Here is the flyer for the Garden Party again, hopefully readable on your monitor. Unfortunately the only way I could figure out how to resize it to fit on the screen is a method that includes the toolbar at the top!
The Ornament Story, chapter 4
This is the crowd shuffling back down the hall as the party was over. The conversations were so much fun. I heard people going on about the bathrooms (“Fine facilities!” in a very Southern accent), talking about how many paper napkins with the White House emblem that they stuffed in their purses, and the cameras never stopped snapping!
We were very reluctant to leave, as were most of the guests. It was all such a beautiful fantasy, and it was hard to believe it was over so quickly. While I changed from my useless high heels to a pair of walking shoes, Michael made friends with Jeff, a Secret Service guy:
He showed him the photos of meeting the President in Sequoia in 2001 and referred to him as “Dubya”. I said, horrified, “Michael! They probably don’t call him that here!!” Jeff said, “Actually, we call him Forty-three”. Isn’t that a hoot? There are many many layers of security around the White House, several different fences and gates to pass through before emerging onto Pennsylvania Avenue. Here is one last glance back:
I think I stood on a bench for this one. (It was safe – my high heels were in my oh-so-dorky-with-dress-up-clothes-backpack). There was a fence separating us from the White House and another fence separating us from outside the White House. Our next mission was to locate a Metro Station and figure out how to get back to Alexandria, where we had a 19 block walk back to Janey’s (see why I brought normal shoes with me?) Michael was a little uneasy with this, but since I had just been in China, I knew this would be a piece of cake. Why? Because everyone spoke English here AND we could read the signs! So, that is my story of the ornament. One last thing: have a look at the little item that gave me this adventure!
You can view all the ornaments here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/holiday/2007/ It is interesting to note that no where are the artists mentioned, only the National Parks that we represented. And we were instructed to not use our designs commercially – no reproductions, no advertising saying “as designed for the White House”. I have been asked many times why I haven’t made more ornaments, and that is the main reason. If that agreement wasn’t part of the deal, perhaps I might have done so, but to paint the same little fussy object over and over probably would have lost its appeal.
The Ornament Story, chapter 3
A note about getting “gussied up”. . . I faxed the White House a second time to ask about the dress code. Here in Tulare County, “dressed up” means that I iron a polo shirt for Michael to wear with decent jeans. “Formal” means his best Wranglers, boots, and a “sport” jacket. (“Sport?” What, is he going to play basketball??) Really really formal means a tie with the formal ensemble. So the White House returned my fax with a phone call, and I was told in no uncertain terms that “No denim is allowed on the compound”. This meant a major shopping expedition for Michael. Me? I found a $3 blue velveteen jacket at the local thrift shop, and since I have enough clothing for a small third world nation of short women who wear their skirts too long, this was adequate to complete an outfit for me. So we arrived in style at the White House, and joined the queue to be officially identified as invited guests. Everyone was excited, dressed up, and friendly. We finally got inside the White House itself and began the shuffle down a long hall. Everything was interesting, everyone was nice, every moment was fun! (incidentally, there were 2 men at the reception wearing blue jeans. Michael asked one of them how he got away with that, and the guy said ,”I don’t dress up for nobody”. Apparently he doesn’t bother with proper English either!)
I could go on and on about the details, but will try to contain my enthusiasm so you don’t realize that I really don’t get out much!Here is a photo of the East Room where the reception was:
Outstanding food, truly outstanding! Incredible to be there, really!Here is the podium where Laura Bush spoke:
We were too short and too far back in the crowd to see her. (I was wearing my highest heels, to no avail other than killing my feet!)
This is the tree in The Blue Room. It was 18′ tall, and my ornament was placed in a perfect spot! You are seeing the back of the head of the woman guarding the tree on the side where my ornament hung. (it doesn’t show in this blurry photo – guess I was a little too wound up to take proper photos!) Here is the view from the Blue Room where we were all standing around in shock and awe:
We handed the camera to a stranger to pose in The Red Room, and suddenly, the carriages turned to pumpkins. Everywhere we looked, a uniformed guard was saying, “This way please”. That had to have been the quickest 2 hours of my life! to be continued. . .
The Ornament Story, chapter 2
Once we knew the date of the White House reception, I began making plans. We have very good friends in Pennsylvania who invited us to stay with them AND, get this, loaned us a car! So we flew into Harrisburg, which has rocking chairs in its airport!!
