Happy Anniversary to the Bluebonnet Chapter, located in northeastern Texas, which will be celebrating its 30th anniversary this month. An anniversary luncheon will be held for the group on Saturday, April 30, in Arlington.
If you are attending SDP’s Conference and Expo in Tampa and are concerned about the walk from the Hyatt Regency or Wyndham Harbour Island hotels to the Convention Center–don’t be. Both hotels are served by a network of downtown trolleys that will pick you up at the hotel and drop you off at the Convention Center. The trolley system also provides convenient transportation to many of the points of interest in downtown Tampa, as well as Old Hyde Park Village for shopping and dining, Publix Grocery store and Florida Aquarium. So don’t worry about lugging your painting supplies and projects to and from the Convention Center, just hop on a trolley. Fare is 50 cents. (Be sure to have exact change!) Check with your hotel staff for pick-up and drop-off locations and hours of service.
• Seminar Ten Commandments
Submitted by Jackie Nowak, Penn’s Woods Painters
1. Thou shalt come to class on time.
2. Thou shalt remember to wear thy nametag.
3. Thou shalt leave all worries behind.
4. Thou shalt not have a cell phone ringer on in class.
5. Thou shalt not put thy brush in thy coffee cup.
6. Thou shalt not whine.
7. Thou shalt bring delicious food for lunch.
8. Thou shalt not talk when the teacher is talking.
9. Thou shalt remember it takes fewer muscles to smile than frown.
10. Thou shalt have fun!
• Show Your Chapter’s Colors!
The 2004 Conference banquet marked the debut of the Chapter Banner Parade. The parade was so successful that it is now a tradition! Any chapter with members attending Conference can participate, so plan now to include your chapter in the fun. Here’s how it works:
- Assign a member of your chapter to bring your chapter’s banner to Conference.
- The banner-holder will need to store your banner in his or her hotel room until banquet.
- Bring the banner to banquet on Saturday night. All participating chapters will be asked to come to one side of the stage with their banners.
- One by one, chapters will parade their banner across the stage, stopping at the microphone to share brief information about their chapter, such as location, year of affiliation, number of members, etc.
- This is not limited to one member per chapter. If a chapter is represented at Conference by several members, they all may participate in the parade.
Remember, on anniversary years, all banners are displayed at Conference. The next Conference that will feature a banner display will be the 2007 Conference in honor of SDP’s 35th anniversary.
• New Product Evaluator
A new chapter position will be introduced at the Chapter Gathering in Tampa. The title will be New Product Evaluator (NPE). The person in this new position will act as liaison between the chapter and businesses. Businesses and teachers will indicate whether they wish to participate in the program, and if so, will provide contact information. The NPE will then be able to contact those businesses that participate in the program for new products to demonstrate to the chapter members. If you are unable to attend the Chapter Gathering in Tampa, watch for more details in the next Happenings and future Decorative Painters.
• A Wonderful Seminar … and Great Desserts
Paula Saubert, wife of SDP Executive Director Mike Saubert, made two delicious desserts for participants in the first Home to the Heartland Series workshop.
The first seminar in the Home to the Heartland Series, presented April 1-3 at SDP Headquarters in Wichita, Kan., was a resounding success! Mary Jo Leisure MDA, TDA was a wonderful teacher, and the students, who came from all over the globe, were delighted with their projects. As one of the charter members of SDP, Mary Jo also gave us a history lesson about the Society during a demonstration of her fabulous blended stroke rose.
Many of the students took the opportunity to sign up on-site for the Gretchen Cagle CDA seminar, which will be held October 14-16, 2005. If you are interested in attending this seminar, sign up now while there is still space available.
The students also enjoyed the fabulous desserts that were provided by Executive Director Mike Saubert’s wife, Paula. Paula was gracious enough to share those recipes with us. You will have the chance to meet Paula at Conference, so say hello and welcome her to the SDP family.
Lemon Squares
2 sticks of butter
3/4 cup of powdered sugar
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
Melt butter in a 9-by-13-inch pan. Blend the flour and powdered sugar, then mix the butter into the flour and sugar mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
6 Tbs. of lemon juice
4 eggs
2 cups of sugar
4 Tbs. of flour
Combine flour and sugar together then add the eggs and lemon juice. Whisk this until well blended. Pour over the crust and return it to the oven to bake for 20 more minutes.
Cool, then cut into squares and cover tightly. Refrigerate. Dust with powdered sugar when completely cool.
Note: I use fresh lemon juice … a little less than 1/2 cup, about three small lemons. Flour is about 1/4 cup. I also re-dust the bars with powdered sugar right before I serve them, if needed.
