictures of the projects.  Ros will not bring any surfaces, mostly books and brushes.  Your surface needs to be approximately 12"x16" for the flowers and 7"x19" for the glass floats.  She will bring several sizes in patterns.  If you have these books, Simply Gran you will find the glass floats, and Grans Painting Place has the flower in a vase.  I have a lot of her books but not these two.



You should have received an email from Diane with the list of members who have paid their dues and the seminar.  If you haven't paid for your seminar you should do so now.  Send your check to Diane or to me as quickly as possible.  Diane is taking the seminar and will not have the time to take checks the day of the seminar.  And Ros has asked for the number of attendees so she can bring photos and patterns.  I will give her the count next week.  I believe we will have only about fifteen people attending so we will probably lose a bit of money.  Hopefully we will be able to make it up through fundraising this year.  I will update again before the seminar so stay tuned.