Here is what some of their area looks like: 
After recovering from a red-eye flight (Note to self: NEVER do that again!) the next day we drove to Old Town Alexandria, Virginia to the home of our good friend and cabin neighbor (and partner in my book) Janey. The drive was so interesting to us. Just seeing signs along the freeway that mentioned Civil War battlegrounds was fascinating to these West-coasters! And the colors – this photo was taken at a rest stop!
I knew I would love Janey’s town from years of hearing about it. Sure enough – just look where she lives! (Please excuse the car in the way – parking is at such a premium in her neighborhood that we had to have a permit for our borrowed car and she had to negotiate with a construction crew for a place to put the car.) These homes were built in the late 1700s, and I was shamelessly and instantly in love with the whole place.
We got all gussied up, and Janey drove us to the White House. To be continued. . .
The Ornament Story
In August of 2007, I was asked to paint an ornament for the White House Christmas tree, representing Sequoia National Park. My first thought was “Shoot! Another freebie!” I was told an invitation to a reception at the White House would come with the ornament, and I thought, “So? I have to pay for that too!” My friend Lisa told me I would be nuts to turn this opportunity down, and Michael said he’d be happy to come to the White House with me. So, I began painting. 
At the time the call came, I was working on a painting of Sequoia trees in the snow. I got a few little ornaments and tried the same design on one in acrylic paint, but it dried way too fast! I tried oil paint on another, and that worked well. Eventually, a large shiny gold ornament arrived. It looked like glass, and I was afraid of dropping it. I put layer after layer of white paint on it, carefully handling it as if would break, because if that happened what would I do?? During one of these layers, my thumb dented the thing a little bit and I realized it was plastic! That took a load of worry off my mind! When it was finished, my neighbor Robin came over to take photos of me holding it so that the size would be evident.
You can see this is no ordinary ornament – it was big, which made it much easier to paint than my little practice ones! There was a little difficulty about the reception because no date was given and reservations needed to be made. We painters were given a fax number to send any questions, so I sent a note asking when the reception was and how tight the deadline for mailing the ornament was. As I was frantically trying to program in the fax number so a response could be received by my fax machine, the phone rang. “Cabinart, this is Jana”, I answered. “This is Bob at The White House”, came the response. “Hi Bob,” said I, ever so casually. To be continued. . .
The Peppertree Art Show
This was my third visit to the Peppertree, and sadly, this is the last one. It is my guess that Trace Eubanks, the organizer, will come up with a new idea because he has so many contacts in the art community and so much experience putting a lovely show together. When Marilyn and I arrived, we noticed a woman sitting outside the art barn with a complicated knitting project. Of course we went straight for her and made friends immediately. Her husband, Barron Postmus, was showing his oil paintings inside, and he came out for a break. What nice people, and what an amazing knitter Jane is! Finally made it inside, and were shuffling along with the crowds, oohing and ahhing. We came across one painter’s work in particular that wowed the socks off both of us (a little Knitter Lingo), and it was Barron’s work! Wow, wow, wow! http://www.barronpostmus.com/ Also, I finally got to meet the fantastic painter, Niles Nordquist from Escondido. His work also knocks my socks off, and it is my hope that one day he will conduct a workshop in his studio or nearby. I gave him a business card so he might feel sorry for me and offer to help! (that was so very brave of me – you must see this man’s work! http://www.nilesnordquist.com/ ) There were many many others showing their work, and one of my favorite painters is Denis Milhomme, from right here in Three Rivers. His work was there, but he was not. I talked him up to anyone that was looking at his work – such a nice guy, I wanted to sell something for him! http://www.settlerswest.com/artists/Denis_Milhomme.html There were people there taking photos of paintings and sculptures, which surprised me a great deal. I had always thought that was bad manners, but perhaps the rules have changed. The artists were all so accommodating about answering any questions. Nonetheless, due to my earlier training in etiquette, my camera stayed in the car. We had a great but fast trip, mostly without incident. There was that one unfortunate dyslexic mixup with the GPS that had us going south instead of north, but we had a steering wheel and knew how to use it. And, a great mystery was solved when we discovered that the GPS tells the driving speed. Turns out that if I want to go 55, I need to see 59 on my speedometer. 65 requires 69, et cetera. Is that why people always tailgate me??? Good grief, how embarrassing! The photos below show the entrance to the ranch where the show is held, and the last one is a view on the drive home. Don’t worry, I only aimed my camera while driving but didn’t put my eye on the view finder. (formerly known as the Eyehole until I got educated by Mike’s Cameras!) 
