Little White Church

This charming church is a historic building on the same grounds as our church, the Annandale United Methodist Church. Both are on Columbia Pike Road, but the "Little White Church," as we call it, is at the end of Gallows Road. It has a long history and from what I've read, several creative and unsubstantiated claims as well.

The original Annandale Methodist Episcopal Church on this site was built in 1846.

During the Civil War, Union Troops used the church grounds as a camp following the 2nd Battle of Bull Run.

During this time, the church services had been moved to a private home. 

Later, in 1863, Army Officers stayed in it for a while before it was dismantled to build winter quarters for Union Troops to overwinter.

The frame and clapboard church seen today was actually built by Thomas Walker, between 1868 and 1870.  The first public school classroom in Annandale was located in the basement of this building in 1880.  In 1907, a belfry, pulpit and vestibule were added at the cost of $50. A year later the Ladies Aid Society donated the bell for the steeple. It can be seen on display along the sidewalk on Columbia Pike. This bell was Annandale's fire alarm. I tolled for the last time on VJ Day. It was removed twelve years later because there were concerns that the weight was too much for the belfry to support it.

On November 8th, come tour the Little White Church and see my watercolor (18" X 24"). I will also have small prints ($15 + tax) for sale at the Annandale United Methodist Craft Bazaar, which would make great gifts for the history lover or Annandale native in your life.

My Month of September Paintings

I was really excited about doing the 30 in 30 challenge in September. I planned ahead and was much more prepared than I had been when I spontaneously committed to the challenge last January. I saw no reason why I would not succeed.

Instead of reading all of my reasons why it didn't work out so well, you could just go read Lillian Connelly's post at It's a Dome Life. She pretty much wrote what I had planned to. I did not fall ill during the challenge, but life definitely got in the way. School begins after Labor Day where I live, so that coupled with EVERY organization that I participate in having meetings, board meetings, etc., etc. AND beginning September 10th my daughter got a part in a musical that rehearses 17 miles from our house (read 45 minutes in DC traffic) and you can see that I needed to have painted far, far ahead to make this work out. I did paint in my car a few nights, but to be honest the novelty of that wore off quickly.

What good things did I learn?

1. I experimented with some fancy sample watercolors that I had been wanting to try.
2. I learned that my children may be teenagers, but I am not in a place in my life where I can take "a month off" from my job as COO.
3. Beating myself up about not completing the challenge is just silly. Leslie said it was supposed to be fun. When it quit being fun, I knew I had to reassess.
4. I need to paint more often that I have over the summer. The only good thing about super cold weather is fires in the fireplace and the desire to stay inside to paint.

Besides the 30 in 30 challenge, I did paint a large commission painting in September. (Yay me!) I've also done some work on a large piece and some jewelry pieces for a show next month. I had a big clearance sale of some prints too. Sometimes, I just want to do too many things in a finite time period.

I hope that you enjoyed seeing the works that I did paint. Thank you to everyone who clicked "like" on my Facebook page and especially to those that clicked "share." The more people who see my work, the more potential there is that someone will fall in love with a piece and make it their own.

Congratulations to Jennifer Cantu who won my contest connected to the challenge. I was not surprised that she was randomly selected as the winner, because she faithfully shared so many of my posts with her friends!  I do not know which painting she will end up choosing, but if you have your eye on one, you better snap it up on my website ASAP!