Category: Daily Blog

House Plan: Sand Mountain House by John Tee!

On By Barbara StroudIn Daily Blog, HOME, House Plans2 Comments

Sand Mountain House (977) by John Tee

This is the Sand Mountain House (977) by John Tee! This plan is 2,814 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms (not including the optional upstairs bedroom/bathroom).

This home has wonderful covered porches both front and back, as well as off the office and laundry area in the front. Nice air flow! I love the wings that jut out on each side of the main portion of the house. This home would fit well in an established neighborhood. It doesn’t look cookie cutter, it’s got wide appeal!

There is a nice master suite and two more bedrooms with a shared bathroom. One of those rooms would be nice as a study. A quiet getaway! This home offers a nice foyer, which would be really nice! A large family room, breakfast area, kitchen and dining room give way to a laundry area and office. A beautiful plan with a lot of living space!

Be sure to check out the real images of both interior and exterior… they are stunning. Click HERE !

All images via JohnTee.com, used with permission…
Images are not for construction or reproduction, they are property of the design firm.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist: Gregory Stocks!

On By Barbara StroudIn ART, Daily Blog, Featured Artist2 Comments

Along the Road Home by Gregory Stocks 48×48″ Oil [Sold]

Gregory Stocks. Wonderful paintings, fabulous website! I love the rich tones in this painting, “Along the Road Home”. This painting is sold, but isn’t it stunning? The sharp contrast between the trees and the sky, and the wonderful light – beautiful!

Backlight Waterfront by Gregory Stocks 24×36″ Oil

Another stunning painting. The sky… wow! Gregory’s trees are so full of character. The water is stunning, especially with the reflections from that gorgeous sky. If Gregory’s work seems familiar, you may have seen it in Southwest Art or American Art Collector.

Read a bit about Gregory, from his website:

Gregory Stocks has been a professional exhibiting artist since 1998 and is recognized for his remarkable combination of classical representation and contemporary execution.  His style is stark, with a clean, contemporary feel.  The imagery he creates is intended to represent not so much a specific place as “a place in one’s heart, the internal landscape”.

Born in Lubbock, Texas, Gregory lived in California, Washington and Idaho before arriving in Utah in 1981 to attend Utah State University, where he earned a bachelors degree in art.  Stocks has been included in the publications Southwest Art Magazine and American Art Collector.  In addition to exhibiting at the US Embassy in Brussels, Belgium, in 2005, his work is included in many private and public collections throughout the US and abroad. Click HERE to continue reading…

All images via GregoryStocks.com, used with permission…
Images are not for reproduction, they are property of the artist.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Stew Beef & Mushrooms Over Egg Noodles!

On By Barbara StroudIn Daily Blog, FOOD, Recipe2 Comments

I adapted this recipe from a Beef Stew recipe from Once Upon A Chef. The recipe was so tasty, but while eating it, I was thinking how good it would be minus the potatoes and carrots on top of egg noodles.

Let me tell you. This is an excellent recipe. It’s easy, makes the house smell amazing, and is so good. It’s one of those recipes that you will make over and over. Perfect for cooler weather! It would be pretty topped with fresh parsley. I just topped with salt and pepper. That little dollop of sour cream adds such a nice touch! I have also used Greek yogurt (plain) and it was equally as good!

Click HERE to print the recipe…

Stew Beef & Mushrooms Over Egg Noodles

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

1 pound stew beef (I used lean)

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 tablespoon olive oil

~Dry stew beef pieces, sprinkle with S&P. In large heavy pot, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat until hot and you can see it shimmering. Add the stew beef pieces and brown, turning with tongs (be careful not to overcrowd the pan, or the beef won’t brown. It’s OK to get brown crusty bits on the bottom of the pot, they will enhance the flavor once you add the beef stock).  Browning usually takes 5-8 minutes (browning, not cooking through). Remove from pan and set aside.

1 small yellow onion, chopped

1 garlic clove (I use microplane), chopped small

1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar

~Add ingredients to pan and cook for 5 minutes.

1 ½ teaspoons tomato paste

~Add tomato paste and cook 2 minutes.

