Winter blast 2008...

is good for making cookies.

Hot Stuff!

2 posts in one day! Unheard of.
I've been sewing potholders lately. It all started with this book. I love the faux chenille ones, and they're so quick and easy. I hope to make some more for holiday gifts. I mean, who doesn't need a potholder?

Nature abstract

Acrylic on braced luan

I painted this the other day in a frenzy to produce something to fill a blank spot on our bedroom wall. I gathered some leaves and pine cones while out walking Vinny and used them to start drawing shapes. It's rare that I paint something with our house in mind. I usually like to have other people's art up in the house, but can't afford any large pieces.

Abstracts are not usually my thing, but it's growing on me..

Around the corner

I keep passing this corner when I walk Vinny. I wish I could find some wet cement to draw in and watch it fill with moss.

5 minutes a day...

I jumped on the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day bandwagon a few months ago. Thus far I haven't veered off the basic recipe. I ought to try some of the wheat bread soon, but I guess I haven't tired of white bread yet. I've been known to eat a half a loaf right out of the oven with butter and honey (gluten anyone?).

The basic recipe is also really versatile. Aside from free form loaves, you can make sticky buns, pizza dough and dinner rolls with it. I'm still not certain how they calculate the 5 minutes... but it is quick and easy. Not to mention that simply knowing I can whip out some sticky buns at the drop of a hat makes the world brighter.

It's starting to get cold outside

Pillow Talk

I am so excited about these pillows! I'm excited because it's my first project using freezer paper stencils which was so easy, and I'm excited because it's the only thing I've finished in the past 6 months.
We got this uber masculine Ikea couch this summer which I love, but it was in need of a feminine touch to balance it out. Vinny has taken our former couch pillows out of commission, and so I wanted to make some large comfy pillows that could easily be washed.

I drew out some plant silhouettes onto freezer paper using some cuttings from our eucalyptus tree for inspiration.

Then I used an xacto knife to cut out the design and ironed the freezer paper (shiny side down) onto the grey cotton canvas fabric.

I used Jacquard textile paints to fill in the stencil. I wanted something bright against the grey, so used 157 Flourescent Violet and 105 Scarlet Red.

I let things dry overnight and then peeled back the paper and ironed over the print on the reverse side to heat set it.

I know it's only a matter of time before Vinny claims these as his own, but I'm trying to reason with him.

Yes!!

Yes, we have old bananas!

I only like to eat bananas when they're green. If they're not firm, I like them blended up with milk and cinnamon, like a licuado from my Mexico City days. When they get past licuado stage, it's time for banana bread.

This is the 2nd or 3rd loaf I've made from the Bon Appetit Cookbook, I checked out from the library. It's the perfect recipe. Super quick and easy. The bread is sweet, but not too sweet and always comes out moist and perfectly formed. It even tastes better after a few days. The recipe makes 2 loafs:

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups sugar
1 cup solid vegetable shortening ( I use butter.... ymmmmm butter)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
1/2 c buttermilk
3 cups mashed very ripe bananas (about 6)
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter & flour 2 9x5x3" metal loaf pans. Mix flour, baking soda & salt & set aside. Beat sugar, shortening (or butter), and vanilla in large bowel ( I use my Kitchen Aide mixer). Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well in between. Mix in flour alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions each. Stir in mashed bananas & nuts and divide batter between prepared pans.

Bake until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool loaves completely in pans on rack. Remove from pans. Wrap loaves tightly in foil & store at room temperature at least 1 day and up to 3.

Yea... I've gone as far as 5 days, but I'm wild like that.

Moccasins!

These moccasins are a birthday gift from my mom. They arrived today and I couldn't wait to put them on. Never mind that my birthday isn't until next month. I'm not one for waiting. I've been wanted a nice pair of comfortable moccasins for ages. I saw these in a shop in Sun River, but they didn't have my size. I ordered these from Minnetonka Moccasin online shop. Yea, ok my mom handed me her credit card, but that's just how we do gifts sometimes. I was originally going to go with a pair with the thunderbird beaded design. My husband (and sometimes fashion advisor), let me know that they looked like something a 50 year old housewife would wear and to go with the plain red ones instead.

