We are very fortunate to live in such a beautiful area of Charleston, SC. The live oak trees that line our street are magnificent, grand and stately. They have grown together to form an arch which is so beautiful to see. Our neighborhood is protective of our trees. Can you imagine what it would look like without them? I hope I never have to know…
Just look at those shadows dancing in the street. Wow! This photo doesn’t do it justice…
If you have a spot, plant a tree… it’s good for the earth, the shade keeps your home cooler in the summer… makes a nice memorial or tribute to a friend or relative. We are only here a short time… make it beautiful while you can!
Clouds Over Penny Creek by Dee Beard Dean – 30 x 40″ Oil Available at Galerie on Broad
Dee Beard Dean’s workshops always bring in rave reviews. She is a highly sought after instructor, and it sounds like everyone learns and has a good time while they’re at it, what a great combination!
Well, Dee has a few workshops coming up… one is May 5-7, 2014 and she has a few spots open… so if you’re looking for a great workshop to take… look no further! (Info below)… and if that workshop doesn’t fit into your schedule she has several others, check out Dee’s WORKSHOPS…
On another note, the May art walk in Charleston, SC isTONIGHT from 5-8 PM. This is such a nice time of year to get out and visit the galleries! Stop by Galerie On Broad (29 Broad Street) and see Dee’s work in person! What a perfect ending to the work week!
Artists will receive challenging group and individualized instruction in studio painting. Dee will observe the artists’ works and help them to improve rather than change their individual styles.
The emphasis will be on learning to see value changes, color temperatures, and composition. We will be building arrangements of abstract shapes that will form a strong foundation for the painting. There will be extensive studies on color temperature and value that will make the students’ paintings “sing” and vibrate with evocative color. Students can bring favorite photographs or small studies to create larger works in the studio. There will be short lectures and demos in the mornings. The remainder of the day will be spent painting and Dee will be working with artists on an individual basis. Instruction will be with oils, however all mediums are welcome. The workshop is geared toward intermediate and advanced artists who are striving to bring their work up to a new level.
What a great house plan this is! This is a new plan, called the Randolph Cottage (Southern Living Plan 1861). The architect for this plan is Bill Ingram. This house is 1800 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. It’s a wonderful (and creative) open floor plan.
So it looks like when you walk inside the front door there is an entry area and the staircase. To the left is the kitchen and on the ride hand side is the Living Room.
Behind the kitchen/living area is a powder room, laundry room, dining room and porch. I really like how the dining room opens on to the porch!
On the other side of the dining room are two closets for the master bedroom, then the master bedroom and finally the master bath.
What I might do…
Move the powder room underneath the staircase, add a pantry near the kitchen, and move the laundry room where the powder room was.
I would also swap the dining room for the living room. I prefer not to sit in the front of the house, so I would put the dining room in the front and move the living room to the center of the house. Especially since you could put in some nice french doors leading to the porch, then screen the porch and have some nice air flow for cooler months!
Upstairs is a bedroom on each side with a closet. Behind the bedrooms is a nice TV room that they share, and behind that a bathroom. What a great plan! It tucks a whole lot of living into 1,800 square feet!
Greg LaRock, most of you have probably heard of him. His work is fabulous… crisp and clean. His brush strokes are intentional and his light is incredible! The sunlight dances around this painting, so nice! I love the tips of the fence. Brilliant!
I swear I have featured Greg before, but when I checked… I haven’t… I. Am. Slipping. Read on to find out more about Greg…
Blocked In by Greg LaRock 18×24″ Oil – SOLD
Just look at this light! A working area that some wouldn’t think would make a great painting actually makes one of the best paintings! It’s when you paint the atypical that magic appears. This is amazing!
Greg LaRock’s passion is to capture the outdoor landscape and its ever-changing light and beauty. The challenge of depicting the three-dimensional world onto canvas is a difficult pursuit, but when it all comes together, it is an extremely rewarding experience. “When the gap between believability and painterly expression is merged, I’ve done my job.”
