China Painter

Spring

2010-03-30T17:53:00.000-07:00

70+ degrees and no rain! This is wonderful. The spring blossoms are beautiful. I am watching the leaves on the trees by my kitchen window change each day. I love this time of the year!

I'm back

2010-03-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

I said my next post would be after I had my surgery. Well, this is a long, long time after! 14 months long.
The knee replacementr went well and I had some great therapy afterwards. If you are having a knee replacement, let me encourage you to be committed to the therapy! I did not just do the exercises with the therapist. I did them every day and some of them frequently during the day and night. The rewards were not having pain as long as I was told it could last and being able to climb stairs and get into and out of the car without any difficulty.
It was 3 months before I could sit long enough to paint. But since then, I have really been enjoying painting with my friends. I have 6 people who come to my house weekly and we enjoy painting together, encouraging each other and critiquing if wanted. They are a great group and I am extremely blessed to have them come here to paint.
I just finished painting another portrait. I think that is my favorite subject to paint.

A Miracle?

2009-01-12T10:00:00.001-08:00

In the last post, I said I was going to the medical doctor and see if he had a miracle for me. He looked at my chart - symptoms and surgery schedule - and then he looked at me and said, "You need a miracle."
He talked with the anesthetist who thought that as I am having a spinal anesthesia, I would be ok for the surgery by Wednesday morning. I am to check in and the anesthetist will check me to see if I am cleared enough for the surgery.
I got an injection of the strongest antibiotic/steroid and prescriptions for the Z-Pack (antibiotic), decongestant, and cough syrup with codeine. My husband went to get those filled and I am waiting for the codeine. :-) I hope it will make me sleepy so I can rest for a while.
The antibiotic is very hard on the stomach and good bacteria so the diet will be lots of liquids plus yogurt, cottage cheese, and/or buttermilk. Fortunately, I like all of those things.
My next post may not be until after the surgery.
This a soup tureen and ladle that I gave as a gift.

Knee Surgery

2009-01-11T21:05:00.000-08:00

I typed a long entry and then lost it before I got it posted. I know. I should have saved as a draft before I went looking for something else. Will try again but shorten it this time.
I am scheduled for a complete knee replacement on January 14. I have never had a lot of pain in it but it is just "plain ole" worn out. When it suddenly goes down a little (I fortunately have never fallen as a result) or suddenly you cannot put any weight on it for a short time because of pain, then you know it is time for the surgery.
I am preregistered and have done several things that I wanted to accomplish before the surgery. Still have a little more to do. The date may have to be changed. Saturday at noon, I started getting a sore throat followed by sinus congestion. I will go to the medical doctor tomorrow to see what he has to say and if he has a "miracle" for a quick recovery for me.
This is an abstract of trees/mountains that I painted last year in my beginning to learn watercolors.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T19:09:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all. Come, let us worship Him.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T18:35:00.001-08:00

It is now Christmas Eve and I have been reflecting on the busy year and how I got to this time in the year. This has been a year full of very special blessings from our wonderful God. There have been opportunities for painting lessons with great teachers from around the world. My husband and I have been blessed to be able to spend a lot of quality time with our family.
The greatest blessing and gift is our Savior, Christ Jesus whose birthday we now celebrate. Remember to worship Him and to give Him thanks and praise.
Mat 2:2 ... Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
Here are 4 of the Christmas ornaments that I painted this year.

Busy Schedules

2008-12-14T18:36:00.000-08:00

Schedules for this time of the year can become very cluttered. For the past 2 weeks, I have had one day each week to stay home. The same is true for this week. The week after Christmas, we can sigh and relax.
Monday is the day that my china painting friends come to my house to paint together. We critique, ask for help or suggestions, and offer the same. Maybe it is taken or maybe not but we just enjoy painting together. Sometimes we work on a special thing together and other times we each work on something different.
Tomorrow we will not paint. We will have our Christmas luncheon and then play Bingo. The gifts can be anything - frivilous, china painting related or otherwise. We have fun doing this.
This is a watercolor I did in my first workshop.

2 weeks till Christmas

2008-12-11T18:13:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe that Christmas is only two weeks from today! How did that time get here so rapidly? With an opening like that - no, I am not ready!
There are still many ornaments to be painted. The Christmas cards must be made and posted. I guess I had better get back to one of those tasks.
Below is a sunflower plate about 10 inches that I painted. It has been given as a gift to a very special person.

