Author: Barbara Stroud

I started the ArtFoodHome.com daily (now 4 times/week) blog 1/1/11 (easy to remember, right?) and have kept it going since then. Come back each day - I share with you: ART: featured artists, art events, workshops, etc. FOOD: recipes, restaurants, and good finds along the way HOME: house plans, home design, places here in Charleston... On year 14 of artfoodhome.com - share this site with anyone who you think might enjoy it!

A gas lantern… like eye candy for your house!

On By Barbara StroudIn HOME2 Comments

Shortly after Christmas Fred received his gift… a Charleston gas lantern… and let me tell you. This lantern is gorgeous. We absolutely love it. This has been on our list for years, but the installation kept us from actually buying the lantern. Probably 5-7 years ago we seriously contemplated this, but the guy who came out to give us a quote for installation was a) expensive, very expensive  b) didn’t seem too trustworthy  c) didn’t seem like he would try his best to make it right. We went back to Carolina Lanterns in December and got the name of an installation guy (if you’re in the Charleston area, call Tony Burke with Myers Heating and Air, he’s the “gas guy”… phone 843-364-3379, cannot recommend him highly enough!). Tony came out, explained how he was going to install the gas line, and he did the best job possible. Nice guy, reliable, can’t say enough… and the lantern. Whoa! It really makes the house look nice! We bought “the Charleston” lantern, we had our eyes on a smaller one, but Tony recommended the larger one, he said it would really make a statement. He seemed as excited as we were which was really cool. He took before and after pictures. A very exciting day!

Sometimes your house just needs the smallest thing to give it more curb appeal… sometimes just sweeping, and maybe a pretty potted plant or two? The trend now seems to be a different color front door which I really like, I’ve seen some in the neighborhood that I love, the interesting greens, etc… and the brighter wilder colors not so much… but that’s a little thing that makes a big difference! What do YOU do to brighten up your house?? It’s that time of year (well, in Charleston it’s been “that time of year” most of the winter). Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Jerry Weiss!

On By Barbara StroudIn ART, Featured ArtistLeave a comment

“Morning, Raspberry Island, Maine” by Jerry Weiss / Image: JerryWeiss.com

I think by now there isn’t a soul alive who doesn’t know how much Fred and I LOVE Maine art… one day we were downtown (Charleston, SC) going in our usual galleries, when we walked by a painting that we recognized. My husband said “that’s Raspberry Island!!” and we hear a voice that said… “you’re right!” whoa! We went in this wonderful gallery called Ingram Fine Art & Antiques… FABULOUS work mostly by Maine artists. Artists who we have met on Monhegan Island in Maine, or who’s work we’ve seen in other places as we bopped around Maine. How utterly cool that they were right here in Charleston! We spoke to one of the owners for quite a while and she was such a delight to talk to… it made us really miss Maine and really LOVE her gallery. If you’re in the area I highly encourage you to pop in and say hello and check out all the beautiful things they’ve got in their gallery!

Jerry Weiss is a fabulous artist, this is a large painting (30 x 40) and is splendid in every way! I love the shadow of the island in the water, and they sky, and… and… and… I guess it caught both of our eyes because a few years ago we rented a cottage in Port Clyde, ME, that faced Raspberry Island, so this was our view! I love the loose strokes… I swear, we need to build more walls in our house, ha ha… Here’s a blip about Jerry from his website… or click HERE to read a different version from Ingram Art & Antiques! I love learning about the artist! If you aren’t in the Charleston area, check out Jerry’s website, it’s a great one!

Seeking competence in figure painting, I spent the better part of six years drawing and painting the figure in art school, and after leaving, continued the notion of the figure in the interior. My goal was to create a visual diary that would be a pictorial record of artists and friends. Then, as now, I was intrigued by the portrait and figure as a most sacred subject.

As a landscape painter I was self-taught, and I struggled for a long time to find my vocabulary. It took many years for me to realize a structural approach, looking for the anatomy that exists in landscape as it surely does in the human subject. Since moving to Connecticut in 1994 and painting outdoors in earnest, I have become better at emphasizing abstraction of shapes. I want to refer to the individuality of the subject, those characteristics which render a person or place unique. For me this also means not merely noting the external beauty of things, but going after something a bit deeper. Put another way, I try to paint temporal qualities, but composed in such as way as to render them timeless.

