Am I imagining it or did January and February just fly by?! I’ve been so busy taking care of our house and family things (with a little bit of knitting, weaving, and sewing thrown in) and Steve has been very busy with YouTube and Patreon videos, video classes, and live videos. His four part Strathmore class on spontaneous watercolor painting is now available on the Strathmore YouTube channel, and Steve will shortly post the class videos to his Mind of Watercolor channel. Please keep checking back for those videos. Steve also created a four session course for Etchr that debuted in November 2023 entitled “Mastering Watercolor Landscapes.” You can find this course at Etchrstudio.com, along with his past workshops.

We’re very pleased to share with you that Steve was awarded an Honorable Mention for a spontaneous landscape painting he submitted to the Splash 25 Art Competition this year. That painting, along with the other winners, will be displayed in the upcoming The Best of Watercolor magazine, which will be available in bookstores some time this summer. This annual magazine is presented by Artists Magazine and American Artist. We are grateful to be a part of this prestigious collection.

As always, if you happened to have missed any of our January and February videos that were posted for all viewers on YouTube, here they are with a list of links to them all.

You will also find the additional links to exclusive content on Patreon (only accessible if you’re a Patron). If you’ve not become a Patron yet, please consider supporting this channel and receiving additional, helpful content.

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We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. It’s hard to believe 2024 has finally arrived. Looking back at November and December of last year, we see all the joy and blessings we’ve had. We celebrated Thanksgiving with our children and grandchildren at the home of our third daughter and her husband. What a wonderful time of food, games, and great fellowship we had. Christmas Eve brought the family all back to our house for an exciting evening filled with laughter, gift opening, a bountiful buffet of treats, and enough kisses and hugs to go around. God bless us every one!

If, during all your travels and celebrations, you happened to have missed any of our November and December videos that were posted for all viewers on YouTube, here they are with a list of links to them all.

As usual, you will also find the additional links to exclusive content on Patreon (only accessible if you’re a Patron). If you’ve not become a Patron yet, please consider supporting this channel and receiving additional, helpful content.

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August and September brought back-to-school shopping for grandchildren, wrapping up the garden for the most part (except for the endless peppers and a new planting of lima beans), driving kids here and there, and the never-ending yard work.

I took a solo trip to Phoenix to visit my youngest sister and her husband, and met up with my other sister and mother for a small family reunion. We had a glorious time in Phoenix with 100+ degree temps, but remember, it’s a dry heat. Hehe.

Steve spent a lot of time working on several videos for an Etchr class that will debut soon, while doing his best to keep up with his regular YouTube videos. When you get a chance, check out his class that Etchr is now advertising.

If you happened to have missed any of our August and September videos that were posted for all viewers on YouTube, here they are with a list of links to them all.

As usual, you will also find the additional links to exclusive content on Patreon (only accessible if you’re a Patron). If you’ve not become a Patron yet, please consider supporting this channel and receiving additional, helpful content.

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June and July just flew by at our house. The warm weather and welcome rain produced a bumper crop of vegetables, and all the work that goes with putting them up. While I was busy, Steve was faithfully making and uploading some enjoyable videos. We also celebrated our 44th anniversary with a weekend away at Old Salem in Salem, NC.

One of the highlights of June was meeting up with Emily Olson, whom some of you may already be familiar with. She joined us at Biltmore House in Asheville,NC, which is one of our favorite local places to visit and do a little plein air painting. Emily flew solo from her Denver, CO home to collaborate with us on a couple of videos. While she was staying in North Carolina, she made some lovely additional videos during her mountain hikes. Later, Emily visited us at our home in South Carolina where she and Steve had a delightful time recording a fun video of their watercolor “Personalitrees” contest in his studio. Emily is truly a dear, gentle heart, and we’ll always remember her visit fondly. (Please check out her YouTube channel at Emily Olson Art.)

July brought our annual Independence Day family gathering, games, and fireworks display. The grandkids ran around entertaining themselves, and everyone else, with their sparklers. Then came more gardening, videos, and in a blink the month was over.