A signature member of AIS, LPAPA and ASMA plus an artist member of the CAC, Greg has won numerous awards for his painting excellence including the $5000 first place/grand prize at the Easton Plein Air event in Maryland and the top purchase prize awards for the Newport Bay Naturalist Mural Competition in California and at the Callaway Gardens Plein Air Show in Georgia. Greg has been juried into four of the Oil Painters of America national shows, awarded a “Jury’s Top 50” at the Greenhouse Gallery’s Salon International twice, was an invited artist seven times to LPAPA’s annual Plein Air Invitational. He has also been featured in Southwest Art’s “Artist to Watch” column and included in Jack Richeson Fine Art Series book “Plein Air New Mexico.”
A sought-after instructor for plein air workshops, he resides in Newport Beach, California with his wife and their two basenjis.
Ahhh, I ran across a fantastic recipe in Bon Appetit. It turned typically dry boneless skinless grilled chicken breasts into something absolutely heavenly! The secret? Yogurt! I made very few variations. Instead of regular yogurt I used Greek Yogurt and I did not use Cilantro. Pretty much everything else was the same.
This is what I did… click HERE for the link to Bon Appetit to see the original recipe! This will change the way you think about boneless/skinless chicken… I PROMISE!
Greek Yogurt Marinated Chicken on the Grill…
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (pound between wax paper to make an even thickness, so you don’t end up with shoe leather on one end and not quite done in the thicker areas).
In a bowl, mix together:
1 cup Greek Yogurt (plain, not flavored!)
1/2 cup chopped Onion
1/4 cup Olive Oil(or a wee bit less, use some to coat the grill good)
2-3 Garlic cloves, minced (or use the microplane, that’s even better)
1/2 Tablespoon Lime juice
1/2 Tablespoon Garam Masala (spice) – if you aren’t a fan of Indian cuisine, you may want to go lightly on this spice.
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt and 1/2 teaspoon fresh black pepper
1″ ginger, peeled and microplaned (or minced)
Stir ingredients together and put in a zip top storage bag.
Add the chicken and squish it around until its coated. Place it in a dish and let it soak in all the heavenly flavors for at least 3 hours (or overnight).
Heat the grill (coat the grill with oil).
The recipe says to wipe off the marinade, before putting on the grill which is good, and looks prettiest. The first time we did it, we didn’t see this step, and put it on the grill with the marinade. It was far tastier BUT it was white with grill marks… the flavor was overwhelming! It will transform what you think about grilled chicken. Cook until chicken is done!
I serve with cucumbers sliced, in a mixture of Greek yogurt and a splash of vinegar with some dill… It’s a nice combination!
Stewart White is an award winning artist with some spectacular paintings. It was so difficult to chose only one image. This is perfect for the start of beach season here in Charleston. This is a painting that you can look at for a long time and still see new and interesting tidbits! The colors are spectacular and the lifeguard waving those flags is so perfect. Stewart paints using watercolor panel, and he paint plein air (outdoors).
OutdoorPainter.com has written a fabulous article about Stewart that showcases two of his latest awards, one being the $15,000 at the Plein Air Convention – woohoo Stewart! Congratulations! Here is another wonderful article about Stewart from OutdoorPainter.com!
For those of you who are interested… Stewart will be teaching a workshop this August… here is the info (located about 15 minutes from Annapolis, Maryland).
Stewart White is a watercolorist from Baltimore, Maryland. He is one of the rare plein air painters using the medium of watercolor. His background in architectural illustration adds to his skill set and his paintings reflect his knowledge of good design. Stewart’s paintings have the pleasing combination of good structure with a painterly style. He is a transparent watercolorist in the purest tradition of watercolor painters. Where as watercolor expresses its nature as fluid oil paint is stiff and seems to want to be expressed in a thick and buttery way.
He studied at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and after serving 3 years in the US Army he returned to graduate from UC Berkeley with a BFA. He works as an architectural illustrator and designer. His watercolors both in his architecture illustrations and in painting competitions have won him many awards. In June 2009 he was invited to teach a workshop in Paris on his techniques for architectural watercolors to an organization of architects. He continues to teach in Paris every other year.
Stewart is a member of the Mid-Atlantic Plein-Air Painters Association (MAPAPA). He exhibits his paintings in juried and gallery exhibitions on the East Coast and in Plein Air competitions. He is the Grand Prize Winner of the prestigious Easton Plein air Festival (2009) He was a featured artist in McBride Gallery’s June 2009 exhibit: “Rising Stars: 10 Artists to Watch.” Stewart is a member of the American Impressionists Society(AIS), a signature member of the National Watercolor Society ( NWS),
The American Watercolor Society (AWS) and past President (2012) of The American Society of Architectural Illustrators (ASAI).