Evident in my work is an enchantment with the feminine, fascination with psychological nuances, and love for the natural and architectonic shapes of landscape. I am amazed by the color of skin, continually gratified to recognize bone and muscle beneath the surface, and delighted by the powerful forms underlying the Maine coast and Connecticut River Valley. If I may be permitted understatement, I also like light, without which there would exist no space, form or visual coherence.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Photo: Meggett sunset…

On By Barbara StroudIn HOME4 Comments

This photo was taken several years ago at a friends house in Meggett, SC… gorgeous don’t you think?? Nothing like a sunset on the water… gorgeous!

Did you remember to set your clock A H E A D one hour before you went to bed last night?? We have S P R U N G   A H E A D… whoopee!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

 

Spring ahead and check your smoke alarm batteries! TONIGHT…

On By Barbara StroudIn HOME, THOUGHTSLeave a comment

Image: Voices.Yahoo.com

This is the time of year to S P R I N G  A H E A D  ! Don’t forget to set your clocks AHEAD one hour before you go to bed…  It’s strange getting used to a new time. My body is on auto pilot. Most days I wake up at the same time each morning, and am ready to turn in around the same time each night… now everything will be screwy… Do YOU like this time change? Here in Charleston it seems like we’ve had Spring for the last few months now… so it’s not like getting excited once the time changes that Spring is near… it’s been here!

Hey, after you set your clocks, change the batteries in your smoke alarms… it could save a life!

AND… if you’re one of the slick few that noticed that I already did a post today that mentioned that the time changes tomorrow PAT YOURSELF ON THE BACK! Because… oops! It just hit me… it’s T O D A Y !

Have a great day, catch you back here tomorrow!

Photo taken from Shem Creek dock, Mt Pleasant, SC… what a bizarre sky!

On By Barbara StroudIn HOME, THOUGHTSLeave a comment

Fascinating sky, isn’t it?? Mother nature is full of mystery, you never know what you’re going to see! There is beauty all around us, especially here in the coastal Charleston area… gorgeous. The sky is different every evening… it’s amazing! Well my friends, tonight is the big time change… Remember… we change the clocks… S P R I N G  F O R W A R D ! ! ! So tomorrow’s 5 will be 6…

If you read this post earlier and are coming back to it and it seems different… you are not crazy. I sat down to read a book and for some reason it hit me… B A M ! I was thinking clocks changed on Sunday when I wrote this, but really they change Sat PM before you go to bed (unless you stay up until 2am on Sunday when it’s technically the correct time to change the clocks)… oh boy, this time change thing is confusing… sigh…

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… JULIA RALSTON!

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Grandfather Carlson’s Place by Julia Ralston

I have my husband to thank for this one… he knows I’m always on the lookout for artists, recipes, ideas… and he suggested Julia! Well, thank you Fred… soon I’m going to have to change the name of this blog to include you…!

Julia has fabulous wide, loose strokes, nice and free. She’s able to leave out a lot of the little detail that ends up making a painting look fussy… I love that about her paintings! Here in Charleston, Julia is represented by the Atelier Gallery (also in Asheville, NC! Note: Link is no longer viable so it’s been removed)… so check her out… if you aren’t in the area give her website a look, you won’t be disappointed!

Summer Light by Julia Ralston

A blip about Julia from her website…

Julia Ralston was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. As a teenager she was often found reading or drawing and toting a sketchbook and journal to camp and family vacations. Encouraged by her artistic maternal grandmother and an enthusiastic high school art teacher, Julia entered Indiana University as a Fine Arts major, graduated in 1981 with a B.S. in Finance, and went to work for a major bank in Charlotte, North Carolina.

 Julia travels frequently and in each place she gathers reference material for her paintings.  Working en plein air and in the studio using her own photographs and sketches, Julia’s work expresses movement and color using loose brushwork and a variety of application methods. This vitality translates well to a variety of subject matter. Julia has studied with Scott Christensen, Stuart Shils, and Peggy Kroll-Roberts to name a few, and well as with her mentor, Andrew Braitman.  She maintains a summer studio in the North Carolina mountains and winters in the South Carolina lowcountry. If she’s not in the studio, you can find her out on the trail stalking birds and new compositions.