Birthday

2008-10-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

October 4 was my birthday. I am now 72 years old. Or should I say "young'? I had such a busy year with several workshops plus a little traveling so I say that I have been too busy to grow old or to busy to know that I am growing older. I have only one more workshop scheduled this year. That will be a watercolor workshop. The next workshop is not until next March which is a porcelain painting workshop.
I have not been to a movie in a long, long time. We moved here in 1984 and it was long before that the last time I went to see a movie. That is not to say that I don't watch movies. I watch quite a few of them on TV or DVD's. We went to see Fireproof. It is a really good movie. Chick flick? Yes, but it was the men I heard laughing. There are two more I am planning to see soon.
After taking many workshops, I now need to practice some of the things I learned before I forget the lessons. It is time to be working on Christmas ornaments also. I have not even started on them. Every year, I tell myself I need to start on them in January.
Here is a tiger eye that I painted on a 4X6 inch porcelain tile.

Daughter's Birthday

2008-09-30T11:41:00.000-07:00

Today is our daughter's birthday. Stop by to wish her a happy birthday.
Thanks.

Confident In a Mother's Love

2008-09-08T15:45:00.000-07:00

We are currently in PA. It is a long-g-g-g drive across TN, VA, a little section of WV and MD into PA!!! We had a beautiful day for the drive and this is a beautiful part of our wonderful USA.
Tomorrow we will go to Gettysburg. After that, we will continue northward to Wilkes Barre for the reunion of the USS Ft. Snelling, the first ship my husband served on.
I hope it did not take too long for this picture to download. I was most anxious to post this. I love it! Look at the love of this mother and the serene confidence of the baby as the mother "kisses" it. See that tongue embracing her baby? The tongue of the adult is 27 inches long.
This I painted on a 12X16 inch porcelain tile.

2008-09-05T21:36:00.000-07:00

This has been a very busy week with appointments and just trying to catch up on the laundry, bill paying, balancing the checkbook, etc after being gone for over 2 weeks. A friend gave me some apples so I made almost 3 pints of applesauce today and put into the freezer. It sure will taste good when it is cold.
We are leaving again Sunday for the reunion of the USS Ft. Snelling, the first ship my husband was on. This year we meet in PA. The only time I was in PA was many years ago when we made drive up from DC to visit my husband's brother. He was at the army base not far from the state line.
Here is a wall pocket painted like a calla lilly.

Catching Up

2008-09-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

Maybe I should adopt a theme song. If I did, it could well be "On The Road Again". But I like better "There's No Place Like Home".
I have been away for painting workshops and for the IPAT (International Porcelain Artists and Teachers) show in Nashville, TN. I was able to take some workshops with some wonderful teachers both at the show and before and afterwards. There were some absolutely extraordinary works of art there.
We were blessed at the end of this 2+ weeks to visit my mother (here she is with our daughter, Karen) one night and the attend the reunion of my husband's family - brothers and sisters with children and grandchildren. It was a joy to be able to spend some precious time with them.
I will soon post pictures of the most recent things I have painted but I want to get a better picture of them to post than I currently have. In the meantime, here is a bowl on which I painted a calla lilly about a year ago.

Wedding Anniversary

2008-08-15T07:11:00.000-07:00

Today is our 49th wedding anniversary. My dh graciously allowed me to attend another chinapainting seminar today and tomorrow. He came with me and is staying since it is only two days.

Second Portrait

2008-08-11T18:02:00.000-07:00

I am one of the most blessed china painters in the world! A group of 6 meet here at our house each Monday to paint together. We so enjoy our fellowship. Sometimes we all work on the same thing, practicing what one or more of us have learned in a seminar or workshop. Other times, we each "do our own thing". We often critique each other's work when requested.
The second portrait I recently painted was of our youngest son when he was 4 years of age. This is the original picture.

This is the one I painted on an 8X10 inch porcelain tile.

Portrait on Porcelain

2008-08-09T08:08:00.000-07:00

Drought conditions continue in Alabama. Even from the reports that you can see, those areas have received more rainfall than we have in this area.
Tomorrow I am cooking for the family- all but our daughter and her family who live in another state. There will probably be 14 here.
I told you I would soon post the portraits that I recently painted. Hopefully, tomorrow I can reveal the second one to the person whom I painted. After that, I can post it. So today I will post the first one.
This picture was made at the beginning of my junior (2nd) year of nurse's training, age 19.

Here is the portrait painted on an 8X10 porcelain tile.

