Picture a Day #159 – 6x6x2012

Posted on June 7, 2012 by joanienaz

It’s been a month since I mailed my five entries to the Rochester Contemporary Art Center for their 6x6x2012 fundraiser event. On Tuesday, June 5, online purchasing opened. I located my work on their website yesterday, and so far one of my pieces has sold! This is very encouraging, even though I had to plow through over 6,000 entries to find it! My entry numbers are 6311-6315, if you are interested. Check it out. Each 6×6 piece of art is $20. It’s a great cause and there is some fabulous art!

SOLD

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Picture a Day #158 – Rainy Day Cookies

Posted on June 6, 2012 by joanienaz

This recipe has been recycled from an earlier post. It was so gloomy and wet the other day, that I decided to experiment (again!) with my standard oatmeal cookie recipe.

The basics are the same. But I added some odds and ends from the fridge. Then I baked them in cupcake pans, just because I felt like it! Don’t overbake these, or they will be dry and crumbly. They are yummy, if I do say so myself.

Rainy Day Cookies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine 3/4 cup vegetable oil and 3/4 cup packed brown sugar.

Add 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Then add combined 1 cup unbleached wheat flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and mix well.

Next add 3 cups uncooked oats, 1 cup golden raisins, 1 cup macadamia nuts, 1 cup chocolate chips, and 1 1/2 cups stale mini marshmallows.

Mix well. Press the mixture firmly into two lightly oiled 12 count muffin pans, filling each about 3/4 full.

Bake 12-15 minutes until light golden brown. Be careful not to overbake! Cool before emoving from the pans with a sharp knife. Store in a tightly covered container and enjoy!

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Picture a Day #157 – Drops of Color

Posted on June 5, 2012 by joanienaz

I am blown away by all of the amazing photography that I have discovered on this site. Yesterday the drops of color caught my eye. I decided to try to re-create (in spirit only, NOT in technical expertise) to some extent the photography with drops of water.

I didn’t look back to the post that I saw before starting my project. I tried to remember what I had read >_<. I set up a somewhat ridiculous array of objects in order to create a raised platform. Then I put a Prismacolor pencil drawing from a couple of years ago of circles that have the colors of the rainbow on top of my platform.

I set up my camera on the tripod, and grabbed a couple of table lamps. I am not equipped to do this kind of photography, but I decided not to let that stop me! I wanted to find out what I could do with my limited resources and my imagination. They usually take me where I want to go. Here are my results.

First I placed the glass from a picture frame on top of my drawing. I put drops of water onto the glass with a watercolor brush. There needed to be some space between the paper and the water drops though, so next I put the glass on top of the picture frame and then on top of the paper. There still wasn’t enough distance between the glass and the paper.

Here is what happened when I placed a smaller piece of glass on top of a roll of packing tape, and then added a blob of water. Interesting, but not exactly what I was expecting.

After placing the piece of glass with the water drops on top of three rolls of tape, almost 5 inches above the paper, I got these results.Ta da! Notice how the colors are flipped in the blobs of water.

I reviewed the procedures followed by the photographer I was trying to imitate, and he used a spray bottle for the water drops. I think maybe I’ll try this again. What fun!

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Picture a Day #156 – Typewriter Art

Posted on June 4, 2012 by joanienaz

This art project was inspired by “Wry, the typewriter at Peach Farm Studio.” I made a commitment to create a piece of artwork for the Typewriter Art and Poetry Project challenge back in March. I have been ruminating on it ever since!

Finally, I had a breakthrough. I decided to create a layered watercolor background. Then I added Courier New letters cut out of leftover purchased hand-made paper, and a typewriter silhouette cut out of a recycled bit of printmaking leftover.  Details were added to the typewriter with a bold black Sharpie marker.

I was pleased to find scraps in my printmaking drawer that were the colors I needed! But the letters were a bit tricky to glue down with clear acrylic gloss medium. They wiggled. I used a toothpick to untangle them when necessary.

I am pleased with the results. I have made my statement. It was a lot of fun!

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Picture a Day #155 – The Pull of Gravity

Posted on June 3, 2012 by joanienaz

bend

There I was, doing a little early morning gardening and harvesting some radishes. I left them alone for a while, and the weather was hot. Wow! I pulled up some pretty good-sized ones. Some had even split open-too much water?

high kick

Then I pulled up a very odd one. It was twisted around like a corkscrew. This little veggie got confused or crowded or something. If not for gravity, it might have grown back up. Here are some poses that tell the tale of radish gymnastics.

twist

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Picture a Day #154 – Layering Watercolor

Posted on June 2, 2012 by joanienaz

Here are the first three layers of my most recent project, begun today! It was a lot of fun using my brand new Aquarelle brush to first apply a layer of Cadmium Yellow paint, then a layer of Permanent Rose, and finally add the squiggles with Phthalo Blue.

This is intended to be a mixed-media creation. But I will say no more, as it is experimental and I am not sure where I will end up with it. Stayed tuned…

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Picture a Day #153 – Duck, Duck, Goose!

Posted on June 1, 2012 by joanienaz

One of these squash plants is not like the others. Sound familiar? Like a well-known Sesame Street song? I thought I heard you humming that tune…It is painfully obvious that, although they all came from the same summer squash (yellow crookneck) packet, the leaves on the tallest plant are decidedly different from the other two on this rather crowded hill. The seed leaves looked similar, but then everything changed.

I seem to recall this happening last year as well. One squash plant had variegated leaves. But the fruit itself wasn’t any different from the others as far as I could tell. It remains to be seen what will happen this year. I love a gardening mystery, don’t you? It makes gardening an adventure!

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Picture a Day #152 – A Multi-step Project

Posted on May 31, 2012 by joanienaz

back of bag

Now that I have finished the outside of my wool bag, and felted it by washing it in hot water and drying it on high heat, I need to make the lining.

inside of bag

I chose a floral denim fabric that I already had (and can’t remember what I was going to use it for!), and made a pattern for myself. Now that the fabric is cut out, all I need to do is sew it together! Ha ha ha…it sounds so simple, right?

lining for bottom of bag

I still haven’t decided exactly how I will attach the lining to the felted wool. One step at a time. It’s best not to look too far ahead sometimes!

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Picture a Day #151 – My Peculiar Pears

Posted on May 30, 2012 by joanienaz

Here is my next step in the experimental watercolor with pears. When I left off last time, the pears were blue. Next they became purple, when I added Alizarin Crimson.

I tried a couple of different background colors. First I used Cadmium Yellow, and after it dried I added a bit of Cobalt Blue. I also touched up the shadows. I wasn’t satisfied, so I added more blue.

This seems to be finished. I like the softness, and also the odd colors that somehow look more normal each time I see them!

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Picture a Day #150- About Cicadas

Posted on May 29, 2012 by joanienaz

Yesterday morning was perfect for doing some gardening! The wind that has been relentlessly blowing subsided (until the afternoon at least), it was overcast and cool, and I enjoyed myself immensely!

I did some cleanup, thinning, transplanting, and replanting. I also put down some organic fertilizer. Not my favorite task, but when you container garden especially, it is necessary if you want your vegetables to produce for any length of time.

While I was working in my raised bed garden, I noticed this insect on one of the corn plants. I had to look it up, and learned quite a bit on the Wikipedia site about cicadas.

cicada side view

It was back in the same spot this morning, but gone around mid day. I heard a lot of clicking in our redwood tree, and what I thought was crickets may very well be cicadas. Apparently they can make quite a racket during the warmest part of the day.

cicada on corn plant in May

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