Four Layer Delight
First Layer:
1 cup flour
1 stick oleo
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Melt oleo in a 9-by-13 pan. Combine flour and pecans with the melted oleo and mix to form dough. Pat into the bottom of the 9-by-13-inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Allow to cool completely.
Second Layer:
1 cup of Cool Whip
1 cup of powdered sugar
8 oz. cream cheese
Beat the cream cheese until smooth then add the powdered sugar. Fold in the Cool Whip. You can add a little more of the Cool Whip if it is too stiff. Spread on the cooled crust. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
Third Layer:
3 cups milk
1 small package of instant vanilla pudding
1 small package of instant chocolate pudding
Blend and beat until thickened. Spread the pudding mixture on the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate for a few minutes.
Fourth Layer:
Top with the remaining Cool Whip. Garnish with grated chocolate or whatever you like.
Note: To lighten up this recipe, use light cream cheese and Light Cool Whip.
• Fund-raising Idea: Basket Bingo
By Anne Niemeyer, Ohio Heirlooms of Tomorrow Society
Members of the Ohio Heirlooms of Tomorrow Society prepare baskets for their Basket Bingo fundraiser.
Want a great way to have lots of fun, promote decorative arts and support the community? Try Basket Bingo! Our club, the Ohio Heirlooms of Tomorrow Society, based in Wapakoneta, Ohio, has been holding a basket bingo event for four years and has begun planning our fifth.
A joint effort with the Ohio Northern University football team -- whose major philanthropy is the Special Olympics -- a basket bingo begins with the purchase of a variety of collectible Longaberger Baskets. Club members each fill baskets according to individual themes such as “Pampering” or “Letter Writing.” Included with the goodies in each basket is a handpainted decorative item to add a personal touch.
On the day of the bingo event, we raffle off several handpainted items such as gourd trees, decorative wooden boxes, etc. This year we also auctioned off a few Longaberger items during breaks between bingo games. We also set aside a separate display on bingo day to showcase examples of decorative arts from our many very talented members! Members of the ONU Football team call the bingo game, parade the individual baskets and auction items around the playing hall, aid any Special Olympic athlete in attendance who might need help playing bingo, sell tickets and refreshments, and generally bring lots of fun to the proceedings. Several thousand dollars are raised, allowing us to send a sizable check to benefit our area Special Olympics, while keeping a portion to help promote the decorative arts in our area. Past donations to promote decorative arts include school arts programs, art mentoring projects and purchase of arts books for the public library. We can’t think of a better way to promote decorative painting while having great fun and giving back to our communities!
• From our Friends in Australia
By Karin Parson, True Blue Decorative Artists
Founding members of True Blue Decorative Artists posing with their cars which have personalized decorative artist tags and wheel covers hand-painted with their chapter logo.
We are very excited about being a new chapter of SDP and have had what we think is a great response since we started late last year. We have 29 members. We have just added another classification, "Joeys" for children up to 18 years of age, to encourage the younger people to take up our craft. There seems to be a lot of interest in this concept.
We have been lucky enough to have just had Jill MacFarlane teach two one-day seminars here in Melbourne. She was visiting friends and posted a message on Tole Friends that she was coming -- so we took the opportunity to arrange two workshops with her. What a great experience for us all down here. With permission from SDP, she taught her "Angel" piece that she is teaching in Tampa and also her Santa from the 2004 Phoenix Conference. What a generous, giving person Jill is.
We had an Open Day fund-raiser at Karen Brouwer's home to launch True Blue Decorative Artists on February 26 and raised $300 for Cystic Fibrosis from gate takings. We had free mini-workshops, children’s workshops and an art exhibition.
We are holding a painting conference on August 26, 27 and 28 in Moama -- this is a town on the border of Victoria and New South Wales approximately 200 km. from Melbourne. We have some very well-known Australian artists teaching - Karen Brouwer (a founding member), Carolyn Ballantine, Lindy Clarkson and Leanne Milhano CDA, just to mention a few.
Something else you should know about us: we have a male president. He is my husband Phil who has had a lot of experience in running meetings and administration of other groups, partly because of his association with Special Olympics here in Melbourne and also with his work.
• What Makes a Chapter President?
Writing a job description for Chapter President can be challenging. Bruce Thompson of Wisconsin Turp ‘n’ Stein in Waukesha, Wis., has kindly provided his chapter’s job description for president so you can see how his chapter handles this officer’s duties. All of the officers in Turp ‘n’ Stein wrote their own job description, and you’ll have a chance to download more of these in future issues of Chapter Happenings.
** Click here to download the Chapter President description. **
• Chapter Spotlight
By Diane K. Clore, Western Colorado Decorative Artists
These are just a few of the chairs painted by members of the Western Colorado Decorative Artists for the Chair-i-ty Chairs for Hospice fundraiser.