2008-08-06T20:22:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day to have two of our granddaughters on a regular basis. They are 14 and 10. This summer we have worked on piecing a quilt and china painting. School starts tomorrow. The opening day of school comes earlier and earlier each year! They have had only 2 months for summer vacation and that has been too short. Fill that time with band camp, church camp, and a few other related things and the summer passes quickly.
Last month I was blessed to spend a week with my Mother. She is an incredible woman. She helped me can 14 quarts of green beans. Actually, I helped her can them for me because all I did was help break them up. Most of them were given to me by my older sister.
On the day of our arrival, she had just received a call from the buyer at Shaker Village requesting 43 dolls Fortunately, she had that many just about done. She just had to work on a few articles of clothes. (Check entry July 23 on my daughter's blog.) Those she cut out that day and the next day she sewed all day and got them done - after helping me break up the green beans and get them into the canner. The following day she packed the dolls and got them into the mail. Check the July 28 entry on my daughter's blog for a picture of her and her dolls that was made a few years ago.
On Sunday, she prepared a dinner after church for about 16 people. The following Sunday, she prepared dinner for 36 people.
My younger sister who lives in California came home on the 28th. I was able to spend one day with her before returning home.
This is a wall pocket painted like a Calla Lilly.

Long Absence

2008-08-03T10:51:00.000-07:00

What do I blog about after a 3 month hiatus? Well, I won't bore you with a lot of details but just some hilights. My schedule for this year has been very full.
Having grandchildren, May was a time for a graduation and a dance recital. In June, my friend from Israel visited with us for a few days. The 28th was a very special day. It was the celebration of the graduating class 50 years ago from the Kentucky Baptist Hospital School of Nursing. There were 38 graduates. Of those, 4 that I know of have graduated to a much higher plane - the eternal one for which we should all be anxiously looking toward. 13 of us attended the reunion. I had seen only 4 of them since graduation or since my wedding the following year. What a joy it was to see them and renew friendships!
In July, I was privileged to study portrait painting on Porcelain with Mariela Villasmil-Kaminski. In fact, I took two classes. I have 2 portraits of which I am very proud. One is of me to go along beside the one I painted earlier of my husband at age 19 in his US Navy uniform. Mine is when I was 19 in my student nurse 2nd year (Junior) uniform. The second one I painted will remain a secret until I reveal it to the person whom I painted. I will post both of them soon.
Lest I bore you with details, I will save the rest of the update for the next post.
Here is a bread and butter dish on which I painted an apple.

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T15:52:00.000-07:00

I trust you have had a wonderful Mother's Day and was able to spend time with your mom. My blessings were tripled. I had a phone call from our daughter and received pictures of the grandchildren.
From our youngest son and his family, I received dozen roses - 4 colors and absolutely beautiful. Our oldest son cooked dinner and it was fantastic - blackened grilled shrimp, king crab legs, potato salad, corn on the cob, and key lime pie. Crab meat is my favorite food. Along with that came a gift certificate from Target. How blessed can one mom be?
I will spend a few days with my mother next week. We are truly blessed to see her living many years enjoying every day. She is 92 and a very active lady. Maybe one of these days, I will make my post all about her. How much time do you have to read?
This is a picture made last year on her farm.

Dogwoods

2008-04-02T14:03:00.000-07:00

I did not get all of the Easter eggs I have painted posted by Easter. I had one more to go. Since it is almost time for the dogwoods to bloom, I will post my last one. It is a pen drawing of pink dogwoods. This is the view from the left side - that is, depending on what you consider the "top" of the egg.

Here is the view from the "right" side.

In the next post, I will include the portrait that I recently painted so "stay tuned".

Fantastic Contest Prize

2008-03-26T19:56:00.000-07:00

Jenig has a fantastic contest that will make one winner a very happy person. I know just the place that it would be great for.

Rosetta Stone has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while -- next week they are unleashing a brand new curriculum, and you can WIN the *all new* Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3… FOR FREE!

This is a $219 program (and believe me it's worth every penny!) and the winner gets to pick from any of these 14 languages: Spanish (Spain or Latin America), English (American or British), Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Irish, Hebrew, or Russian.

This will also include a headset with microphone, and students will participate in lifelike conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone still incorporates listening, reading and writing as well, in addition to speaking. Many homeschoolers requested grammar and vocabulary exercises, and with Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3, they're included! For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program and allow parents to easily enroll students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, and view and print reports.

To win this most excellent program -- in the language of your choice -- copy these (blue) paragraphs and post it in (or as) your next blog post -- then to enter the contest, go to the original contest page HERE: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JenIG/501132/ and leave a comment with the link showing where you blogged about it. And please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post it. And good luck! The winner will be picked randomly on March 26, and will be notified thru the link they left to their blog pg. And if you have more than one blog, you can post them and enter those separately for more chances to win. Yay for free stuff!

