Come See My New Blog

  Rather than posting on 2 blogs, I think it would be more realistic to focus my attention on my NEW PAINTING blog.  Please come and visit my Daily Painting Site.  I will concentrate my efforts on painting, and try to scale down all the other "irons" I have in the fire.  I love lots of things, but to be practical, I can only devote myself to the one I am the most passionate about.   Thanks for visiting Roxy, but please come on over to my other blog and see what you think..... it's http://www.sandyhaynespaintings.blogspot.com


and Thanks for your Support -Sandy Haynes

Playing Catch Up

Haven't posted a blog entry in quite awhile... not on THIS blog, anyway.   I've been preoccupied with my painting blog, and I have to paint everyday, in order to get a posting ready for that one.  I've neglected this blog, and for that I'm sorry if I've left some of you 'hanging'.       Now that the holidays are over- getting back to the routine of things around here.   Back to the exercise aerobic dance class, and the tap class that I love so much.   I've let the treats and snacking get out of hand, so I've got to get serious about thinking about watching the food intake a bit...  Parties, including the one for my BFF who just retired from 35 years of teaching, have relaxed my discipline when it comes to watching my diet.   Back to the routine, to eat better, and not so much.   
     Tracey left for graduate school in Arkansas, and is going to get a teaching degree for secondary English.  Hope she enjoys teaching as much as her mother !  Hope she can find a job, too !  Jim and Ted are still as active and involved as ever.  Jim has his business running, where he does marketing and internet services for his clients.  He really loves what he does, and works hard at getting new clients, too.  He and his cousin, Christopher work together with businesses, supplying their computer needs.    Ted is working hard at Heritage, along with the Yemm clan !  He travels some, and when he's at home he's such a fantastic dad !  He takes over when Di needs a break, and is so great doing things with the girls...   He's a 'natural' !!  Bus has been so great helping out with all the Christmas decorating, while I've been hiding away down in the studio, painting.   He not only puts everything UP- both inside and out, but he also does the dreaded, "Take Down" of all the decorations, too.  He truly is the 'Christmas Boy' at our house.   He's been off from golf for a couple of weeks, due to the cold and snowy weather.   He did plan on going on the golf trip with his buddies again this Feb.  They always have a fun week of golf, and eating, and just basic fun ~  I've decided to take on the job at supervisor to 2 student teachers this semester from UMSL.  I've not done that before, so I hope it's fun- visiting the classrooms and helping to advise the new teachers on some of the finer points and pitfalls of running an art classroom...   I'm going to take part in Visitations 'fine arts day' also, with my firned, Sue Lorenz.  She has several of us teach classes on that day, one is my sis, so that's always a fun time for all of us, getting together.  Well, I'll post some artwork here, too, maybe not the same paintings that are on the other blog, but I'll try to write a bit of art philosophy, and maybe about other stuff on this blog, too.    Stay tuned,  I'll try to be more proactive from now on !!

P A I N T I N G S---daily, or almost !

I've been posting daily paintings for over a month now on the sandyhaynespaintings blog.  It's been an adventure, and very fun. It takes a certain amount of discipline to post each day, but that's the joy of it, too.  Kinda like exercise.  Just do it, as the Nike commercials say... and you might be surprised at the results !

Maxine's book signing

Here is Maxine, my friend from exercise and dancing, signing her recent book, Missouri's Wild Mushrooms.  It's a beautiful book, which is a guide to hunting, identifying and cooking the state's most common mushrooms, by Maxine Stone.  It includes 24 delicious recipes, too !!
     The book is available at the Botanical Gardens shop and amazon.com. 

     Maxine is the past-president of the Missouri Mycological Society and serves on it's board of dierectors.  She is a passionate mycophile (someone who is fascinated by mushrooms), and loves studying and teaching mycology.   She is a Master Gardener with the Missouri Botanical Garden and is on the Master Gardener Advisory Board.  She is also a Master Naturalist with the Missouri Department of Conservation and is on the board of directors.

More cherries...

As lots of daily painters do, I've come to realize that when you work with a subject matter, generally you want to do several paintings, due to their size.   Here is my 6 x 8 painting in oil of the second composition, using my complementary scheme of the green apple and red cherries...

Daily Painter? we'll see.....

After not having posted in what seems like "forever", I've decided to try my hand at a series of paintings.  The last paintings that I did were uber realistic portraits,and I enjoyed doing them.  I've been determined to loosen up my style, though, and possibly through a daily (or close to daily) regiment of painting exercises I will be able to that.   Here is the first posting of a 6 x 8 oil on board entitled, "Cherries Jubilee"

Mini Loaves today !

I woke up early ( about 3:45) this morning, and decided to start baking... ( A habit I got into years ago when I had trouble getting back to sleep)  So, this morning I decided to do the mini loaves and try a few new types of quick breads.  (Love the Walnuts).  I made a zucchini with walnuts, cranberry with orange, and carrot walnut, too.   They each had a slightly different consistency, and one of the types took about 10 minutes longer to bake.  I just had to share my newest discovery.  I love this Baker's Joy cooking spray with flour in it.  It enables you to have breads and cakes pop right out of the pan, and NEVER stick !!  That way always something I hated.  Just when you have messed up the entire kitchen, and have been waiting for an hour to bake something, I T   S T I C K S  to the bottom of the pan, and half of it rips off when you try to get it out !!!   NOT with this spray.... IT'S   FANTASTIC !  (I sound like a commercial)  If you like to bake, give it a try !!

F.L.O.R.I.D.A.- 2010

My friend, Jackie, and I went to Florida to visit our friend, Judi recently.  We loved Palm Beach and the view from the condo of the water... The weather was amazing, and we had a delightful trip up to Jupiter to visit one of Jackie's friends.  As it turned out, she was a former teacher at the school where I taught for almost 25 years, so we had a lot of mutual friends, as well.    We took a great boat ride on a tour of all the famous people's homes in Jupiter, on the water.   Homes of Olivia Newton John, Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, Burt Reynolds, Perry Como, and many others were amazing to see.  We spent several days on the great beach in Palm Beach, and had some of the best food anywhere.   A wonderful shopping area called, City Place, is a "must see" if you visit West Palm Beach.   Judi enjoyed our visit, and was a gracious hostess, as usual.  We had a delightful time on our "all girl" trip.  !!  fun, fun, fun !