Western Colorado Decorative Artists chapter was formed in 1972 as Colorful Colorado West Tolers. We changed our name a couple of years ago to reflect the more recognizable "Decorative Artists.” We are a small chapter with 31 members and about 17 of those members are very active. We still manage to do about 40 memory boxes each year for St. Mary's Hospital here in Grand Junction, Colo. Another project we have taken on for the last few years is the Chair-i-ty Chairs for Hospice event.
Artists around the valley paint donated chairs and then give the painted chair to hospice. They are auctioned off in the fall as a fundraiser for hospice. Our members have painted about 11 chairs in the past two years. All the chairs we have painted have been sold!
One of our members, Eva Vivian, is a charter member of our chapter. She moved to Grand Junction in 1967 and joined the chapter in 1972. Eva had only one daughter who is deceased but has a granddaughter (who paints) and two grandsons. She still comes to meetings and paints with us . . . and paints beautifully. She started painting in oils and still prefers that medium. When talking with her she said she will paint in acrylics in class and go home and put oil on the painting. She is the inspiration for everyone in the chapter to just keep painting.
Another one of our members, Cammie Hammer, had a son in Afghanistan and painted a big, beautiful Poster of Roses in honor of fallen soldiers.
• Hosting a Successful ‘Learn to Paint’ Program
By Linda Biedermann TDA, SDP Recording Secretary
The Buffalo Snowbird Decorative Painters hosted a “Learn to Paint” (LTP) event in November 2004. Sixty complete novices, ages 9 to adult, attended. The students were divided into two groups identified with either red or white nametags. There were six painting stations set up, three red and three white. Each group was further divided into smaller groups of 10, who then rotated through three stations. This allowed each new painter to go home with three successfully completed painting projects! This article is based on my participation and the report of event Chairperson and skillful organizer Heather Dambmann.
1. Appoint a chairperson to seek out volunteer teachers with experience teaching beginners. Heather organized a committee, including six teachers, and held a meeting. The teachers brought ideas for simple, inexpensive projects that could be taught in less than an hour. Each teacher should recruit a helper to come with her to the event. About four additional volunteers should also be recruited to assist. Be sure to exchange phone numbers and e-mail addresses to facilitate your work.
2. Select simple projects. The projects we selected may provide ideas for your chapter:
- Stick roses on a red paper gift bag with a sponged background.
- Small picture frame, basecoated, sponged and then decorated with a simple stroke design.
- Black cardstock bookmarks decorated by swirling iridescent paint into flower shapes.
- Small clay pot, basecoated and then decorated with painted leaves and cotton swab berries.
- Small wooden plaque, with easy strokes for flowers and leaves.
- Snowman ornament on wooden cutout.
These projects allowed the students to practice tracing and applying a pattern, basecoating and trying different techniques. Each teacher provided a pattern and written instructions so the students could repeat the project at home.
3. Set a date and reserve a location. Churches and recreation centers often will rent a hall for this type of activity. Ask chapter members to make inquiries and find out the costs involved. You will have to limit the number of guests based on the accommodations, as well as the number of volunteers and teachers. For a group of 60, you will need a location with ample space for 20 tables, plenty of chairs and access to a kitchen. The Snowbirds rented the basement activity hall of a church where they had previously painted a mural as a community service project. Be sure to contact the location near the time of the event to insure the needed tables and chairs will be available and to arrange entry to the facility.
4. Start promoting the event to chapter members at each meeting and in your newsletter.
5. Obtain supplies. Many of the supplies needed will be donated if you plan far enough in advance. DecoArt and Dynasty brushes kindly donated the paint and brushes needed for this event. The brushes were saved for a future event, and the paints were divided among the attendees to encourage them to keep painting. The teachers themselves provided things such as disposable cups for water, and other supplies were obtained at a discount because one of the teachers worked for a craft store. A suggested supply list is included at the end of this article.
6. Plan your classroom set up. The Snowbirds set up each teacher’s station with three tables in a U shape. The teacher taught from the base table, and the students were seated at the side tables of the U. Half of the tables had white tablecloths and half had red tablecloths. The tables were numbered with signs indicating 1 through 6. A table was set up for registration, with the nametags laid out in alphabetical order. Additionally, there was a varnishing table where a volunteer demonstrated varnishing, both with a brush and with a wipe-on varnish. (Students were provided with a disposable glove and a rag dampened with the wipe-on varnish, to varnish their completed pieces.) Snacks, such as apples and granola bars, and coffee and soft drinks were set up on a counter along the side of the room. Two tables along the back of the room were set up with an “art show” of decorative painting pieces supplied by the teachers and volunteers.
