Merry Christmas

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

Merry Christmas

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

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

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

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

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

Confident In a Mother's Love

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.