Sister Grace!

I just wanted to toot the horn of my sister's band called Sister Grace! They are a Christian all- girls band that also includes Tina Swindell, Whitney Hubbs, and Stephanie Fenton along with Carole Foret, my twin, who plays drums for the band. They have glorified God with their music in so many ways and to so many people seeking to hear His word through the joyful noise they make. This cd pictured above is their first release, and they will be working on their next one in the coming months that will include more upbeat music from the likes of Donna Summer and the disco era. Read below an email from one of their newer fans!

For your beautiful voices!!! - I listened to your CD all the way to work today and just now getting this email off to you TO SAY "THANK YOU" FOR THE MUSIC!!!!

I WANT TO TELL YOU THAT…

- I LOVE YOUR SONGS AND YOUR VOICES

- YOU ARE SO TALENTED AND THE MESSAGES IN THE SONGS ARE SO GREAT!!!! SO POWERFUL!!! SO MEANINGFUL!!!!

- PRAISE THE LORD AND I THANK HIM FOR ALLOWING OUR PATHS TO CROSS!

- I LOVE YOU GUYS!!! AND I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD TO HEAR YOU!!! WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO YOU PERFORMING AT THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY'S SURVIVOR DINNER, ON FRIDAY, APRIL 4TH, AT MAYFAIR CHURCH OF CHRIST FELLOWSHIP/GYM. WE ARE EXPECTING OVER 600 ATTENDEES!!!!!

TINA KNOWS ME SO WELL AS WE HAVE BEEN FRIENDS FOR SO MANY YEARS AT NASA - AND YES, WHITNEY - I'M SURPRISED OUT PATHS HAVE NOT CROSSED BEFORE NOW…. BUT, ANYWAY….I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT WHEN I AM DOWN, FEELING LOW, AND NEED A PICK ME UP - I PUT ON AN ELVIS CD…. (MOST OF THE TIME GOSPEL) AND NOW I LISTEN TO YOU GUYS…. WELL…. YOU RATE RIGHT UP THERE WITH THE MAN!!!!

I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT YOU PUT A SONG IN MY HEART, A SMILE ON MY FACE AND A "TEAR" IN MY EYE - WITH YOUR MUSIC. THANKS AGAIN FOR MAKING "MUSIC TO LIVE BY"

LOVE YOU. BENNIE

Buy their CD from their blog! You won't be sorry!

Idol Stuff!

OK, are you into American Idol? I have become a huge fan! I love that it's a way for those who might not otherwise ever have a chance at becoming a recording artist to catapult them into the industry. I love the competition and seeing classic music mentors coach the contestants. Anyway, all of you who enjoyed Paula Abdul in the 90s can see her just released song and video featuring her and Randy Jackson on base. Click the video to play!

Happy Birthday, Patsy!!!

We got to share in the great celebration of Patsy Stinchfield's birthday party Saturday night! What a fun time at Dixie's with the band "Power of 10" who sang some great party songs from the 70s. We've been to hear Boogie Wonderland with Randy and Patsy before as we love our 70s music. Anyway, just a few snaps. Julia Adams joined Tom and me to the party. See us and then see Patsy breakin' it down on stage, then the lovely ladies of the band. Fun night! Thanks, Stinchfields!

SPOTLIGHT ON...

... Renee Cardoso Frisch! She has been producing some really colorful compositions this painting workshop. She has a signature style with this grid and loose swirls of color within each square that is the background to her painting. Then she paints something on top (in this piece, Genesh, a Hindu god who is part elephant and part boy). I love how whatever her subject matter it is somewhat chamoflaged in the background, and after further study and engagement, one sees the image. She first did a huge Volkswagen Beetle for her first piece (30x40"), and it turned out spectacularly!

Renee has this peice for sale! Size 20x20" acrylic on canvas, $600

Contact her via email at: rcfrisch@comcast.net for more info!

Way to go, Renee!!!

Our Rosemary Beach Experience!

What a fantastic time we had a Rosemary Beach last weekend! I brought 2 of my friends and painting students, Kirsten and Julia, from St. Paul down to the panhandle of Florida for a most fun Women's Getaway Weekend event put on by the wonderful Kim Jameson and Kathy Kemp. Carole, my twin sister, brought her band Sister Grace girls, Tina, Stephanie and Whitney and friends, Julie, Marcia and Leslie. We stayed in a beautiful home given to us for the weekend by a couple from Montgomery, AL. Thanks to them!!! This event draws women from all over the country, and it is to raise money for Caring and Sharing. Enjoy the photos below!
(Blogger somehow messed up the original post and did away with all photos. Here are more photos - out of order, but at least they're up!)

Julia, in her dress she found at Saint Tropez in Seaside, FL! Yes, it looks GREAT! (I'm painting this as we speak!) Painting here!

Rosemary details of great architecture...

Mrs. Kim Jameson's cool bike and personalized tag!

Julie, doing her bench thing!

Kirsten, doing her bench thing!

Julia, doing her bench thing!

Sister Grace, doing their bench thing!

Carole, shopping the sidewalk sale at Saint Tropez! (Check out my blog for a painting of this!)

Dark shadow, me!

Rosemary main street early Sat. morning. We ate at Penzione's the night we arrived - AWESOME FOOD! We ate well everywhere we went...

All of us ate lunch at Cafe Rendezvous - delicious!

My turn to do the bench thing!

All the awesome painting students and their work! Way to go!!!!

Leslie, hard at painting...

The short-haired women's club!
Carole, Kim, and me!

