Fred and I took a walk on Easter… the weather was gorgeous and so was the scenery, I’m so glad I brought my camera! People take such pride in their homes downtown, and it really shows. I took some fabulous photos of doors and window boxes. Absolutely stunning!
Enjoy your Sunday, it’s supposed to be windy here… I love that! Maybe the wind will get rid of the remaining squiggles in the oak trees, woohoo!
Catch you back here tomorrow!
I think that the location of this photo could easily be in another country. This is a street in Charleston, SC. Those trees are stunners aren’t they?? If you get a chance, come to Charleston, SC for vacation… if you live here, take the time to go downtown and walk around and see all the cool sights there are to see! You will be amazed. Trust me!
It’s with a trembling lip that I say ‘see ya soon‘ (can’t say goodbye or that trembling lip will turn into a disastrous mess, ha ha) to my parents who have been in town visiting this week. I moved to SC from MI in 1989, right before Hurricane Hugo (brilliant, eh?) with every intention of being here just a short time… then I met Fred. Awwww… the love of my life. It’s hard to live in a different city that is either an expensive flight or a 17 hour drive away… wish we were all closer in distance!
I’ll be back to normal posting next week! Catch you back here tomorrow!
The architecture downtown Charleston, SC will blow your mind. Every walk we take I see something else that is just so original… I’ve seen these before, what do you suppose this pointy thing is for?
To keep birds away from the door? To keep squirrels from running up to the above piazza? Hmmm, I’m not sure, I just know that it’s a pretty cool site on a gorgeous house downtown. The homes in Charleston are stunning. They. Are. Historic.
What do YOU suppose this is for? I’ll be back to my normal posts next week, in the meantime I’ll catch you back here tomorrow!
Charleston, SC. What a fabulous city to visit! Most seasons have fabulous weather… there is so much to do and see it will boggle your mind. Food. Boy do we ever have the food, as well as the #1 Restaurant in America! History, culture and the arts… we are heaven on earth for those of you out there who adore art, dance, theatre, concerts, etc. We are people who get out and move. It’s no wonder that Charleston, SC was selected as the #1 TOURIST DESTINATION IN THE WORLD! The. World. Yep, you got it. People from all across the world visit Charleston and love it. This is the second year that Charleston has been voted the #1 tourist destination in the country. Last year we were number 3 in the W O R L D ! Now… Numero Uno folks!
Read more about this in a past post of mine…
A cool website to check out is Charleston Area Convention and Visitor Bureau – when you get to their site you’ll see different videos of Charleston that you can choose from, and they are magnificent!!
Remember, I’ll be back to normal posting next week with HOUSE PLAN THURSDAY… Enjoy your day and I’ll catch you back here tomorrow!
This is our street in the spring… in this little area of the world, with these grand old oak trees our spring is like fall (leaf-wise)… of course fall is also like fall, ha ha… during the spring the leaves drop (and new ones quickly form), then acorns drop and finally “squiggles”… these trees are a lot of work, but I wouldn’t trade them for all the tea in China! They are gorgeous with the resurrection ferns thriving on the limbs and the moss that really makes them pretty darn outstanding! When we’re on vacation in other parts of the country and come home after a period of time this always takes my breath away! Beautiful!
I have company in town, so I will get back to normal posting next week! Enjoy your day and I’ll catch you back here tomorrow!
On my daily walk along the greenway in Charleston, SC I could see the wisteria beginning to bloom… no scent… yet. Then one morning on our walk we could smell it. There is no mistaking the scent of Wisteria, it’s heavenly. Especially when it’s all the way down a stretch of our walking path. What a nice spring treat! Smells nice and is beautiful with its pops of lavender peeking through the green vegetation… Oh, I love spring!
I have company in town, so I will get back to normal posting next week! Enjoy your day and I’ll catch you back here tomorrow!
Pretty darn amazing, isn’t it? Charleston is such a cool city, there is so much history here that we take for granted. This is a photo of the slave cabins at McLeod Plantation (you can see the plantation at the end). This looks like it was taken years ago, but in reality, we were on our way back from Lowes (Why? Because Lowes Knows Value, hee hee… ) and the bridge was up to let a sailboat pass through. Traffic was backed up a bit which put our car right near the slave cabins. You would never know this beautiful old plantation sits on what is now a congested road… would you?