1 ½ teaspoon all purpose flour

~Add browned stew beef back into pan, sprinkle with flour, cook 1-2 minutes or until flour dissolves.

3 cups(+) beef stock

1 cup water

~Add stock and water to pan, loosen the brown bits on the bottom of the pan. 

1 small bay leaf

Dried thyme (a sprinkle)

1 pinch of sugar

Mushrooms, washed and cut in chunks (I used an 8 oz pkg. of Cremini)

~Add to the pan, the cover and transfer to preheated oven for 2 hours.

Serve on top of Egg Noodles, cooked using directions on package. (I used ½ package) 

Topped with a little dollop of sour cream – Perfection!

Fresh parsley would be pretty sprinkled on top, if you have it.

My recipes are a guide… add more of what you like, and less of what you don’t – or substitute for something that appeals to you!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist: Haidee Jo Summers!

On By Barbara StroudIn ART, Daily Blog, Featured Artist1 Comment

The Artist Felicity House Painting in Venice  24x30cms  Oil

Haidee Jo Summers – WOW! Her paintings are perfection! The perfect balance of looseness, the subjects are all interesting, colors are wonderful and she nails it every single time!

What a wonderful painting (above). This artist’s face is perfection – you can how she’s concentrating on what she’s painting. This is amazing!

Evening Light Polperro Harbour by Haidee Jo Summers  30×32″  Oil (Sold)

To me, this painting is pure magic. The stillness in the water and the beautiful reflections. The boats sitting so serenely in the water. Those little pops of orange that just make me love this painting even more. And those little touches that make it sing, like the orangey color underneath the tented canopy on the sailboat in the foreground, the shadows from the boats in the water and that wonderful sky! It’s perfect!

Read a bit about Haidee, from her website:

Awarded Artist of the Year 2012 by the Society of All Artists and one of the few artists chosen by the BBC to paint the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant from the Millennium bridge, Haidee-Jo is a full-time professional artist known for painting landscapes and seascapes ‘en plein air’.                            

Her work can be seen regularly at the Mall galleries London where she exhibits with the Royal Society of Marine Artists, the New English Art Club and the Royal Institute of Oil painters of which she is a full member. Haidee-Jo writes regularly for The Artist magazine and has recently started work on her first book on oil painting with Search Press, having previously produced a large body of work for the Encyclopaedia of Watercolour Techniques. In recent years she has been invited to take part in UK and international plein air events whilst winning many prizes for her work which features fresh and vibrant brushwork coupled with keen drawing and observational skills, resulting in paintings that glow with light and sing with colour.    

Haidee-Jo gained a degree in illustration following an art foundation course and graduated in 1994. She has been exhibiting and teaching ever since, in recent years having cut back on teaching commitments to focus on painting. She believes very much in continuing to grow and develop all the while striving to express her personal voice in paint and to do so more and more succinctly.  

In June 2014 Haidee-Jo was awarded the £1800 The Artist purchase prize with her painting ‘Sails up in harbour’, a prestigious award selected by Ken Howard OBE RA. In September she won the £5000 Buxton Spa prize for her plein air painting ‘Walking through buttercups’, and in October won the first prize of £1000 for her painting ‘Work to be done, Elm Hill’ at Paint Out Norwich. In June 2015 she has been awarded the Great Art Award by The Artist magazine in association with Patchings for her painting ‘The thaw, Drove allotments’ and in June 2016 for her painting ‘The old milking parlor’. Continue Reading HERE…

Now… go check out Haidee Jo’s website! It’s fabulous!

🎨All images via HaideeJo.com, used with permission…
Images are not for reproduction, they are property of the artist.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Window boxes in Charleston, SC!

On By Barbara StroudIn Daily Blog2 Comments

The beautiful window boxes in Charleston, SC are out in full force. Each so different and some so lavish it’s amazing.

This is an amazing house – love the sky reflected in the windows!

Keeping Charleston beautiful, one window box at a time! Enjoy your Sunday!

📸 IMAGES ARE MY OWN UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE. PLEASE CONTACT ME IF INTERESTED… CATCH YOU BACK HERE TOMORROW!

Featured Artist: Judy Joy Nocifora! [Workshop Alert!]