Easter Eggs 2008 9th Post

2008-03-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

These are two of my favorite eggs of this year. The gold farm scene was chosen by one of our granddaughters. The one with roses I get to keep! I hope you have each had a very blessed Easter day with your loved ones. Our two sons were here with their families. It was a wonderful day of fellowship and enjoyment of being together.

Hosanna to The Lord

2008-03-23T07:03:00.000-07:00

May each of you have a blessed Easter day remembering the occasion for which we celebrate this day - the greatest day ever! "...He is risen, just as He said." Matthew 24:6

Easter Eggs 2008 8th Post

2008-03-21T09:27:00.000-07:00

It is time to double up on posting the eggs. This egg has lots of enamel dots on it. Here is a top view and a side view.

Here is my second to post for today.

Easter Eggs 2008 7th Post

2008-03-19T20:08:00.001-07:00

Here is the top and side view of pink violets. I am going to ohave to post 2 times a day to get them all posted by Easter. Then I will post the portrait that I painted the last of February so "stay tuned."

Easter Eggs 2008 6th Post

2008-03-18T20:25:00.001-07:00

Here are 2 eggs painted in the Dresden style. The side view is almost the same on each so I just showed one of them.

Easter Eggs 2008 5th Post

2008-03-17T18:54:00.000-07:00

I have a group of 5 who come to paint with me regularly on Monday. Spring break is this week so 2 were not here because of the wonderful opportunity to spend this time with grandchildren. The other 3 were here and we had a wonderful time painting. I hopefully finished the last Easter egg for this year. I also worked on my picture of American goldfinches. They are beginning to get a personality and looking good.
About 5 years ago I painted a bowl with blackberries and blue berries. Just one more thing needs to be done on it and I can call it completed. I got several small bowls to paint matching it. I had started on them so today I worked on 5 of them. They are close to being completed. That is always a good feeling to know that a project is finished.
This egg is decorated with raised enamel. Both ends are decorated with the same star shape design.

Easter Eggs 2008 4th Post

2008-03-16T18:41:00.000-07:00

The middle of March is already lhere. I MUST get busy on our taxes. Procrastination is very easy when it comes to working on this task. Friday, I noticed the Bradford Pear trees were budded out quite a bit. Today, they look like they are in full bloom almost. I love this time of the year. Plants begin to come to life, lovely colora are all around us. It is a picturesque reminder of the resurrection of our dear Lord Jesus Christ and of the resurrection into our new life in Him.

Welcome

2008-03-15T00:05:00.000-07:00

Hi. Welcome to my blog and thank you for coming to visit me. I am looking forward to getting to know you.
(Scroll down for later additions. See a picture of the porcelain egg (#33) given by KarenW )
My name is Dixie. I have been married for 48 years. My husband Charles spent 22 1/2 years in the US Navy. And then he worked the next 17 years for Tennessee Valley Authority. That brought us to Alabama where we have been since 1984 - the longest we have ever lived in one place.
My main hobby is china painting. I have been blessed to be able to take seminars from a wide variety of wonderful teachers.
I never dreamed that I could paint portraits. Here is the first one I painted om 2006. I named her Elaine as that is my teacher's name for that portrait plus the middle name for me. our daughter, and her daughter.

This is going to be an exciting week. Enjoy the party!

Other China Painting

2008-03-11T14:08:00.000-07:00

I have been posting pictures of some of my china painting pieces on my former blog. You can see them at thechinapainter. I am currently working on some birds which I am doing for a competition piece in one of the china painting guilds I belong to. This is not from a study but from a photograph so it is taking quite a bit of effort to do.
I hope you are enjoying yourself at the blog party. I am enjoying meeting so many of you. Thanks for coming to my party and for your kind compliments.
This is another egg I painted for 2008.

Easter Eggs 2008

2008-03-10T17:58:00.000-07:00

If I am to post this year's Easter Eggs I have painted before Easter, I must get started. Here is a picture of the Porcelain Egg to be given by Karen W.
I hope you are having a great time at the party this year.

You are Invitet to The Ultimate Blog Party

2008-03-06T12:03:00.000-08:00

There is an Ultimate Blog Party going on March 7-14 at 5 Minutes for Mom. There will be lots of prizes but best of all, you will meet lots of bloggers and make new friends. Check out my daughter's blog and see what she is bringing to the party.
Just click on the link above or the invitation button on the right side bar. Come join in the fun!
Here is another Porcelain Easter egg I painted last year - top view and side view.