Unexpected and unique I said yesterday… regarding Charleston, SC. It is. You can walk around and see beauty everywhere. I suspect that its not just Charleston. If you have the right mindset, you can see something beautiful everywhere you go. It’s worth taking the time each day to find that one unexpected thing of beauty… and be grateful. Camelia’s this time of year are so pretty…
Enjoy your Sunday and I’ll catch you back here tomorrow!
Mark it on your calendar! October 13-15, 2014 Tim Bell will be giving a workshop here in Charleston, SC.
The workshop begins on Monday (Columbus Day) through Wednesday from 9AM – 4PM each day.
Tim Bell painting on the wharf, Monhegan Island
I would just like to say, from experience, that I personally have learned so much from Tim. My husband and I met Tim on Monhegan Island, Maine (photo above) back in 2006 and he was painting away. For the three of us it was our first trip to Monhegan, and meeting Tim made it special. He shared so much information with me that week. I remember thinking to myself that he shares information that he knows because he WANTS you to know it too. He is passionate about painting. Have you ever taken a workshop or a private lesson, and had an instructor who didn’t want to instruct? I have. She wanted to paint on her own… without me asking questions… hmmmm. That just didn’t work for me. I was there to learn and I walked away not learning a single thing. So if that has happened to you, don’t let that stop you from taking a workshop that could possibly catapult you into the stratosphere! Ok, maybe I’m a little dramatic, but it’s my way of saying… This workshop… Will. Be. Worth. It.
If you agree, please share this post! You know… the artists helping artists thing… ;)
Quite the classy design, isn’t it? You come to expect nothing but from Allison Ramsey Architects. The Shadowlawn plan (C0053) is 3,356 square feet and has 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. I love how these homes look like they could have been built many moons ago- such fabulous porches. A place you want to spend time, even before you see the inside! A wonderful design is key to a home that you will love for a lifetime. This home not only has a wonderful front porch, but great screened porches in the back. Lets have a look…
Shadowlawn Main Floor
I like how the left side of the house is reserved for the Master Bathroom, Bedroom and Closet. This home has a wide foyer that looks straight through the Great Room to the Porch. Speaking of the porches, the screened porches allow you to keep the french doors open when its nice outside. What a nice size kitchen, hmmm! This is a grand house plan!
Shadowlawn House Plan – Second Floor
The upstairs offers plenty of room and privacy with the separate bathrooms, which is nice. For our purposes, I think I would have a storage room instead of two bathrooms… but this gives you great options!
See images from Allison Ramsay Architects website HERE.
I featured Philip back in 2011, the first year that I started this daily blog… his work was amazing then, but I love it even more now. I think his bold brush strokes and vibrant colors are out of this world. Each and every one of his paintings is absolutely the best! I haven’t met Philip, but we’ve gone back and forth with messages, and he is the nicest guy ever, a big plus when purchasing art. I have got to like the artist, otherwise it doesn’t matter to me how good their work is, I just won’t love it… you know what I mean?
The darkness of the rocks, against the sunlit shore and that beautiful water… wow… great combination. I like how color peeks through at you through the clouds. Awesome!
Mondrian’s Ice Fish Shack by Philip Frey – 30×40″ Oil
Another fabulous painting by Philip. The vibrant blue really just sings… and those icicles hanging off the bottom of the fish shack, well, I just love them! This painting caught my eye, reminded me a bit of home (Michigan). As soon as the lake would freeze you would see “shantytown” – Fish Shanty’s (shacks) everywhere! Inevitably some people didn’t pay attention to when the ice would begin to melt and a few would be lost… bloop… gone. This painting really depicts that quite nicely. I remember going ice fishing with my dad out on the frozen lake. Dig the hole, that was the coolest part. Then sit on buckets with the car door open blocking the wind… no fish… Hello!! Where are the fish…?? Ok dad… I’m done and ready to go get something to eat, hee… that would be after about 15 minutes – wonder why we never had a shanty, ha ha… it was big fun regardless, and probably MORE fun, hey, the memory stuck, that has to mean something, right?