My apologies to any 50 year old housewives who read my blog. Personally, I don't consider that description to be a negative, but he's been questioning my 'taste level' since we started watching Project Runway. I decided to heed his advise this time and have no regrets. Since I scaled down my shoe addiction, I no longer have a red pair, and these are so versatile and comfy. Thanks mom!

One can never have too many moccasins, so I do still see a pair of these in my future. Maybe in pink or yellow for Spring?

angry goat people

I sat down to paint today for the first time in months. I was drawing on this left over block of poplar wood and kept erasing ideas. It went from bathing beauties to these funny looking goats with angry expressions. Eventually some of the underlying drawings merged together and the goat faces became people in a park. These photos are part of the same painting, but for some reason, when I shoot the whole thing, it's blurring, but detail comes out clear? I hadn't used acrylic in a while. I had forgotten how the quick drying time allows you to draw over things. The result is a sort of sketchy drawing/painting, which I like. I feel like I should have gotten more painting accomplished today, but I ought to be happy that I did anything. Maybe the goat people will lead to something. Baahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Prince and the Pea

Our cat Sebastian is in love with his brother Vinny. He took over Vinny's dog bed to be near him, and forced Vinny to the couch. Now he tries to snuggle with Vinny on the couch, so Vinny found a new perch atop three pillows. He likes to be comfortable and who can blame him really?

Err Where Did August Go?

Hard to say really...
It went swimming quite a bit.
It took a trip to the Oregon Coast.
It took an awful lot of naps and walks in the park.
It read some good books and watched some movies.
It went to the State Fair!
It didn't really make much in the way of art, but September is here now and I've got big plans. BIG PLANS I SAY!

Smoothies all week!

Friday we went berry picking at Kruger's Farm on Sauvie Island. At first we were a bit hesitant to pick a lot because we're not really jam makers and I'm not sure how many blueberry pancakes and boysenberry crisps I can eat. I can drink a smoothie however. In fact, I can drink one every day. So, we picked with the goal of having smoothies every day for a week. I may need to work on my food photography. I don't think the yellow table helps... but this morning's boysenberry, raspberry yogurt smoothie is delicious!

Tuesday!

Yep it's Tuesday. Now that I work 4 days in a row per week, Monday is the hump day. After that it's a breeze.

Here's a new encaustic painting. This one was done a little differently. I painted some of the flowers with oil paint directly on the wood, and then fused a layer of clear encaustic wax down. Then I painted a few more flowers in oil paint on the wax layer, and fused another layer of wax, etc etc. I like the way the oil paint goes on the wax, and then certain colors sort of break apart when you fuse wax on top of them. There are some cool effects to be had and I may try it with portraits.
24 x 11" encaustic & oil on braced birch wood panel. SOLD

Fuegos Artificiales

Lastnight was obviously the 4th of July, but also the one time of the year that I was able to play with the 'fireworks' setting on my new camera! I love the blurred effect and soon realized I was watching everything through the camera instead of in real life. We took a lot of pictures, but will only display 5 here, lest you all already have digital cameras and tired of the fireworks setting back in 2000. Likely, since I tend to run 8 years behind technology.

After a good bbq and some street corner fireworks (pictured above) in SE, we stopped on the Morrison bridge to check out the city display. I usually avoid downtown during the 4th, but it was pretty cool to see hoards of people stopped on the bridge looking up at the sky and oohing and ahhing. If we do it again, biking is the way to go.

Moonflowers

12 x 12" Original Encaustic painting on birch plywood.

I've had 2 encaustic paintings in the works for some time that I wanted to finish up today. This is the first one. I'm really happy with the darker background with the light yellow oil paint rub over the top. These particular flowers look lunar to me, thus the name. The 2nd is drying before I can add more wax, but nearly there. Both will be in my shop soon.