Charleston County Parks and Recreation acquired the McLeod Plantation for $3.3 million in 2011. The county plans to restore the site and open it to public use. Right now they have a fence up so that you can’t go on the property, so I hopped out of the car and snapped a few photos with my phone (how handy is it that phones have cameras… I mean really!), changed it to black and white and *POOF* looks like the 1800’s doesn’t it??
A little history about McLeod Plantation from South-Carolina-Plantations.com, for more info, check out THIS LINK… It’s so interesting! Here’s a little tease… for more, click on the link!
I have company in town, so I will get back to normal posting next week! Enjoy your day and I’ll catch you back here tomorrow!
Breathtaking. The sun shining on the back of these dogwood blooms is just gorgeous. They look so delicate. They’re one of the later trees to bloom and when they do, beauty… everywhere!
Enjoy your Sunday!! I have company in town, so I will get back to normal posting next week! Enjoy your day and I’ll catch you back here tomorrow!
Crabs at Bowens Island Restaurant, off the dock… LOOK how colorful that one is!
My “people” are in town (woohoo!) so this starts a week of short posts… I will be back to regular posting next week… promise!
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Oranges by John Murray
Spectacular painting! I love the rich texture, the deep colored background with the orange slices just popping right out at you! You can almost feel how juicy they are! The table… oh, is that a fabulous old table! This painting is sold, but check out John’s website for even more fabulous paintings!
Here’s a blip about John from his website:
John Murray is a contemporary artist who works primarily in oil. His subject matter includes figure, landscape, still-life and portraiture. Inspired by the classical masters as a boy, his traditional training and artistic development has lead to work of quality. His paintings carry an appealing sense of clarity and color. Murray was educated at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) in Philadelphia. In 1991 he studied at the John Michael Angel Studio in Florence, Italy. Upon graduation, he became one of four banknote designers at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, where he drew presidential portraits and worked on currency designs for 16 years. In 2005, he decided to leave the Bureau to pursue his art career full time. The same year, as a faculty member at the Corcoran School of Art, he won a grant from the Corcoran to do post-graduate work at the Repin Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia.
In 2001, his wife Lena, a Russian artist, founded the Bridgeview School of Fine Art in New York. John Murray is a co-founder and guest teacher at the Bridgeview School. Since 2005, John and Lena have been organizing summer master classes for American students in St. Petersburg, Russia at the famous Repin Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.
John has exhibited in many venues including the International Art Expo in New York City, the Strathmore Museum in Bethesda, Maryland, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where he won Best of Show Alumni Award in 2002. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland and teaches drawing, painting and sculpture at the Corcoran School of Art while continuing to paint. He is represented by Nichols Gallery in Charlottesville, Virginia and Newman Gallery in Philadelphia.
Check him out if you get a chance! Catch you back here tomorrow!
Garden Cottage (SL-1830) – An Exclusive Design for Southern Living by Group 3 Design
Precious. Is it not? At 540 square feet, this plan is perfect to use as a guest cottage, or as a weekend getaway situated in a scenic spot somewhere nice and quiet. With one bedroom, one bathroom, a kitchen and a living room, this plan has all the essentials for a nice stay!
I would ditch the bathtub and make a nice size shower and maybe see if there was a way to fit a stackable washer and dryer in the bathroom! Oh, maybe I would add a cool little square window up above the door that can let more light in… I’m not sure what kind of ceilings this has, but I would also insulate from the rafters, then cover with wood. I love a vintage wood ceiling, whoa! Plus that would give you extra height and the little window would add a little more light. What would you do? It’s fun to dream… and see, I don’t always have lofty dreams! Ha ha…
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Miki by Bill Sharp / Image: Bill Sharp
The eyes. Look at the eyes. You can get the feeling that Bill described about his rescue dog Miki… you can see it in his posturing and his eyes that he’s not thrilled about a photo shoot (unlike Charlie, who runs into the photo of whatever I take). I love the name they chose for Miki… read on… Miki really stands out against this beautiful red rug, doesn’t he? What a sweet dog! Great painting Bill!
