Featured Artist: Ken DeWaard!

On By Barbara StroudIn ART, Art Event, Daily Blog, Featured Artist4 Comments

Ken DeWaard – a painter who now resides in Maine with his family. He’s been painting up a storm. This guy loves to paint and it shows. His paintings are dynamic and reflect his subject matter so well – he captures the very feeling of what he’s painting. His subject matter is diverse and because he’s been so prolific over the years it’s time to make room for more work! When you think about it, if you are an artist who truly loves to paint, you can collect quite a few paintings – sure they sell, but there are always some that are painted on location at different plein air events that aren’t even shown – galleries in other regions aren’t necessarily wanting subject matter painted in other locations so unless it sells via the website it can sit until someone sees it and inquires. Which happens all the time, but kind of like Spring cleaning, it’s time to move some to make room for more. Continue reading “Featured Artist: Ken DeWaard!” →

Yearly house plan poll… let me know what you think!

On By Barbara StroudIn Daily Blog, HOME, House PlansLeave a comment

Clearly I am not an architect or one of those wonderful designers of house plans. The house plans that make you dream about living in such a wonderful space. I love house plans and always have. My husband and I Continue reading “Yearly house plan poll… let me know what you think!” →

Adding to the collection…

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

Barbara Biel creates the most amazing hearts and crosses. No two are exactly the same. They are so special. We have bought them as gifts throughout the years but never bought one for ourselves. Thanksgiving we bought the cross, and I bought the heart this year for Fred for Christmas. They have larger of both that are amazing, but the small ones are magnificent and look so dramatic in the sun, don’t they?

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The Pamlico River House Plan by Allison Ramsey Architects!

On By Barbara StroudIn Daily Blog, HOME, House PlansLeave a comment

This is the Pamlico River House Plan by Allison Ramsey Architects. This plan is approximately 2,875 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. Classic design with amazing porches! The front porch measures 12′ deep. That’s a lot of space to spread out and really enjoy! The side porch is 10′ deep and screened which is so nice when things get a tad buggy…

Continue reading “The Pamlico River House Plan by Allison Ramsey Architects!” →

Featured Artist: Brian Astle!

On By Barbara StroudIn ART, Daily Blog, Featured ArtistLeave a comment
Sunshine on a Cloudy Day by Brian Astle 24×18″ Oil

Brian Astle. His paintings are so beautiful. Look at “Sunshine on a Cloudy Day” – all the subtle nuances of color. It’s incredible how delicate he made that bowl look! And those sunflowers! OH! Those sunflowers are breathtaking and are full of life! This is spectacular!

See more of Brian’s work via these links:

Website  |   Instagram  

Read a bit about Brian, from his website:

Born in 1988 Brian’s interest in art came at an early age. He is very grateful to his parents who were instrumental in promoting his emerging talent.

In 2014 Brian received his BFA from Brigham Young University Idaho. He credits the knowledgeable and student oriented faculty of the BYUI art department for giving him “the tools all representational artist must have to open the door to communicating in the visual arts”.  Working as an Illustrator and a Fine Artist, Brian is in love with all art and the art process.
Brian’s career has been a continual learning experience. His growth comes natural as he seeks for excellence through education and hard work. He is constantly finding new things to appreciate in the masters both living and deceased. Some of the influences he credits for his inspiration and development are Nicolai Fechin, John Singer Sargent, Laura Robb, Richard Schmid, Quang Ho, Carolyn Anderson and Leon Parson.

His work has been featured in the 2013 Society of Illustrators scholastic show,  BYU student show 2011-2013, as well as a guest spot in Sebastian Cast: The art of Caricature to name a few.  He currently resides in Rexburg Idaho with his wife Sam.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

All images via BrianAstleFineArt.com, used with permission…

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

Snowed in? Clementine’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies a Ghirardelli recipe!

On By Barbara StroudIn Daily Blog, FOOD, Recipe5 Comments
Clementine’s Cookies

What do you do when you’re snowed in? Temps are low and you live in a tropical state that isn’t accustomed to getting below freezing temps coupled with inches of snow (5″!!) – well… you go through your recipes and see what you can make with what you’ve got. As luck would have it, I found this recipe in my file that I last made a million years ago, I noted that it was EXCELLENT. I don’t say that too often.

Continue reading “Snowed in? Clementine’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies a Ghirardelli recipe!” →

Featured Artist: Dan Mondloch!

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

Northhouse Folk School by Dan Mondloch 12×16 Watercolor & Gouache

Dan Mondloch. Wonderful watercolor paintings. So many to choose from – this one made me think of a good book that I read with a summer camp as the setting. It kind of brings you back to when you were a kid… summer camp. This is entitled Northhouse Folk School, here is Dan’s description:

Continue reading “Featured Artist: Dan Mondloch!” →

Snow man and beast…

On By Barbara StroudIn Charleston, Daily Blog, Photograph, SC4 Comments

Man and Beast – Charleston, SC

Ah! The Charleston, SC snow that fell earlier this week was amazing. This weekend I’m sharing a few shots. There are so many (ok, too many) – it’s rare, so I had to document, ha ha… Fred and Charlie out and about – Charlie loved the snow – tried to eat a good deal of it. He was wild!

I have to say…

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Snow Days – Charleston, SC

On By Barbara StroudIn Charleston, Daily Blog, Photograph, SC, THOUGHTSLeave a comment

This may look like a regular snow day to most of you well-seasoned-in-snowy-weather peeps. But here in tropical, sunny Charleston, SC this was a rarity. A very welcomed one! I’ve never seen so many people outside enjoying themselves. You have to admit, it’s really cool as a kid, but as an adult, it’s JUST as much fun. We had about 5″ of wonderful snow – some areas around here received almost 8! As I write this…

Continue reading “Snow Days – Charleston, SC” →