7. Plan your schedule. Here’s a suggested schedule based on the Snowbirds’ experience:
8:00 a.m. (or, if possible, the night before): Teachers and volunteers arrive for set up. Try to be ready by 9 a.m. for early arrivals.
9:30 a.m.: Registration, coffee, seating guests at correct tables
10:00 a.m.: Introduction of teachers, directions to rest rooms and fire exit given, day’s plan announced, then start of first session
11:00 a.m.: Announce end of Session 1. Invite guests to have drinks and snacks, look at the art show, then move to next table.
(NOTE: During half hour breaks volunteers clean tables, refresh water and empty water buckets, and collect the brushes and clean them.)
11:30 a.m.: Start Session 2.
12:30 a.m.: Announce end of Session 2 and invite guests to have refreshments and/or bring their Session 1 piece to the varnishing table.
1:00 p.m: Start Session 3 with a short talk to the group to explain the Society and invite them to join the chapter, then have teacher start final session.
2:00 p.m.: End Session 3. Guests may stay to varnish pieces as desired. Teachers and volunteers begin clean up.
8. Invite new painters to your event. At least one month in advance, publish a notice of the event in your chapter newsletter. Ask members to invite their non-painter friends and family (8 years-old and up), but explain, that due to space limitations, they will not be able to attend with them. Set a deadline for registration. Include a registration form that can be filled out with names, addresses and phone numbers. This will help to insure the names are spelled correctly on nametags, and provide information for follow-up after the event. Distribute extra copies of the form at the next chapter meeting. Chapter members should call a designated person to register those who accept the invitation. Ask chapter members to call the people that they register and remind them of the event a few days before it occurs. Be sure to ask about any special needs that guests may have, advise them to wear comfortable clothing, tell them briefly what to expect and that only snacks will be provided.
9. Prepare nametags and handouts. Thirty white nametags and 30 red nametags were prepared for the 60 who registered. In addition to the name, each nametag was labeled with the order that students would go to painting stations (123, 231, 312, and 456, 564, and 645). There were 10 of each sequence. The nametags eliminated confusion and helped students rotate easily to their stations.
“Goody bags” were prepared to give to the students as they registered. They included a copy of a back issue of the Decorative Painter (obtained from SDP headquarters), an application for SDP and chapter membership, business cards and information on how to contact the teachers for further classes, and a large piece of freezer paper. (Students wrote their name on the freezer paper and placed it on the floor along the wall or in an adjoining room. As they finished each project, they stored it on the paper. No one lost their pieces or got them mixed up! They also used the “goody bag” to carry home their dried, finished pieces and their share of the donated paint.
10. Review the plan with teachers and volunteers. About a week before the event, teachers and other volunteers should meet to insure they are prepared, and to work out any final details. Ask volunteers to plan to stay long enough to insure the facility is properly cleaned up and left as it was found. Expect that some will be “no shows” and be prepared for last minute additions that may come in and want to fill the spaces.
In summary, the key to a successful event, is planning and organization! I hope that your chapter has an incredible member, like Heather Dambmann, who will get started on planning a LTP event. YOU CAN DO IT! It was extremely rewarding to hear people exclaim, “I can paint!” Every person stayed to complete three projects and left smiling.
Suggested Supply List (Adjust amounts according to group size.)
Surfaces: Limit to $1 each, if possible, ask chapter members for donations or assistance purchasing with an employee discount.
Brushes: Contact brush companies at least 4 months in advance.
Paints: Solicit help from “helping artists” in the chapter, again 4 months in advance.
Other painting tools: Such as rose sticks and cotton swabs.
Written instructions for each project
Table signs
Snacks: For example, apples, granola bars, small packets of chips, coffee cake
Coffee, creamer, sugar, soda, water
Paper goods: Napkins and cups. Cups can be used for clean painting water, as well as drinking.
Plastic table clothes
Freezer paper: Used for palettes, as well as a place to dry paintings.
Paper towels
Graphite paper
Sticky-backed name tags: Two per person. Use different colors or different colors of lettering to separate groups. Have extras for people to label their goody bags and for last minute additions.
Indelible ink pens: To label freezer paper with names.
Large buckets for used water disposal
Large garbage bags
Small plastic bags: Tape one to each table for trash disposal.
Dish washing liquid or brush cleaner
Moistened wipes: For emergency cleanups or hand cleaning.
Brush-on and wipe-on varnish
Small cotton rags
Sealable plastic bags: For storage of varnish rags between uses.
Large paper bags: For “goody bags”
Printed information about teachers, chapters, etc., and a magazine, if possible.
• Chapter Snapshots
The Tri-State Peachy Painters of Dothan, Ala., enjoyed food and fun as they learned how to paint a church on sheet music. The event was taught by Latrelle Wartman.
Photo submitted by Angel Riendeau.