Arts Visalia
Nice reception on Friday night, lots of folks, new and old friends, artists and art appreciators, and beautiful work on display for sale! Here was my big thrill of the night:
Doesn’t my art look hot like this?? I just about busted with pride (look out – here comes a lightning strike!) And, there was only one package of my new Christmas cards left – yippee ki yay! However, for years I have been saying it is all my friends and relatives who buy my work because they feel sorry for me. So, there I am, all flippin’ excited that my cards are almost sold out, and the Lovely and Gracious Pauline, a long-time family friend, tells me my Mom bought a big pile of them! See? Told ya so! Thanks, Mom, but you KNOW I would have given them to you!!!
An Art Show and A Commissioned Piece
I will be attending the Peppertree Art Show this coming weekend, Lord willing and the creek, et cetera. This will be the last ever Peppertree. It is a huge privilege to visit this show, to see the work and meet the artists. To learn about it, go here: http://www.peppertreeartshow.com/ 
Meanwhile, remember this piece? It embodies many of the principles followed in my art business, particularly the commissions. 1. Take your own photos. There are many little parts to a subject, and unless you really know the subject, you won’t know which little parts are necessary until you begin drawing. 2. Real life is messy and artists get to clean it up. 3. Plan, sketch it out, try different arrangements, and have your customer approve the plan before beginning the picture. 4. Communicate with the customer. This customer has been very gracious about allowing me to put this giant project (3 18×24 collages) on hold while dealing with other urgent and inflexible deadlines. 5. If I can’t see it, I can’t draw it. Whenever possible, work from photos printed on photographic paper rather than plain paper. I want the sharpest clearest photos possible, and the older my eyes get, the more necessary this becomes. 6. Add the color last, after the piece has been spray fixed so that the graphite doesn’t smear. (yes, I know there is no color in this yet)
Exeter Exposure
This is the Downtown Gallery in Exeter, California. Isn’t it cute? And it was very very well attended last night – took me a long time to be able to take this photo without folks walking past! See my painting of oranges in the front window? Those little scenes beneath it are also mine. The unfortunate thing is that I had to climb in the window with my back to the audience to arrange things. (Sorry, Ron, Nina, Jim, and Patty!) I talked to many people whom I had not seen since my studio was in downtown Exeter, and met some new people. Events like this are mostly for the purpose of exposure, to remind people that I still am making art and teaching drawing. My paintings, reproduction pencil prints and cards will remain at the gallery through the month of December, and then Cousin Chris and I will decide if this is a good location. (His wife and my husband are cousins, so I enjoy calling him “Cousin”!) Tonight is another meet-and-greet, this time at Arts Visalia, which is in (bet you can guess!) Visalia! I’m trying not to hyperventilate at the thought of 2 consecutive trips down the hill. Nikki the weaver and candle maker will be with me – this means I won’t be practicing the Christmas musical at the top of my lungs. (Try to be polite if you witness this phenomenon while encountering me on the road.) Anyway, this is the reception for Arts Visalia’s Holiday Art Show & Sale, which runs until December 20. It is open to the public, of course, and goes from 6-8 this evening. From the looks of the postcard, I think there will be a wonderful assortment of beautiful affordable items for gift giving. (this includes some little fruit/vegetable paintings by me, but remember all the citrus is in Exeter) The address is 214 E. Oak Avenue; phone 559-733-0905; eddress – artsvisalia@sbcglobal.net; hours Wednesday-Saturday Noon – 5:30.
A tradition
The Annual Christmas Open House in Exeter, California, is one of the nicest December traditions around our area. Businesses in downtown Exeter stay open late on Thursdays in December. The first one is the busiest, and it feels so old fashioned to walk the main street of a small town when it is bustling, lit up, and includes carolers and a carriage! I will be at The Downtown Gallery, 179 East Pine Street. This little framing gallery is alongside The Book Garden, which is connected to Exeter Flower Company. Come say hello and if you are lucky, maybe you will get to see Boo Kitty too! 
Lacking a photo of Boo, we’ll have to settle on Zeke today!