For this Christmas post, some Anderson Artists Guild members share memories of favorite art-related gifts: Debbie Bzdyl: The gift that comes to mind for me is the oil paint set my grandmother gave me for my birthday. I think I was about 14 or 15. Before that time I mostly did pencil sketches. Oil painting opened up a whole new way to express myself! I remember setting up my table easel and paints on her front porch and working through one of the step-by-step paintings in the

I’m usually on a budget with my art business, but I’ve learned that the best materials and papers aren’t cheap. (In fact, my favorite watercolor paper for commissions runs about $13-$15 per sheet.) So, for as long as I’ve been creating watercolors, I’ve used a technique that I learned in college: work in standard sizes. Working in a few standard sizes does a few things to cut down on a framing budget: If you have a piece framed that you don’t love, you can use the frame for

The Anderson Artists Guild held its annual Christmas party on Dec. 10 at the Anderson Arts Center. The event featured entertainment by The Accidental String Band, a potluck dinner, a gift exchange, and a drawing for a $50 gift certificate from Cheap Joe's and for the poinsettias that adorned the tables. And President Diana Gilham announced that the guild made over $500 from the recent Artisan Market, thanks to donations of artwork by our members.

The forming of The Accidental String Band, as its name suggests, “just sort of happened,” said Jackie Dolby, who joined the group nine years ago. Two of the guys who were playing together on Main Street in Greenville called to a friend walking by to go get his mandolin, and Dolby was invited to practice with them during a later encounter at a store. On vocals is group leader Doug Dorman, who retired as the vice president of human resources for the Greenville Hospital System.