Sharing a lovely Christmas with friends and family. part 1

Fredericksburg goes all out for the season.  We even have an ice skating rink in the park on the square for a few weeks each December. That is a rarity in this part of the country.   The buildings on our historic Main street are outlined in simple white lights but from that point nothing else is simple!  My brother promises to be here at Christmas and we will try to have pictures of some of the lighted center of town here on my blog, but for now it is decorating time in my house and a little tour through some others.  Have been to two great parties this week and also had a few friends stop by. 

Being with friends I have known for half a lifetime is a special joy at this time of the year.  This lighting makes us look faded but I promise we are vibrant ladies with amazingly full lives. 

As a coincidence, the three of us have all had a lot of enjoyment in the publishing world, one as a writer for Maine Antiques Digest years back covering shows in Texas, one as a contributing editor of Simple Life magazine since its inception and  I have a long time very pleasant association with Early American Life magazine which has published a number of my small "how to" articles in a more than twenty year span.  There is one in the current December issue.

I am the youngest one in this shot and I will be 86 in January 2017.  At my last check in with my doctor, he said with an earnest look, "How are you?"  I answered "I am busy and happy and I do not hurt, so who has more!?" This continues to  be so as I look toward the coming year with hope and gratitude.  

My Spiced peaches are  in the yellow bowl, recipe is  at the end of this post.

Only Barbara would think of placing a nativity set on a cake stand.

I must do a painting with this goose! I have half a dozen others started at present, need to finish some. 

Penny's ship model was borrowed for my painting over the mantle.

The Elephant in the Living Room.

I enjoy my three Santas from Becky Lowe.

Dolls love to be by the Christmas tree.

My Mother crocheted the suit on this cotton Santa 72 years ago for my Brother's first tree.

Jackie enjoyed the fine furniture in his room.

Nice Stoneware flasks and a Staffordshire bust of George.

Lafayette in a nice old painting.

Elvis

Pickled peach recipe   (a recipe from the 1950's)

1 large can Del Monte peach halves

½ cup sugar

½ cup vinegar

1 stick whole cinnamon

½ teaspoon whole cloves

Two days Before Serving:

Drain peaches reserving 1 cup syrup. In sauce pan combine syrup, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon and cloves.  Simmer uncovered 5 min. 

Add peach halves, a few of which may be studded with one clove.  Bring to a boil, cool, cover,  and refrigerate at least two days.  I remove the spices on the third day if some are left so they do not get too strong.

 To serve, drain peaches and heap in serving dish.  I double and triple it for large groups.

Thank all of you for the warm expressions of friendship and good wishes. I read and re read all of them. I wish all of my readers a sweet holiday season, and to those of my Christian faith, a very Merry and also tender and sweet Christmas.  My family had four generations in church last Sunday morning, where Jackson sang in the children's choir.  As the senior one, I felt like the Queen Mum, happy and grateful and proud of my family around me.     e

Goodbye to fall for this year

As the leaves blow around they stir so many memories. Some who read this will remember Jack and I had a big red house in town for a few years as well as the little cape in the country. 

 We were still working on it here, the fence became gray after a coat of paint and a great many small trees and bushes were added.  Just the same I had pumpkins on the porch.

 Our cape in the country was the house of our dreams, Jackie put untold work into it for us.

 My favorite quilt pattern has always been pineapple log cabin.  See what great colors this one had! Another name for the pattern is Windmill blades.  I do not have one now but always hope one will turn up. Brian and Cora sent the bittersweet from Connecticut.

 I had wonderful gardens those years!   See the pumpkins we grew! 

 Patches the cat was good help.

Eleven small big tooth maples were carefully nurtured so that one day they could make color against the red buildings.  The crepe myrtle turned red and the pecan trees gold so there was a wealth of fall color  for our little New England house. 