“The painting process is a game for me; making decisions using value, color and variety of line appeals to me in a way that wordsmiths feel about writing poetry or crafting a story. I try to be attentive to nuance of light and sense of place… it’s fantastic when brush stroke and color resurrect a memory or transport to a particular field or country road.”

Great work Julia! Catch you back here tomorrow!

Links updated 2/24/25

Vanilla bean infused honey… delish! Great on yogurt…

On By Barbara StroudIn FOOD, HEALTHLeave a comment

Vanilla Bean Infused Honey

Ahhh, if you’re one of the many making changes in your diet to cut sugar for a myriad of reasons, this will help! Vanilla bean infused honey… you can drizzle a little (or a lot) in your Greek yogurt for a fabulous taste! You can use it for many things, this is just what I happen to use it for… (oh, but since I can smell the bakery and the heavenly bread I keep getting images of a nice piece of toast (with the bakery bread), slathered spread lightly with Kerrygold grass fed cow butter (yep, sounds healthier already doesn’t it??) and a drizzle of the vanilla bean honey… oh boy! It’s dangerous living near a bakery… ha ha… Dr. Oz would remind you that honey is still sugar, so tread lightly… let me know how YOU use it… or what else you put in your Greek plain yogurt to make it tastier??!

Here’s the how… not much to it!

4-6 oz. honey

1-2 vanilla beans

Slice the vanilla beans at each end, then scrape the “meat” out of the inner part of the vanilla bean. Once you have done that…

In a heavy small saucepan, heat the honey (on low) until it’s warm, add the vanilla bean (“meat” and discarded bean portion), stir it around. Keep it on low about 10 minutes or until fragrant. Turn off, let cool, place in glass container.

Hope you enjoy! Catch you back here tomorrow!

Hard to believe she would have been 12… a painting and a memory…

On By Barbara StroudIn ART, THOUGHTS5 Comments

Streamers After by Tollef Runquist / Image: Dowling Walsh

This painting is special to us. It isn’t ours, it’s for sale at the Dowling Walsh Gallery in Rockland, Maine.  Today is a special day… Isabelle would have been 12… hard to imagine. This painting is what Fred and I both imagine Isabelle would have been like if everything went OK. Unfortunately, things with the pregnancy didn’t go well… You have to figure that things work out for a reason, although it’s hard to understand “why” at that moment…  We’re so fortunate to have each other and for that we are extremely thankful!

This painting is so happy and bright. Just like a little girl after her birthday party. See how paintings can evoke memories? Every painting that we have has a great memory attached to it. Hope yours do too!

Happy 12 years Isabelle… We love you…

Indian Chicken Curry Recipe – you MUST try this!

On By Barbara StroudIn FOOD, HEALTH, Recipe2 Comments

If you like chicken curry, you will LOVE this recipe. I wasn’t exactly sure WHAT chicken curry tasted like, but after mastering Chana Masala, I thought I would give this a whirl, and WHOA! Enough said! This is seriously good stuff! It’s not difficult, so give it a try!

I got the original recipe “Indian Chicken Curry II” from AllRecipes.com. After reading all the reviews there were several changes. I left out several ingredients and used different quantities of other ingredients… this is how I made it…

The lineup of ingredients… I like to have them measured, chopped and ready to go!

CHICKEN CURRY

Ingredients

3 tablespoons coconut oil (or olive oil if you don’t have coconut oil)

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, (I use a microplane, or you could mince)

3 (heaping) tablespoons curry powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon paprika

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon ginger root (I use microplane, or you can grate or mince)

Salt to taste

2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into bite size pieces

1 tablespoon tomato paste (buy it in the tube!)

1 cup plain yogurt (NOTE: most yogurt is 6 oz, not 8oz…)

1 can coconut milk (13.5 oz)

Directions

Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Saute onion until translucent.

Nice to toast the spices before you add… Easy! Add spices to nonstick pan (dry), turn heat on medium and roast until fragrant. Turn off. That’s it!

Stir in garlic, curry, cinnamon, paprika, bay leaf, ginger and salt.

Stir 2 minutes, then add…

Chicken pieces, tomato paste and coconut milk.

Bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer 20-25 minutes. SLOWLY add yogurt. Remove bay leaf. Simmer 5 minutes. Serve over rice.

You simply will not believe how good this is, and how it creates the most wonderful smells in your kitchen! A nice accompaniment to this dish is a fresh salad with avocado, rice wine vinegar and olive oil and some Naan bread… It’s good warm or cold (can wrap in foil and place in oven until warm) serve with olive oil for dipping. TASTY!

Enjoy!

Catch you back here tomorrow!!

Featured Artist… Elizabeth Pollie!

On By Barbara StroudIn ART, Featured Artist1 Comment

“No Bull” by artist Elizabeth Pollie

Elizabeth Pollie is one artist that I hold in high regard. She’s very talented and has such a sense of style. Her paintings are very different from the norm, if she were on the show “X Factor”, she would have “it”, the “IT” factor… there is a mystical almost angelic-ness to her paintings. It helps that she paints places that are near and dear to my heart, Mackinac Island, MI being one of those places. I featured Elizabeth last year and showed one of those paintings… amazing… this year I’m selecting something different. Cows… “NO BULL”, ha… great name. Check Elizabeth’s work out, you won’t be disappointed. She’s in several galleries throughout the country, and her work is perfect for each location. Each slightly different, but all amazing! This image is from the RS Hanna Gallery located in Fredericksburg, Tx.

Here is a great article about Elizabeth from MyNorth.com – fascinating! Here’s a blip about the artist from her website…

Elizabeth Pollie’s exposure to the arts came at an early age. Taken to museums, enrolled in classes by her parents and influenced by her father’s love and practice of art and architecture, she was always clear about her path in life. “Working within the field of visual arts never seemed like a choice, but rather a place of true belonging”. She enrolled in college art classes while still in high school and went on to receive an education at a formal Art School. She earned her B.F.A. at The College For Creative Studies where she later taught.

Harboring a deep love of travel and art history, Elizabeth has combined her travels with her painting practice. The images that she creates are imbued with a sense of poetry, mood and depth. 

The artist paints full time and teaches from her studio, West Wind Atelier in Harbor Springs, Mi.  Her paintings reside in both public and private collections here and abroad and have received much national recognition.

Elizabeth has found a deep sense of place within the rekindled practice of representational painting in America.  Of this movement Pollie reflects, “ It is celebration, an homage and in many ways a joyous homecoming. I am pleased to be a part of it.

Check out her website, she has some FABULOUS paintings that she did while in China as well as her many other paintings! Catch you back here tomorrow!

Photo: Marshall Point Lighthouse, Port Clyde, ME

On By Barbara StroudIn TRAVELLeave a comment

Marshall Point Lighthouse is a spectacular spot to watch artists paint, look for sea glass, watch the sunset in the distance… it’s just the neatest place. Several years ago we stayed in a cottage not too far from the lighthouse, so we would walk there often. It was a good walk and we met some really interesting people.

From Marshall Point.org :

History of Marshall Point Light

The U. S. Lighthouse Service was established in 1789. In the Town of St. George the oldest lighthouse is on Whitehead Island in Penobscot Bay, built in 1804. There are 22 other lights in Penobscot Bay.

The history of the Marshall Point Light Station goes back to 1831, when Samuel Marshall sold 4 acres of land to the U. S. government for $120. Additional acres were added later to extend the site to 6.5 acres. With a 1⁄4 mile shoreline, it is a nature spot enjoyed by thousands of visitors every year. 

To read more of the history, click HERE… I’m sure most of you know that this lighthouse was in a scene from the movie Forrest Gump!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Brian Blood!

On By Barbara StroudIn ART, Featured Artist1 Comment

Fishing Boat, Monterey by artist Brian Blood

Brian Blood is a fabulous artist, no question about it. But this little number caught my eye in the biggest way… (Thank you Bridget for forwarding me that email!). I love everything about this painting. The water… perfect! The pop of orange, and all that detail without anything being too specific. Absolute perfection!