In other (totally unrelated) news, I've decided to stop using shampoo again. Thick, curly hair reportedly does better without it. I went without before for a time, and noticed good results, but then started shampooing again for some reason that I can't recall. The only problem is you have to go through a grease ball phase first while your hair adjusts. Time to break out the headbands..

Goodbye June

I can't believe today is the last day of June. It's been busy with relatives and a new dog. I also painted our living room twice and we held a mildly successful garage sale. Those professional RV- garage sale folks are a little intense in their quest for guns, ammo and antique military memorabilia.... Sadly we couldn't accommodate any of their initial requests, but did send them away with a cast iron dutch oven. Which reminds me, I've got to order these for camping this summer!

And the picture? That's Mt. St. Helens. I grew up in Oregon, but only went there for the 2nd time last week. It's spectacular. I still recall sweeping up our driveway on the coast, collecting ash from the explosion to save in tiny jars. I don't know what became of my jar. I wish I had it now. I would use it to launch a curiosity collection. Burnt toast in the likeness of deities and such...

2 days at the Beach

We just returned from 2 days at Rockaway Beach. The sun rarely comes out for me when I visit the Oregon coast. We packed winter coats and expected to be bundled up inside this time, but the weather turned out perfect.

Our rental was right on the beach and perfectly cozy. After the back deck with the fantastic view, the next best feature of the house was the kitchen. Eggs cooked in a pink pan on a pink range, just taste better.

Vinny proved himself to be a great beach dog and even smiled for a photo!

Vinny keeps an eye on things

We've had Vinny for a little over a week now. I'm loving taking him for walks, but at home he can get a little restless. Yesterday I tied three leashes together and set him up on the front porch so he can wander in the house and out to the sidewalk freely. He immediately chilled out. Vinny likes to keep the neighborhood in check and watch the skateboarders. He's a porch dog.

Hummingbirds

9 x 9" oil on oak floor tile
Here are some hummingbirds I've been working on for my mother in law. I still need to coat them with resin. I hadn't painted birds for a while so it took me a while to get back to it. I love birds, but I seem to enjoy painting humminbirds more than any other kind. They can be so colorful and strange. Now that they're finished, I think I'll work on some more birds for the shop.

It's a Boy!

I think we're welcoming a new member to our family today. Monday I was taking a nap after work and Shawn woke me up to say there was a pug on the Humane Society website and they were open for another 20 minutes and did I want to go visit him. We'd been loosely keeping an eye out for a small dog, and so in a sleepy haze we went to visit. He's a sweet one, though a bit out of shape (he and I both...) and with a skin condition that hopefully can be cleared up with a good diet. His name is Baylee (pronounced Bailey) and I'd hate to change since it's been his name for 5 years, but I guess it's all in the tone right? We'd like to name him Vinnie, though I figure we could also get away with 'Bay Leaf' pretty easily and he might not detect a difference.

It's Pie Day!

Some dear friends are getting married today and celebrating with an evening bbq, and we're bringing pie. Shawn's strawberry rhubarb is on the left and my apple is on the right. This is his 2nd strawberry rhubarb pie in a week and if it tastes anything like the last one, it's delicious. I loathe forming upper crusts, so opted for the heart cookie cutter crust, which seemed appropriate. Both recipes are from the Joy of Cooking. I venture away to more exotic cookbooks but always come back. Their basic pie crust is really the best.

It's in the bag

Well, instead of finishing the paintings I've started, I launched into another one this weekend, so no finished projects to share just yet- though I think I'll show some works in progress later..

I wanted to share this photo of some small paintings I shipped out a while back. I rarely buy prepared surfaces or canvases for painting, and instead lean towards painting on what I have on hand. When I started making small paintings to sell on Etsy, they were all on these nice wooden blocks a friend had given me or on recycled floor tiles. I wanted to protect them in shipping, but didn't want to just wrap them in bubble wrap. I ended up making these little envelope pouches out of left over canvas and using the vintage buttons I've been collecting, with no project in mind, for years.

A lot of my paintings lately are too big or thick to fit into these nice envelopes so I think I'm going to have to scavenge for some more recycled tiles this weekend.