Philip is giving a workshop this year, here are the details, if you’re in the Maine area you aren’t going to want to miss it!
Painting Downeast
Plein Air Painting Workshop with Philip Frey
August 28-31, 2014 | 9 am – 4 pm | $400 | www.philipfrey.com
Phil Frey was born in Portland, Maine, in 1967. He honed his artistic muse at Syracuse University, from which he graduated cum laude in 1990. Returning to his beloved Maine, he established his home and studio in the down-east village of Sullivan.
Frey is a master at using bold color to capture the sense of his subject. An admirer of the French Fauves, the 19th-century artists noted for their use of bright color, Frey says of his art: “I’m an artist who tries to joyfully express the surroundings I love through color and a sense of place.”
Frey’s vision is vital, his goal is simplicity. He is often attracted to what might seem ordinary or everyday to someone else. It is Frey’s ability to transform that everyday object into something of beauty and meaning that has caught the eye of Maine’s audience of astute art collectors.
Although Frey’s subject matter is diverse—pure landscapes, seascapes, and even interiors—his joy in the simple act of painting is a constant. So is his need to show “the simple beauty of the extraordinary moment: vivid light on a building, shadows draped along curvy roads, the many colors of foliage, or the intricacy of a working harbor.”
Fred and I had the best lunch the other day… we had worked hard (our study has been painted, woohoo Fred!) it was getting late and we were starving! We headed to Brixx Wood Fired Pizza, in Mount Pleasant, SC. Usually we split a pizza, they aren’t big, but just enough for us… except for that day… this turned into a lunch/dinner situation… we ordered our typical Margherita Pizza… it’s so fresh tasting with a light crust, very fresh (house made) mozzarella, fresh roma tomatoes and luscious basil… a tasty treat… but we saw that someone had ordered a pizza with some lots of “green” (it was a ways away), we asked what it was. It was the Wild Mushroom Pizza with fresh arugula. So we ordered one of those as well! (Oink! Oink!) Oh. My. Gosh. We were in Heaven… the arugula was so fresh a tender, the PERFECT addition to this pizza. The Margherita Pizza was delicious, as it always is! Their iced tea is pretty spectacular as well… always fresh, and if you’re an iced tea connoisseur like we are (unsweet please) this is the place to go!
Wild Mushroom Pizza with Arugula
Can I tell you how difficult it was to wait to snap this photo? I was getting the evil eye from Fred. HURRY UP! ha ha… Heaven, I’m tellin’ ya! If you get a chance, head on over there… Here’s their website with menu! Or if you prefer to jump right to the PIZZA MENU just click the link! Enjoy and I’ll catch you back here tomorrow!
Chance. Of. A. Lifetime! That’s what I would personally call it! If you’re going to be in the Apalachicola, FL area in May, take this workshop with Ken DeWaard and Greg LaRock (another fabulous artist!) if you can! Ken (pictured above), is such a great instructor. Learning from someone like Ken is a privilege… you will leave with great insight and you will master your skills… no doubt about it!
Don’t miss this opportunity to study with two nationally known, award-winning plein air artists in one workshop! With decades of experience, Greg and Ken will guide you through everything you need to know including: simplification, understanding good composition, creating focal interest, achieving depth and atmosphere in your work and much, much more. Watch and learn with demos by both artists including a side by side demo of the same subject matter. Plus, lots of hands on instruction, discussion and free goodies for all students! Workshop is open to all levels.
Fee:$300. Click hereto register OR email info@pleinairfl.com !
Check out Ken’s website, it’s a great one, full of details… to see images of his work. Stunning!
This photo was taken last year on Easter, what a festive porch! There is nothing like walking around downtown, especially on or after a holiday when the decorations are still hanging. You wouldn’t believe how many fresh flower wreaths there are. Just stunning! What a treat this city is!
Hope you enjoy your Sunday!! Catch you back here tomorrow!
Dogwood Blooms in Charleston… Lovely… absolutely stunning in every way. When the sun hits this tree in the morning and late afternoon it just lights up. This time of year doesn’t last long… azaleas blooming, wisteria showing off it’s multitude of blooms with a scent that just goes on forever, soon the hydrangeas and gardenias! Spring is beautiful even though it flies by in the flash of an eye…
Enjoy it while you can! Catch you back here tomorrow!
ARTFOODHOME.COM 