If you happened to have missed any of our June or July videos that were posted for all viewers on YouTube, here they are with a list of links to them all.

As usual, you will also find the additional links to exclusive content on Patreon (only accessible if you’re a Patron). If you’ve not become a Patron yet, please consider supporting this channel and receiving additional, helpful content.

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This year May brought not only flowers, but a few guests, too. My mother and sister traveled from Iowa to visit for a week, and my nephew, his wife, and three boys visited for a couple days as they were passing through from Missouri to the South Carolina coast. And it just so happened they were all here at the same time! So we had people on the spare bed, couches, and multiple inflatable mattresses on the floor. And as my Dad used to say, we all sounded like hens in a henhouse. What a joyful noise filled with family love. Surprisingly enough, Steve managed to get some videos made that week, even with all the kerfuffle happening around him. Now THAT’S dedication! Or maybe he was trying to get away from it all. Either way, mission accomplished!

If you happened to have overlooked any of our May videos that were posted for all viewers on YouTube, here they are with a list of links to them all.

As usual, you will also find the additional links to exclusive content on Patreon (only accessible if you’re a Patron). If you’ve not become a Patron yet, please consider supporting this channel and receiving additional, helpful content.

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March came in like a lamb and out like a lion this year, at least for us. For many of you it came and left like a fire-breathing dragon! April then brought us early flowers and plenty of gardening. That’s why I’ve combined our March and April recap into one this year. I’ve been pretty busy all during the month of April planting something or other. Most of the veggie garden is now finished and we have a brand new flower garden outside our gate. Needless to say, while I was busy preparing our gardens, Steve was busy creating fabulous videos to share with you all.

If you happened to have overlooked any of our March or April videos that were posted for all viewers on YouTube, here they are with a list of links to them all.

As usual, you will also find the additional links to exclusive content on Patreon (only accessible if you’re a Patron). If you’ve not become a Patron yet, please consider supporting this channel and receiving additional, helpful content.

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From Punxsutawney Phil’s prognostication, to flowers and chocolates and blizzards, February has been a very busy, full month. I know many of you were hit hard with storms and snow this month and I wish I could have given you some of our Southern warmth. I, Rita, (Steve’s wife) was raised with Iowa cold and blizzards. I don’t mind missing out on them now.

And if you’ve missed out on any of our February videos that were posted for all viewers on YouTube, here’s Steve’s videos with a list of links to them all.

No exclusive Patreon content this month. We’ll have more in March, so stay tuned!

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Last month we ushered in year 2023. Hard to believe we’re over 1/5th of the way through the 21st century! I remember when we thought “2001, a Space Odyssey” was in the distant future. It’s amazing how quickly time gets away from us.

And in case time has gotten away from you and you’ve missed the January videos that were posted for all viewers on YouTube, here’s the list of links to them all.

You will also find the additional links to exclusive content on Patreon (only accessible if you’re a patron). If you’ve not become a Patron yet, please consider supporting this channel and receiving additional, helpful content.

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Ho ho ho! We love to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, our only hope of glory. And we hope you all had a very, merry Christmas season, too! As we decorated the house, we were also able to post some great videos.

In case you’ve missed the videos that were posted for all viewers on YouTube for the previous month of December 2022, here’s the list of links to them all.

You will also find the additional links to exclusive content on Patreon (only accessible if you’re a patron). If you’ve not become a Patron yet, please consider supporting this channel and receiving additional, helpful content.

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November seemed to fly by this year on a fast downhill to December. We hope all of you enjoyed a yummy Thanksgiving dinner and maybe a little football. We have so much to be thankful for and it’s good to count our blessings at least once a year.

Because we gave some special love to our Patrons this month, we posted just two videos for all viewers on YouTube for the month of November 2022, here’s the list of links to them both.

For you Patrons, we did something special to kick off the month of November. We provided several helpful videos just for you. Make sure you check them out (only accessible if you’re a patron). If you’ve not joined Patreon yet, please consider supporting this channel and receiving additional, helpful content.

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