TY TARA HAMILTON

One of the fun things over the holidays was going to a brunch that Tara Hamilton hosted at her house.  We have a group of women artists who have done pop-up sales together, gotten together for lunch and generally stayed in touch and supported each other.  Tara kept it going with this brunch.

In addition to providing a great food, Tara gave us all ornaments that are so much fun with a riddle tag that what they want is to "hang" together.  The ornaments are small pinecones in a wooden bowl and trimmed with beads.  I had fun painting it, too.  

TY KAREN ZENS

 

This is a fun treasure from my friend Karen Zens, who has worked in many countries around the world.  This ornament is from Canada--she remembered that I lived in Canada for many years and that Louisa and Jenifer were born in Canada.  Karen knows Canadian things are special to me.

She also makes me special cards each year...she makes original prints and cuts windows and folds the cards and each is unique---I don't even try to make a little painting of the one she did this year.  I save them each year and use them as background for my creche at Christmas.   

We had a fun brunch with some other artist friends.  I've said it before, but I am grateful for my artist friends.  

TY HALLERS

 

It's hard to tell from my little painting what the gift was.  But it was an excellent gift--several bottles of wine from Oregon!!!!   The painting is an interpretation of the label and it is special because it shows that Honeywood Winery produces wine from all kinds of fruits..not just grapes, and also from honey.  The wines I got were Marionberry Wine,  Loganberry Wine and Mead.  Nice sweet treats!!!!

Erik and Jen know that still feel connected to my Oregon friends and family.  Six bottles of wine arrived in a secure package.That was a pleasant surprise.

TY SMITH FAMILY

 

It is always special to spend time at Christmas with the Louisa, Peter, Griffin and Sophia Smith.  One especially memorable thing this year was that we had Bonne Maman advent calendars.  They had one at their house and I had one at mine---a new treat every day for the first 25 days of December.  The carton was amazing and it was hard to focus on what to paint.  Many elves, jars of jam, animals, and much more!  I decided to focus on one of the elves and a jar of jam and what I think is a fawn.   

I also got lots of Christmas morning treats from them....and stored up lots of fun memories.

TY SOPHIA

 

This is a fun time of year for me.  I have, for many years, made little watercolor thank you cards for the gifts I received.  I enjoy doing it and my family and friends find the little paintings a good sign of my appreciation.  

It may be a little hard to figure out what the one above is.  It is a spoon rest for on top of the stove.  Sophia found a beautiful stoneware one----and with a dragonfly!  She knows I like dragonflies and also  handmade gifts.  She bought it at the local Eastern Market.  It is already happily placed on my stovetop and making me smile.

Please, Mr. Postman

 

This is my snowman for holiday cards this year.  I chose a postman because I wanted to highlight my change of street name.  I didn't move, but the street name has changed and so I have a new address.  I am still getting mail at the old address (629 Ellen Wilson PL SE), and getting it at the new address (629 Navy PL SE) as well.  I don't know how long that will last.  The reason given is that Ellen Wilson was a racist, but Wikipedia says she worked to clean up black neighborhoods in DC when she was First Lady...the first wife of Woodrow Wilson.  That's why the street had been named for her.   She died while he was in office.  I'm also not sure why Navy PL was chosen,  I'm in a neighborhood close to what is called Navy Yard, but the Marines are even closer.  I won't spend much more time pondering this....it is just a street name.
 

Gallic Rooster

 

I participate in an artist's group that posts paintings and drawings of birds on the 8th of the month each month.  It is called DAB (Draw a Bird) Day.  This month we did national birds.  I chose the Gallic Rooster, national bird of France.  I usually don't post these bird paintings in this blog as they appear in another blog, The Wednesday Studio.  I am happy enough, though, with how this bird painting turned out that I decided it should go in this Plum Gallery blog.  It is watercolor and about 11" x 14."  I lwft the background white on purpose.