Time Marches On

2008-03-01T17:48:00.000-08:00

March 1 already? How can that be? Where did January and February go? With an extra day this year, time still has passed very quickly.
I just finished a 5 day workshop painting a portrait on porcelain. It was a very good time of learning about the fine details of painting portraits. The first 2 days, we painted 9 am to 5:30 pm. The 3rd day, we painted until 6 pm. Day 4 was less intense but we still painted until 5 pm and on day 5, we finished by 3 pm. Yes, all of this was on one piece.
Our instructor is a great teacher. Visit her website and see some of the beautiful portraits she has painted. Marci is the one we painted in this workshop. I will post a picture of it in about a week, so stay tuned.
Here is another of last year's Easter Eggs, top view followed by a side view. The white dots along the border are raised enamel.

Easter Eggs 2007

2008-02-29T19:01:00.000-08:00

I have just received an award from my granddaughter, Hannah.
I am still painting Easter Eggs for this year. I will post others from 2007 until I finish these. Then I will post them thii Easter which comes early this year - March 23.

Painting Porcelain Easter eggs

2008-02-16T10:50:00.000-08:00

I typed a long entry earlier this week and then the browser shut down and it was lost. :-( I will try again. I will be in a portrait painting workshop the 18th-20th and 25th-26th. I am so blessed and happy to be in this workshop. The teacher is a great with both instructing and demonstrating.
I am now working on Easter eggs for this year. I have 6 completed, 4 with one to three or four more firings (paint and then fire in the kiln), and need to start one more.
Here is another one I painted last year, top and side views.

Safe Through the Storms

2008-02-06T13:21:00.000-08:00

We made it safely through the storms during the night. The tornados were about 15-20 miles from us. We had lots of lightening and about 1 inch of rain. The weather alert sirens were going off for a long time. Many were not as fortunate as we were. Pray for those who lost so much, especially for those who lost loved ones.
Today is "sunshine after the rain." It is a beautiful day.
Here is another porcelain egg that I painted last year. I will show the top and side views.

Spring Is In The Air

2008-02-05T20:11:00.000-08:00

I feel like spring is definitely in the air. On Groundhog’s Day, Punxsutawney Phil prediction called for 6 more weeks of winter weather. I hope he was wrong. I am glad we do not have to depend on the annual prediction of a ground hog. The birds are getting so busy around here that it seems like we are almost in spring already. I love Spring.

The time since I last made an entry has been a busy time. I thought that after the first of the year, my schedule would be lighter. Not so! My calendar for 2008 already has a lot of entries. I am excited about the things on my schedule. I have 2, and possibly 3, porcelain portrait painting workshops scheduled. One painting I will do will be from the portrait of me in my student nurse uniform when I was a junior, about 20 years of age.

I have wanted to take classes or workshops in watercolors and acrylics. I especially want to learn to do watercolors. Helga Flower from Michigan will be here in April for a watercolor workshop and I am privileged to be scheduled as a participant.

Another event on my calendar is the 50 year reunion of my nursing graduating class. Most of the girls I have not seen since the day of our graduation. I married one year after graduation and have always lived in a different state.

The temperature yesterday was 68 F and today it got up to 74 F. Of course, that means that with a cold front moving in tonight, we have tornado warnings.

Easter comes early this year – March 23. I must get some porcelain Easter eggs painted. Here is a picture of the top view of one that I painted last year.

Here is a picture of the side view.

Christmas Day

2007-12-25T12:28:00.000-08:00

This is the day that we celebrate the birth of Jesus - our Savior. The creator came to earth as a baby so that He could die for our sins. Why? Because He loves us so much. Thank you, Jesus.

2 Days of Christmas

2007-12-24T14:22:00.000-08:00

This was a wonderful day with the children and their families. There were two members who could not join us today. Our son-in-law could not get off from work to be here. Our grandson-in-law is in Iraq for his second tour of duty. Pleas pray for our military personnel who are serving around the world so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have in this wonderful country. Thank You, Lord, and may Your name be praised.

3 Days of Christmas

2007-12-23T14:25:00.000-08:00

3 days of Christmas! Tomorrow we will be celebrating Christmas with all of the children. I am looking forward to that special time together.

Jesus is awesome, wonderful. I love Him so much but in no way like He love me – and you! Praise Him. He is so worthy!

This is an 8 1/2 inch plate with a pink poinsettia.