October 2007 Newsletter - Maureen McNaughton Arts Inc.

Dear painting friends, It has been a very long time since my last newsletter to you, and I thank you all for your patience. Our family has had many ups and downs this past year as you all know, but I think we are starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you for all your letters of support and encouragement. How lucky are we all to have painting in our life? Pick up a brush and before you know it, the outside world slips away and it is just you, your brush and your painting - getting into “the zone.” It is the best form of mental therapy and even doctors are recommending painting to their patients. You really do forget your troubles when you are painting, don’t you?

PACKET SALE!!!!!!!
To thank you for your patience in waiting for this newsletter I would like to give you a 10% discount on all of your packet purchases until November 30, 2007. Vikki and I have been adding new packets to the website since the last newsletter. And now there are an additional eleven packets that we have just put on the site. 726 Sweetheart Calla Lilies	#729 Fuchsia Card - Pay It Forward A "pay it forward" card is usually not signed. When you receive one, it is because the sender recognized that you were in need of what the card represents. You keep the card until you meet someone who needs it more than you, and you pass it on. I was truly inspired when I received these beautiful wood card blanks designed by Janet Andrews from Coyote Woodworks in Canada.
EN FRANÇAIS Thanks to the translation skills of Hélène Jean I now have five favourite packets available in French - #641 thru #645. Packet #679 will be available in French at the end of October.

OCTOBER 25 - 28 Design Theory We’ve just had a couple seats open up for this seminar so hope that you may be able to join us. I am working on many different flowers, leaves, fillers etc., so that you will have lots of options when it comes to learning design placement. Everything has been planned colour wise, to go together so all you have to work on is planning your own designs on your own pieces. They may even inspire you to come up with your own flowers. I've had such a response from the butterfly project that we did in colour theory, that I decided to base this design course with a similar palette.
Register online today


UPDATED 2008 AND 2009 TRAVEL SCHEDULE Vikki has just posted the updated schedule for my travel teaching for the next two years. Check it out - I may be near you. Just to entice you, let me tell you the wonderful places where I’ll be for the first 6 months of next year:
January 25, 26 & 27 Home to the Heartland Seminar at SDP Offices in Wichita Kansas Contact: Janelle Johnson Telephone:316-269-9300 ext 104 E-mail: janelle@decorativepainters.org	February 8-10 Illinois Heartland Decorative Artists Contact: Cynthia P. Embry Telephone: 217-446-3237. E-mail address is spiritbrite@aol.com
February15-17 Tole Country 2440 Frank St., Eureka, CA 95501, USA, Contact: Shirley Ruchong Telephone: 707-444-8808 E-mail: ruchong@humboldt1.com	March 8th,9th,&10th Pennsylvania Pa Mountain Laurel Chapter Contact: Terri Bryan Telephone: 570-368-3136 E-mail: Terbryan@cs.com Second Contact: Barb Johns Telephone 570-584-2677 E-mail: popspainter@chilitech.net
March 14, 15, and 16 Nation's Capitol Chapter of SDP (Washington DC area) Contact: Erika Somers Telephone: 703 533 1002. E-mail: RICKI11@cox.net	April 9 – 13, 2008. Coast To Coast Show in Mississauga Ontario Canada Contact: Audrey DeJong E-mail: audrey@shadesofcountry.com
April 25, 26 and 27 The Duluth Area Brushwackers Inc. (Minnesota, Wisconsin area) Contact: Contact: Beverly Merritt Telphone is 218-724-8693 E-mail: doveseye1@peoplepc.com	May 24 - 25 Pre SDP Convention Seminar in Tampa Contact: Janelle Johnson Telephone:316-269-9300 ext 104 E-mail: janelle@decorativepainters.org
May 27 - 31 Society of Decorative Painters Tampa Convention www.decorativepainters.org	August 11 - 16 Heart of Ohio Tole Convention Telephone: 614-863-1785 E-Mail: hoot626@worldnet.att.net

HOLIDAY CARDS Many of you have asked for cards with my paintings and so I thought, what better time of year to try something new?! There are two each of the seven different designs -14 cards with envelopes for *just $16.95* US.
Give this set of cards as a gift, or use them yourself for your holiday greeting cards - or gift cards on that special gift.
	What a wonderful gift to give, and even more so to receive!!! Treat a fellow painter (or yourself) to a shopping spree on my website.

This will be just a short newsletter as I have so much painting to do, but wanted to touch base with everyone and hope to be painting with you all soon. As usual, I’ll finish the newsletter with some painting tips and quick recipes.


From Jeanie Barbee When applying gesso to a canvas for an eggshell finish use an old credit card to smooth the gesso over the surface. One thin coat let dry, second thin coat let dry then sand. If you want a smoother surface repeat the process. With the credit card to smooth out the gesso there will not be any brushstrokes you have to get rid of. I use this technique all the time for my fine art pieces. I like to use clear gesso so I can add paint in smaller amounts to the gesso for a background hue.	From Marcia Martin I was recently getting ready to teach a painting project in which I needed to transfer the pattern to numerous surfaces. Not wanting to have to trace my pattern more than once, I layed a piece of waxed paper over the tracing before I used my stylus to transfer the pattern. Doing this allowed me to transfer 20 patterns without tearing my original tracing.
From Sandy Scales I use Hand Sanitizer to not only clean brushes, but also to take paint off clothes and counters. Because it is such a thick consistency the alcohol in it has a chance to dissolve the acrylic and not evaporate away as quickly as rubbing alcohol. When I try to figure out brush sizes for strokework packets that I have chosen to reduce, I slip the reduced pattern into a heavy-weight clear plastic sleeve. I squirt out a puddle of hand sanitizer (Purell or similar) onto the plastic sleeve. I load the brush in the hand sanitizer and experiment with various brush sizes by pulling strokes onto the plastic sleeve with the reduced pattern showing through until I find the brushes that are suitable for the reduced size. The hand sanitizer cleans the brushes of any residual acrylic paint and allows me to work out the brush sizes in any room of the house without the fear of getting paint on my furniture.
RECIPES
From Sharon Brown -Hi everyone, this is Yummy!!! PASTA DELIGHT 1 pkg -500 gr pasta bow tie shape 1 /2 bottle basil pesto sauce ( I found it in the spaghetti sauce area in Sobey's) 1/2 tub Ricotta cheese 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese Some grated or slices of mozzarella for the top( optional) Finely chopped garlic ( I used 3 garlic sections) Finely chopped celery, peppers , onions-- whatever you like that is crunchy 1 - 28oz can of diced tomatoes Put pasta on to cook Meanwhile stir fry all veggies and garlic in a bit of oil or butter Add canned tomato and let simmer When pasta is cooked drain and while hot add pesto, ricotta and parmesan and coat all pasta so cheeses stick. Then add simmered tomato sauce and top with mozzarella. Put in oven or micro long enough to re- heat and melt cheese on top.	From Cathy Vanrooy LEMON CHEESE BARS 1 deluxe yellow cake mix 8oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened 1/3 cup sugar 1 tsp. lemon juice 2 eggs ½ cup oil Mix dry cake mix with 1 egg & oil until crumbly. Reserve 1 cup for topping. Put remaining mixture into ungreased 13×9” pan. Bake at 325̊F for 15-20 minutes. Beat cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and egg until smooth. Spread over baked layer and sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool and cut into bars.
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