On By Barbara StroudIn ART, Art Event, Daily Blog, Featured Artist4 Comments
Charlie by Judy Joy Nocifora   12 x 12″   Oil

Judy Joy Nocifora. A wonderful artist that has quite the following when it comes to workshops. From her blog, it looks like her students really have fun and learn at the same time, is there a better way? I think not!

Judy did a demo of Charlie, our Jack Russell. From an image she was able to capture his essence so well. Not an easy task to paint this dog, he’s got hair going every which way, and for it to really look like Charlie it takes some doing! It’s a beautiful painting – she’s even got his funny sit that he does. This is Charlie – lover of the sun, sits in the sun and follows it throughout the house all day. He sits and his eyes get heavy until he can’t take it anymore.

Judy is teaching an oil painting workshop specifically for animal lovers – it begins April 4 (2017)! Interested? Here’s the information, but be quick, I’m sure her workshops fill up quickly! Be sure to check out her website and blog as well!

Oil Painting Workshop for Animal Lovers  
with Judy Nocifora
Tuesdays & Fridays, April 4, 7, 11 & 14, 2017
9:00-12:30 pm at Memphis Botanic Garden

Professional oil paint and medium is provided. There is much to be learned in this workshop that will apply to all that you paint: i.e, brushwork, color mixing, etc.
There will be demos each day and a lot of personal instruction.
Registration and payment due by Tuesday, March 28, 2017.

Call Laurie at 901-6364128.

Read a bit about Judy, from her website:

Artist Statement: I awake each day to the gift of life and the unending beauty that surrounds me. I thrill to the challenges and surprises that develop in each painting. The privilege of sensing life and letting it flow through my fingers and onto canvas is joyful!

The artwork of Judy Joy Nocifora has unfolded through many years of an insatiable desire to create. In her teens, she began studying formal oil painting with a highly regarded local instructor and she continued a keen interest in the arts and in the creative process through years of teaching in a program for gifted students. 

Upon retirement, Judy embarked on a serious commitment to study intently and diligently with artist whose work she admired in order to become a professional artist. She has had the great pleasure to study with master artists, Jeff Legg, Dawn Whitelaw, Jennifer McChristian, Peggi Kroll Roberts, John Pototschnik, Roger Dale Brown, and Camille Przewodek, and Lori Putnam, to name a few. One of her great joys is to share what she has learned with others as an oil painting instructor for Creative Aging of the Mid-South and at the Memphis Botanic Gardens. 

Today, Judy travels extensively to paint and she loves to share the beauty that she finds everywhere through her oil paintings. Her artwork has been juried into local and regional exhibitions. When at home, you will find Judy painting in her studio or plein air painting in her hometown of Germantown, Tennessee. 

Judy is a member of Oil Painters of America, American Impressionist Society, American Women Artist, Memphis/Germantown Art League, and Artists’Link of Memphis. She currently serves on the Board of Memphis/Germantown Art League as Publicity Chair. 

All images via Judy Nocifora, used with permission…

Images are not for reproduction, they are property of the artist.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Hiking Monhegan…

On By Barbara StroudIn Daily Blog, Maine, Photograph, THOUGHTSLeave a comment

Hiking Monhegan Island, Maine. Is there anything better? The island is small so we can cover a good amount of territory and then stop for lunch, head back out then come back in time to get ready for dinner or meet up with friends.

The peace and quiet in these woods is immeasurable. We are not used to such quiet.  When we’re out hiking I will stop… “JUST LISTEN to the silence!” – I love it. Fresh air, silence, peace. It’s like no place on Earth.

Blessed to be able to visit!

Like Fred says… “this is my happy place”, me too Fred! Me. Too!

📸 IMAGES ARE MY OWN UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE. PLEASE CONTACT ME IF INTERESTED… CATCH YOU BACK HERE TOMORROW!

Monhegan…

On By Barbara StroudIn Daily Blog, Maine, Photograph, THOUGHTS2 Comments

A license plate on the Monhegan Trucking truck.

A welcome site when you arrive to the island and need your bags taken to your location. It’s cool how the few trucks line up ready to take your bags. The Island Inn, the Monhegan House, Monhegan Trucking and others picking up mail, packages, etc.