From Bill Sharp’s blog, this particular post was called “On the Carpet”:
This is our little mutt Miki. He’s a rescue dog that we got from a shelter, where he was listed as an American Eskimo mix. I believe the mix part but I think he has more Chihuahua in him than Eskimo dog. However, we looked for inuit words when naming him and settled on miki, which, according to our internet source, means small ice floe.
Obviously, since he wouldn’t hold this pose, I painted this from a photo. He’s afraid of cameras, thus the defensive posture. I wasn’t threatening him, except with the camera.
All in all, he’s a pretty good dog.
One more photo… check out Bill’s blog, it truly is filled with fabulous work!
Lawn Chair by Bill Sharp
FABULOUS in every way! Catch you back here tomorrow!
Briar Extended Chicken Coop and Run / Image: Williams-Sonoma
Who knew that raising chickens would be the hot new thing? Well, it is. First you need to check to see if it’s OK to raise chickens where you live. If it is… they say before the chicken OR the egg is the COOP! You know raising chickens is the hot trend if Williams-Sonoma is now selling the coops! These are sweet. I would love this green one. Throw a chicken in it and it’s a deal breaker… the fear of having my hand pecked for reaching in to steal an egg is more than I would bargain for… (do you know a healthy chicken will lay one egg a day?) – I think I found us a retirement job! Fred wants chickens. I don’t… BUT, I want Fred to be happy ;) so we can get a cool coop, he can have his chickens (away from the house) and I will put them in pretty cartons and sell them!
This one is cool for whoever has to be the one to go get the eggs… you don’t even have to bend down!
And even Moser Design Group (who comes up with many of those awesome house plans I feature) has a chicken coop. HOT I’m telling ya!
{Image: from Moser Design Group Facebook, who received their image from Carlton Landing folks from Eufaula, OK}
I found a cool bit of info from Williams-Sonoma: Learn more about coops, chickens and the benefits of farm-fresh eggs!
Whew, I’m glad we found something to do when we retire. I’m pumped! Lots to think about, hee hee… Gotta run, I have big plans to make!
Catch you back here tomorrow!
Laundry Day by Eric Bowman
How often do you see a painting that makes you FEEL something? This painting Laundry Day stands out to me in so many ways… the woman in the pink shirt looks so hot and exhausted… you can feel the heat from that iron. I just want to walk up to her, offer her a cold glass of water and tell her to have a seat… “and I’ll finish the ironing for you”! The light, the dark shadows on the wall, whoa… Eric is one talented artist, and from what I’ve heard through the grapevine… the nicest guy ever. I look forward to seeing his work in person one day!
One more fabulous painting… This painting entitled Valle De La Luna (sold) won the Artist Choice Award and Plein Air Magazine Award, Sonoma Plein Air 2012 – {Image EricBowman.com}
Read an interesting blip about Eric from his website:
Award winning painter Eric Bowman began his career as a commercial artist in southern California creating original oil paintings for such high profile clients as Coppertone, Nike, GTE, Hallmark, Kellogg’s, Nabisco, Southwest Airlines and the Kentucky Derby.
His work has also adorned the covers of TIME magazine and The Saturday Evening Post, along with numerous books, music CD’s and other popular periodicals. His original oil paintings reside in many private and corporate collections including the offices of Major League Baseball, the NBA and the United States Postal Service.
As a fine art painter, Eric has garnered many awards in juried competitions, showing in national & regional exhibitions in some of the country’s most prestigious galleries. His paintings are in collections around the world, including England, Australia, Canada and Mexico.
Eric Bowman is an artist member of the Oil Painters of America, a Signature Member of the American Impressionist Society and artist member of the Laguna Plein Air Painters Association. He lives with his wife and daughter in Tigard, Oregon.
Catch you back here tomorrow!
This photo was taken after a heavy rain, and the flowers held up beautifully! We’ve had a colder than normal spring which has extended our azalea blooming season quite nicely. Everywhere you look there is abundant color that you just wouldn’t believe!
Speaking of flowers… are you going to the Flowertown Festival in Summerville, SC today? There is always a large turnout (over 200,00 annually!). A busy week in Charleston, SC… Cooper River Bridge Run yesterday and Flowertown Festival this weekend… today is the last day, so get out and enjoy it! Click the above link for more information!
Catch you back here tomorrow!
ARTFOODHOME.COM 