This was my first year to be asked to attend, as a selling artist, at Bee Tree Pottery’s Christmas at the Cabin. I was so thrilled and honored to be asked by my friend Tom Wintczak who is a well known potter locally and nationally. This was the 13th Annual Event and I had the most wonderful time with Tom, his wife Ruth and another woodcarver artist Richard Hitch. Let me tell you all about it.

You may recognize Tom’s name. I’ve shared in past blog posts bits about Tom and Ruth, their gardens and also their roll in sharing insight into the early American way of life at various historic events such as Heritage Days, etc.. You may even remember the painting I did of Tom as a raven. You can see Tom’s website here.

I’ve got lots of pictures and video to share of Christmas at the Cabin. Let’s get started.

Tom had a really nice iron tree for all my new Christmas ornaments I’ve recently painted. As I look at these photos and think about what I’m about to write, I realized I haven’t even shared on my blog my new Christmas ornaments. They’re so pretty! So bright and cheerful, they remind me of a Candy Christmas. I kept thinking of Candyland while I painted them. If you follow me on IG or Facebook then you might have seen me painting these.

Shelves full of pottery and paintings.

We had a wonderful door prize, a collection of things from all three of artists totaling over $100! It was winner takes all! If you’re wondering, I donated a small original blue organic abstract (not shown).

Below is the video of us drawing the winner.

Starting out, the shelves were full of treasures. They quickly got emptied. These photos were from Thursday afternoon during set up, so no one had had the chance to shop yet. The event started Friday and lasted through Sunday and by Sunday at 4 when we closed the doors things were quite picked over and tables were a bit bare.

Christmas at the Cabin

I caught a photo of Tom sweeping the barn floor. We had a mishap earlier. Richard Hitch, the woodworker or wood carver I’m not sure what he likes to be called, had brought many of his carvings in boxes with those Styrofoam peanuts. Well, if you’re local then you know we had those crazy storms ramping up (which unfortunately led to many fatal tornadoes the next night – my prayers are with KY). It was pretty windy as we were setting up Thursday and blew one of his boxes over spilling those light weight peanuts everywhere! We were all down on our knees picking them up. I’ll bet Tom will be finding those out in the yard for a few months to come. Hah.

There was art everywhere! It really was quite beautiful, the rustic wood with bright and colorful paintings and pottery. The baskets were used for shopping baskets. Tom has unique nature treasures everywhere you look, this was truly a feast for the eyes.

Here’s a better photo of my ornaments for this year. Colorful and fun, right? They were perfect on this iron Christmas tree Tom lent me. The light hit them and they just greeted you with happiness the moment you walked into the barn. I’m hoping to get these listed in the shop, well what’s left of them. Did I mention I had a chiropractor appointment because of these little guys? bleh. Well, not just for these, but my neck was screaming for days after I painted 24 of these.

Christmas at the Cabin

Now we’re entering in another room of the barn. This is where woodcarver Richard Hitch was hanging out. He had a comfy spot with a heater . Sunday he carved a bit and the heat warmed up the shavings making it smell amazing in there. Richard has been selling his carvings for years at Christmas at the cabin. I particularly loved the polar bears and a sweet little otter. I also had my eye on a giant bird feeder that had copper on it but he sold it, both of them actually! You can just see it in the photo below on the far right in the other room of the barn. I did end up with a sweet little bluebird house.

Isn’t this barn magnificent? I’d love to have a barn just like this on our property. Below is some of Tom’s Early American framed Fractur paintings. They’re really beautiful. Not only does he draw and paint the fractur, but he makes and hand stains the frames to get the most unique textures using a turkey feather.

Below you can see Richard’s heater. He was glad to have it Saturday and Sunday. My colorful paintings liven up the room, don’t you think? See the wooden Santa Clauses? I think all of those sold out and most of his carved ornaments hanging on the tree. He also sold a carved duck, one of his more intricate and more expensive pieces. Someone’s getting a really nice Christmas gift this year!

After reading all about this special event, now I want to show you some video. Warning, it’s a bit long. I took video of everything. But hey, it’s really fun so give it look.

Christmas at the Cabin

Although I keep talking about Christmas at the Cabin, I keep showing you the barn. Unfortunately, I forgot to get any photos of the cabin! But I did get video and you can see it below.

At any rate, Christmas at the Cabin turned out to be one of my best shows ever as far as sales go. I have to admit it was the most fun, too. Happily, I’ve been asked to return next year! So, the second weekend (Fri., Sat. & Sun.) of December 2022 we’ll be doing it for the 14th Annual Christmas as the Cabin! Yay!

If you’d like to make sure you get an invitation just sign up for my email list and give me your mailing address. You know how social media is, we see less and less of the things we want to see and more and more advertisements. I know the platforms need to make money, but it seems heavy handed on the ads. Also, most of our email boxes are quite full and it’s easy to miss the electronic invitation I send. So make sure you’re signed up to never miss an invite!

Next year…

If you made it to the show, thank you! I was so happy to see you. For 2022, I think I’ll be doing Funk in the City again and that’s in May and October. I’ve got a lot of exhibits in the works, with the first one being January at Alexandrian Public Library. I’ve still got a couple of paintings up at Jenning’s Street Public House and they’ll be there until the first week of February. I’ll chat more about everything lined up soon.

One more thing, calendars are available in my shop! Yay! They are beautiful. Be sure to use the promo code for $5 off a calendar just for being a reader of my blog, thank you! The coupon code is CAL22 and it should work for as many calendars as you purchase. These do make nice gifts. I buy several myself and give as gifts. Oh and if you want one of the ornaments, let me know which one. I’m going to make a video of what I’ve got left and post it in a day or so.

Enjoy the season. Much love, Jaime.

⬅︎  2022 Art Calendar Available

Learn more about me on the ‘About’ page under the additional links menu. I’m an artist – a painter mostly and an avid gardener. I paint a variety of subjects including birds, koi fish, my gardens, ponds and flowers as well as anything having to do with nature especially trees and tropical scenes. I also enjoy painting abstracts and have started created more and more of them. My most favorite thing to try to achieve in my painting is is mystery and telling mystical stories.

If you would like to keep up with what I’m doing, I have a newsletter e-mailed about once a month that gives you special status for invitations, birthday greeting and more. I’d love for you to add your email to my Friends and Collectors list!