Sister Grace in our beach shoot at sunset!

Mrs. Leslie sporting our weekend t-shirt featuring my "Bathers" painting!

Our first step out onto Rosemary Beach!

All of us except Kirsten and Julia after we arrived!

The early bird "Writers in the round" event with 4 of Nashville's promising great women singer/songwriters! They gave a most enjoyable concert each sharing several of their songs. Great event!!!

Jenn Schott, one of the songwriters!

Off..

... to Rosemary Beach, FL for my show and workshop with Carole. Back late on Monday. Will have new work and fun stuff to show sooooooooooooooon!

Be well, all!
Claire

What, for YOUR special Valentine?!

Give your man a gift he'll never forget!  He will LOVE having a book of images of you to cherish for a lifetime.  Here's the deal:

Boudoir Package

100 images

private online gallery

coffee table book of 50 images

$595

Schedule now up until Feb. 7 to get your book in time for Valentine's Day!

LET'S LIVE HIS DREAM!

Happy Martin Luther King Day!
(painting I did for my husband 5 years ago!)

SPOTLIGHT ON...

Gay Belkin! Gay just started painting with me this fall and is doing wonderfully. She is tackling a pretty tricky image to paint that is this swimmer as she just dove into the water, so there are bubble effects in the water, various amounts of light, various colors of blues and greens in the water.... She has really done a super job! I love her contrast of light and darks portrayed - such richness she has achieved with those colors. She has also stayed quite loose in her brushstrokes, too. Great job, Gay!

Be the First!

... to get your cool C and C Workshop t-shirt! They are now on order and will be ready and available at our Rosemary Beach Workshop Feb. 1. Reserve your size by emailing Claire (claire@clairekayser.com). The shirts are super cute and simple with our slogan "tap your creativity, feed your soul...") on the front, and our green block logo on the upper back. Shirts are "girly cut," meaning fitted, and come in S, M, L and XL. 100% cotton! Cost is only $20 - $18 for workshop students! Limited number available!

CAROLEANDCLAIRE.COM is live!

Check it out!

Jori!

I had a shoot with a beautiful, smart, sweet young woman - Jori! She's the daughter of one of my painting students, and I had the opportunity to shoot her today before she goes back to Hamilton in NY! Today was about 5 degrees outside where we first shot some pics. Gorgeous blue sky - we've had lots of cloudy days lately. Winter and snow can be a fun time to shoot! Then we shot inside their beautiful home. I loved the more relaxed images of her in the kitchen. Thanks, Jori! You were so much fun to work with!

Become a FOLLOWER!

Hey All!

Just wanted to alert you to something you could do if you're interested. That is to become a follower of my blogs. All you need to do is to scroll down and look on the right side column and go the follower section. Click that and just follow the link. Hopefully, you will think my blogs are cool and something you want to see with some frequency. I don't know - maybe not. I would love to know who looks at my blogs anyway. I have the "follower" link on both this blog and my painting one. It won't send you any unsolicited emails or anything like that. If YOU have a blog, you can put this feature on your blog for others, too, as it's great for networking among bloggers and sites. Let's trade followership!!!!

Thanks!
Claire

Happy Birthday, David!

Today is my other brother David's 45th birthday - same age as Tom! I wish him many more happy years and wish I could hug him and hear him say,"I'm glad you got to see me!" David always was "mean" to Carole and me growing up, and he still has his ways!!! ;))) As years have gone by, I've realized how much like my Dad David really is in personality and character. He shows his love by picking on you! Go figure! Took me about 30 years to realize he really loved me instead of hated me. He's a great big brother!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!
He'll never see this post as I'm sure he's never even visited a blog before. He's probably out in the woods somewhere hunting or perhaps on the golf course as the weather in Athens, AL has been quite balmy for January (70s!).

NEW LOOK!

I've been making changes to my site lately, first going with a black background last month. This morning, I've been trying to have my site's splash page reflect what I do - both painting and photography - by having those 3 blocks look nice, classy, cool - all at once! Take a look, and tell me what you think! Better yet, click to it!

NEW SITE MUSIC!

It was hard not putting Michael Buble's "Everything" back after the Christmas music as the main song on my website, but I feel like I need to put something new just in time with the new year. I've discovered a new artist that I've really liked so far - Paolo Nutini! I found his song on Blu Domain's site as a sample. I'm really excited to have found more contemporary music as I tend to be stuck in the 70s sometimes. I love my 70s stuff tho! My site's first 2 songs are Paolo's. Check it out!

NEW DAY FOR PAINTING WORKSHOP!

I have decided to do a Thursday morning painting workshop along with my Tuesday morning one in order to accommodate more great students! Here's the schedule:

WINTER PAINTING WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
Tuesdays and Thursdays
10am-12pm
Tues. Jan. 8 - Feb. 12, Thur. Jan. 10 - Feb. 14
Bring supplies
I'll have coffee and snack
FUN!!!!
$295

Please let me know asap if interested in the Thursday morning class. Tuesday is FULL.
Email me!

Thanks!
Claire

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Hope everyone rang in the new year with lots of joy and happiness! My twin sister Carole and her daughter Sarah were still in town to celebrate with us along with our friends the Lynchs, Peter, Tracy, Matt, and Erin. Tom made a wonderful meal for us all - gumbo, smoked brisket, pulled pork, the Lynchs brought Lisa's yummy salad and Tim's delicious chocolate cheesecake and raspberry sauce. Yummy!!! Here's a pic of the adults.

I wish everyone a very happy, prosperous 2008, and hope to see you soon!
Claire