They have it down to a science!

Back to normal posting next week – catching up after a week of being out with a cold. Back to the land of the living, woohoo!

📸 IMAGES ARE MY OWN UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE. PLEASE CONTACT ME IF INTERESTED… CATCH YOU BACK HERE TOMORROW!

What do you eat when you have a cold?

On By Barbara StroudIn Charleston, Daily Blog, Photograph, SC, THOUGHTS2 Comments

The reason I’ve been posting photos is because I’ve been under the weather. 😷🤒Nothing drastic, just a horrible cold. This week I am feeling better, but playing catch up – so I will be back to normal posting next week! But… stay tuned, I have some great photos this week!

What do you tend to eat when you have a cold? I didn’t feel energetic enough to whip up a pot of homemade chicken noodle soup, so Fred stopped on his way home from work and picked up some Egg Drop Soup from Red Orchids Bistro (in Charleston, SC). It was delicious. It lasted two days. It was perfect!

What else have I been eating? At first not much, too much time sneezing and coughing, but I did eat an orange each day which was delicious! Toast… scrambled egg, a lot of green tea, regular tea and fruit popsicles.

Wondering what YOU eat? Do you make something or order out? The ingredients in canned chicken noodle soup gives me the willies, yet it tastes the best, sadly. Unless you’re going to make your own of course!

More art, recipes and house plans next week…

📸 IMAGES ARE MY OWN UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE. PLEASE CONTACT ME IF INTERESTED… CATCH YOU BACK HERE TOMORROW!

Spring has SPRUNG!

On By Barbara StroudIn Daily Blog, Photograph, THOUGHTS2 Comments

 

Snapped a photo of a bouquet that was for sale at the Monhegan Farmers Market back in September – seemed to be the perfect “first day of Spring” photo!

Spring has Sprung! I think this forsythia is the perfect example of just that!

EVERYTHING is blooming right now, it’s beautiful!

Quite a “different” winter for us. Warmer than normal by quite a bit. Then when temps should be warming up we were cold. Just try to guess what the weather is up to, ha ha… Happy Day – back to normal posting next week!

📸 IMAGES ARE MY OWN UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE. PLEASE CONTACT ME IF INTERESTED… CATCH YOU BACK HERE TOMORROW!

The French Huguenot Church – Charleston, SC!

On By Barbara StroudIn Charleston, Daily Blog, PhotographLeave a comment

Charleston, SC is full of beautiful, historical churches. Each stunning in their own way!

This is the French Huguenot Church – the architecture… STUNNING! What history this church has! It was originally built around 1687, it has been destroyed several times, fire, shellfire during the War Between the States and a severe earthquake in 1886. This building was completed in 1845 – read the full history HERE!

📸 IMAGES ARE MY OWN UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE. PLEASE CONTACT ME IF INTERESTED… CATCH YOU BACK HERE TOMORROW!

Even the less beautiful things in life are kind of interesting…

On By Barbara StroudIn Charleston, Daily Blog, Photograph, SCLeave a comment

I believe that even the uglier things in life are interesting. When I saw this I thought about something (somewhere?) I read recently. A gallery didn’t want to accept paintings from an artist if they had power lines in them. They said that it dates the painting. Hmmm. Interesting. I think we’re long away from not seeing any power lines – and personally, I like to see when artists paint them in, I think it adds a nice touch – gives the painting character!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

BACK TO NORMAL POSTING NEXT WEEK…
📸 IMAGES ARE MY OWN UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE. PLEASE CONTACT ME IF INTERESTED… CATCH YOU BACK HERE TOMORROW!

Azaleas Blooming – January.

On By Barbara StroudIn Charleston, Daily Blog, Photograph, SC2 Comments

The azaleas began blooming in January. Normally you will see a few azalea’s blooming at an off time, but our entire street is filled with blooming azaleas, and it’s stunning! I just don’t recall it happening so early!

Enjoy the beauty while you can!

BACK TO NORMAL POSTING NEXT WEEK…
📸 IMAGES ARE MY OWN UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE. PLEASE CONTACT ME IF INTERESTED… CATCH YOU BACK HERE TOMORROW!