 Christmas for 2016 is coming with its share of nostalgia also.  But it too will be a sweet one.

e

Painting and Playing with Still Life

I remember many times in the past  calling my collector friends and asking "What are you doing?"  Sometimes the answer would be "Playing" which we both understood  meant arranging and rearranging interesting old items to make pleasing vignettes of our antiques.   Now that play has circled back again in my life in a different guise: arranging interesting things to paint and make a nice composition. 
Sometimes I am rolling apples or onions around on a kitchen table to catch the light from the window just so.

Lately I have borrowed little ship models from friends.  Here is a sweet example:

What adorable little lures! I have a small painting laid out with these swimming by the little schooner.

Finished are two paintings of another ship model.

Glare on both of these photos makes the very dark backgrounds look much lighter. The one above is on indigo while the one below is a rich chocolate.

The beautiful frames are from Andy Ybarra.

A buy on eBay brought me this adorable ship in a bottle, not old, an advertising piece for a rum company in the 1990's. This is the schooner Bluenose out of Nova Scotia.  A well known older hooked rug pattern of the Bluenose is one of my all time favorites.

This popular pattern was made in a number of sizes,  Sandy has a large lovely old one hooked to a glory!

Nautical hooked rugs are among my favorite things. 

The bonnets from friend Jean's collection shown below date mid 19th century. A painting of these may be titled "Conversation'. 

You can see I am having a good time these days.    I have lately been offered very nice representation for my paintings on Main Street in Fredericksburg, and am honored.    It is a town full of art and people who appreciate it. At present I am surely painting for enjoyment, but on the other hand these paintings are stacking up down the hall on the floor and some of them will have to go somewhere!     Not sure just how to move on this yet. My little ones are easy to sell and send and are not stacking up.  When I have more of them I can offer them on this site.  Some of the larger ones will have to go in a gallery soon.  Shipping them would be a bear.    edyth

A Fall Sale

Crisp bright fall days make good times for yard sales.  Some friends and I had a variation of that on Barbara's lovely screened back porch yesterday.  Our guests came by invitation, there was no sign or ad for our event in this intimate space.  Barbara and Jean had antiques to offer and I had my paintings and also a small table of Christmas things. Linda had a pretty display of her jewelry.  I would have liked to include photos with people, but after the sale started I never got back to taking pictures. So here is a taste of it.  

The tavern table with lovely turnings was from Maine.

A lucky person took home this wonderful comb back Windsor chair.

Barbara's homemade ginger cookies and pomegranate punch.

You can see some of the jewelry on etsy at

https://www.etsy.com/shop/PrairieRoseRanchwear?ref=l2-shopheader-name 

This was the first time I have shown my paintings this year and they were well received and I am much encouraged! Several friends came who are really interested in art and their comments are special.  And these four little ones sold!  

Bittersweet and Indian corn and pumpkins make a festive set up.

 All were priced and offered for sale except two large ones I may have giclee's made of.

One buyer said these paintings remind her of 17 century paintings and I was thrilled she recognized it. That is exactly what I am studying:  chiaroscuro, the play of light and shadow as mastered most famously by Rembrandt and taught today by David Leffel and his pupils of which my own instructor is one.   Leffel applies this technique to fine antique oriental porcelain and the like, while I am using it to paint the humble American pottery and less formal antiques Jack and I collected.  This gives my own paintings a personal voice.  Search Google images for David Leffel and see his amazing work!

Note, detail of the wooden doll above:

She came as just a carved wooden head and torso with a hole from shoulder to shoulder as on a Motschmann doll.  I made a tube of cloth holding the arms Jack carved. To give her legs, I sewed drawers with the legs and gathered the top edge around her waist. So no glue or other fastening mars the doll herself. There is no paper mache molded over the wooden base, she is a wooden doll with a very thin layer of gesso under the paint of her head. Worn spots tell the story.

Of course I had to buy some little treasures.

It was a great day, thank you Barbara.

PS If you would like to have a cupboard for your dolls like the one Jack made for mine, the pattern and instructions for it are in the new December Early American Life Magazine.  e