Charm of the Carolines

Colorful and Charming Mini Art ~ Note Cards

Did you know?

 

Most of my paintings are available on 4.25 x 5.5 notecards for only $10 per package of 4 cards & envelopes, including free shipping. That's four small prints on card stock perfect for sending an encouraging note to your four best buddies, or sisters, or mother or grandmother. Who doesn't love getting a personal note in the mail? I like to pair mine with beautiful stamps which can be ordered online as well.

 

If there is anything I've learned in the past month, it's that there is beauty in the mundane and joy in the ordinary.

I have two Etsy shops. Etsy Shop One is Susan Elizabeth Jones. This is where paintings, prints, and note cards are available depicting images of my oils and acrylics paintings. 

Etsy Shop Two is Dimple of the Universe and this is where paintings, prints, note cards, and Fun Mail subscriptions are available of my watercolor paintings. Here you can also subscribe to my monthly service to send a personal note to the recipient you choose. This guarantees a personal note in the mail each month to someone you love. Note cards are laser imaged on 4 x 6 100# Cougar Smooth paper and suitable for framing.

 

 

Happy 10th Anniversary "Charm of the Carolines!"

I can't believe it's been a decade since I took a week off from my job to learn how to use Typepad and elementary HTML programming in order to publish my blog. Are they still called blogs? It seems so archaic now. It was the end of May 2009. Facebook had only recently made the leap from college campuses to the ubiquitous platform it is today. Instagram and Pinterest weren't even created yet. MySpace was the only social media that had gone mainstream. 

To read that very first blog post, click here.

When I started the blog, it was simply a hobby, a place where I could publish tales and belles lettres about things I love, and interesting tidbits picked up from where I live, and some of the interesting people who live around here, plus beautiful gardens, traditional holidays, local events, and highlights of beautiful, historic home, and recipes, tons of scrumptious recipes, all to honor my southern roots.

My dear friend Ginger lived in Iowa at the time and suggested I write more about Southern Belles, southern history, and traditions, and general "southern-ness."  "Like, what is a Cotillion?" she asked. I"m happy to share what I know. I love the south, my home. Yet I also love New England, the mid-West, the Northwest, Europe, and places I've never been. It's hard to discriminate when my love of history, historic architecture, good food, interesting people, holidays and fun events are universal. 

It's been a learning process, especially thinking of all the faux pas that had to be corrected, apologized for, and blushed through. More importantly it has been an inspiring, creative outlet feeding my curiosity and love of photography and word smithing. 

Later in 2009, I wanted to go further into creativity and rekindled my love of painting. I've always loved painting and art, but it took a backseat while attending graduate school and building a marketing career. But I missed it. I would go to galleries and museums and exhibits, and I started to notice nearly every Nashville painter gave credit to their instructors and influencers, and one name was repeated again and again, Hazel King. 

Who was Hazel King? I must find this woman. 

As luck would have it, or fate, or holding all things in divine order, Hazel King was a 90 year-old painting instructor who taught through Metro Nashville Parks and Recreation at the Centennial Park Art Center five days a week, and a new series of classes was starting in September. I had to be enrolled. The only problem was I worked five days a week and traveled out of state several times each month. How would this work?

Fortunately I had weeks of accrued comp time stored up, plus vacation time, and a supervisor who was leaving the company unbeknownst to anyone, and he agreed to let me take off from work ten Tuesdays in a row to take the class. I am forever grateful Gary Dittman!!!

And then started the next journey, to work towards becoming a self-employed Artist!

Charm of the Carolines has never swayed from its original mission, but oh has it expanded to include more of the things I love, including scripture, books, fostering rescue dogs and cats, mid-century living, and painting. You'll find my art peppered in the regular blog posts or dedicated blog posts or you can click on "Honoring the Muse" and read a dedicated section to painting, teaching, taking workshops, attending Plein Air invitationals, students, art dates, all things Artist. 

And mid-summer next year, I'll be celebrating my Ten Year Anniversary of being a self-employed artist.

Thank you for visiting with me, sharing your thoughts, allowing me to share mine. Thank you for rescuing dogs and cats and sharing my posts with your friends to get the word out when there is an unwanted animal in need of fostering or a forever home. Thank you for registering for my classes and workshops and purchasing my paintings. Thank you for your comments, for your photos shared with me for reference for future paintings, for your enthusiasm and questions, and insights. 

I can't wait to see what the next ten years hold. 

 

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Happy Chinese New Year!!

It's the Year of the Pig, representing carefree fun, good fortune and wealth. Don your red clothing and exclaim, "Gong Xi Fa Cai!"

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and yours the happiest of Holidays

Illustrated Nature Journaling

Winter and spring have both been unseasonably cold. We even had a frost yesterday with 33* morning temps. So I had to create my own spring and dream of warmer weather. Specifically I've been working on a new class for all ages.... Illustrated Nature Journaling for Beginners. We'll meet in the garden at Rippavilla Plantation.

The side garden, that is. 

  But there are so many wonderful places to observe flora and fauna on the estate.

   Like in the courtyard...

  And on the lawn....

  And that doesn't even count the back of the property. 

At Rippavilla, there is even a "Witness" tree, an old tree that was standing during the Battle of Spring Hill.... 

  

Illustrated Nature Journaling is fun!

What other activity is uses Science, Language Arts, History, Architecture, Poetry, and Art?

And shows Gratitude and Appreciation for our planet and conservation, and historic preservation?

What other activity can be done in a party or alone and still be fun?

What other activity can be done on location on a pretty day or at home at the dining room table when the weather doesn't cooperate?

What activity can be done on vacation or in your own back yard?

And is fun for ALL ages?

And is as much fun looking back on it as it is while doing it?

Illustrated Nature Journaling, of course. And I combine my journal with Illustrated Travel Journaling and a Gratitude Journal. 

Beatrix Potter, yes that Beatrix Potter, took her nature journaling very seriously. She loved to identify and sketch different types of mushrooms and other botanicals. 

 

 Plus insects and animals....

And she used her imagination to give personalities to these animals and write stories about their lives....

You may think that she was grown before she started her journals, but you would be wrong. 

Although Beatrix Potter was born and raised in London, she and her baby brother spent summers at their grandparents house in the country in Scotland. She loved her heritage and she loved the country, so much more than the city. And this is where her love of nature journaling began. 

If you will be in the Spring Hill, Tennessee, area and would like to participate in an Illustrated Nature Journaling class at Rippavilla, then join us!  Contact Rippavilla Plantation for more information.