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.