Many of you have probably seen Brian’s work in magazines… if you’re fortunate enough to be near a gallery (click here for list) stop in and say hello, otherwise he has a wonderful website! Brian teaches workshops, which I would assume would fill up rather quickly, he also gives a demo workshop… now THAT is something I would be interested in… I learn by watching… and yes, it does help if you actually pick up a paintbrush… sigh…

Here’s a blip about Brian from his website:

Brian Blood, a resident of Pebble Beach, California, is widely recognized as one of California’s most important plein air impressionist artists. Married to award winning artist, Laurie Kersey,  www.lauriekersey.com they live their childhood dreams.

He began his professional life as a graphic artist and art director in Boston, Massachusetts.  Although Blood’s career was successful, he was frustrated personally and realized he wanted to be a fine-art painter. A leap across the continent to California took him to the Academy of Art University in San Francisco for both undergraduate and graduate studies.  Blood and Kersey were both later instructors at the Academy of Art University for 12 years.
From the 1990s, Brian Blood has been painting full time as well as conducting landscape painting classes at his alma mater.  He also conducts ongoing workshops in his studio, and surrounding areas of Pebble Beach, California.

Primarily a plein-air painter, Blood creates hundreds of studies directly from nature, observing the ever changing light of day.  He then takes his studies and supporting reference photos back to one of his two studios, either in San Francisco or Pacific Grove, to paint. He uses these studies as the basis for his larger scale works.

Blood has had his work featured in articles in Southwest Art Magazine (May 2002, and March 2005); Art of The West Magazine (March/April 2004); American Artist Magazine (January 2004); Plein Air Magazine (December 2005); and The Central Coast Journal (October 2005); to name a few. 

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Circa Lighting… the Reed Hanging Light… a gorgeous addition to the room!

On By Barbara StroudIn HOME2 Comments

Isn’t this a gorgeous light? We have fought with ourselves over which chandelier to use for, well… years. So until we could make up our minds for sure we hung a ceiling fan which served its purpose in the interim. The Reed Hanging Light is one classy light, simple and elegant, not fussy in design. We ordered the hand rubbed antique brass finish with the natural paper shade which we LOVE. There is nothing like a shade from Circa Lighting. It gives off the most eloquent warm light. It makes every room look positively radiant! There is a diffuser on this fixture so you aren’t blinded by bright light. We also have it on a dimmer so it can be as bright or as romantic as you would like… If you’re searching for a fantastic light fixture, check this one out! Our house is an older house (1930’s), our furniture is a mix of antiques (mostly pine), and new (mostly slipcovered) furniture. So we have an updated look, with more modern lighting. This was perfect. Remember, you can always order from Circa Lighting online. If you’re in the Charleston, SC area stop in and see Matthew McLaughlin, the manager. He’s a very cool dude who knows EVERYTHING about lighting. Remember, you can order online and it’s FREE SHIPPING (in most cases), and you only pay tax if you’re located in one of the three states they’re in (SC, GA and TX). Lots of good reasons to order from Circa Lighting! Nice to know you don’t have to be near a store to take advantage of their beautiful lighting!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Ahhh, the history of leap year… explained here!

On By Barbara StroudIn THOUGHTSLeave a comment

Haven’t you wondered what leap year was all about? I never really thought much about it, but I can say I’m a better person for having read this… after you read it you will be fully informed and will never have to wonder again!

Found this great info from Inventor.About.com (click HERE to see the full page)
THE HISTORY OF LEAP YEAR…
Leap years are years with 366 days, instead of the usual 365. Leap years are necessary because the actual length of a year is 365.242 days, not 365 days, as commonly stated. Basically, leap years occur every 4 years, and years that are evenly divisible by 4 (2004, for example) have 366 days. This extra day is added to the calendar on February 29th.

However, there is one exception to the leap year rule involving century years, like the year 1900. Since the year is slightly less than 365.25 days long, adding an extra day every 4 years results in about 3 extra days being added over a period of 400 years. For this reason, only 1 out of every 4 century years is considered as a leap year. Century years are only considered as leap years if they are evenly divisible by 400. Therefore, 1700, 1800, 1900 were not leap years, and 2100 will not be a leap year. But 1600 and 2000 were leap years, because those year numbers are evenly divisible by 400.

 Julius Caesar, Father of Leap Year… read more HERE

So now you know! Catch you back here tomorrow!

[Image: ThemesBank]