Picture a Day #121 – A Script, an Interview, and Almonds

Posted on April 30, 2012 by joanienaz

Today is the last day of Script Frenzy, a marathon of script-writing sponsored by the Office of Letters and Light in Berkeley, California. It is a FUNdraiser and motivational event to get people writing. The goal is 100 pages in 30 days.

I chose to turn the novel that I started during National Novel Writing Month last November into a screenplay this month. Today, while my husband interviewed for a job, I sat in the car waiting for him. With my trusty laptop in lap, I finished my 100th page!!!

Now all I need to do is finish the script and polish it up. Maybe by the end of the summer? That is my goal. In the meantime, here are some photos from our trip during the last couple of days.

When I was growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, we had two almond trees in our back yard. These laden trees in Colusa County, California, on the edge of the Sacramento River Valley, reminded me of my childhood.

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Picture a Day #120 – My Veggie Garden

Posted on April 29, 2012 by joanienaz

My raised bed is finished, and planted! Here is a diagram with my crops labeled. I already have some lettuce sprouts after only a few days.

It’s a tiny garden, but I optimistically planted crops that require more space than I have. We’ll see what happens. I don’t mind miniature veggies. A ladybug is already visiting. I hope to see more of them in the near future.

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Picture a Day #119 – A Tale of Pears

Posted on April 28, 2012 by joanienaz

Yesterday I began my history of pear obsession with a listing of my Works of Pear. Today I continue with my first pear project.

You may recall it was a drypoint print. I made an edition of eleven. Here are two of them, which I trimmed to send off to the 6x6x2012 project I mentioned previously.

My class instructor was somewhat non-traditional. When we prepared the paper for printing, we could soak it in tea or coffee, and scrunch it. The effects are distinctive. Also, instead of wiping the ink off of the plate so that only the engraved portions printed, we left smears.

So my edition isn’t strictly an edition. It is a series of monoprints, because of the different colors of ink and techniques of preparing the paper and applying the ink to the plate that I used with the same image. It was a fun project!

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Picture a Day #118 – An Obsession with Pears

Posted on April 27, 2012 by joanienaz

My family is well aware of the fact that I am obsessed with pears. Followers of this blog may have noticed that this yummy and shapely fruit has shown up in more than one recipe I have posted. But if you walked into my home and gazed upon my walls, you would know that my admiration for the pear goes beyond cooking.

It all began six years ago, when I was taking a printmaking class at my local community college. I had to make a 6 x 6 inch drypoint print, and what better subject than that pear sitting on the counter?

When I took the class again, I used the same plate to create a hand-made book. I used chine colle, a technique in which I glued textured, hand-made paper to my prepared print paper before printing. I used paste paper (this link shows how much fun the process can be!) for the cover of my book. It was made from wallpaper paste mixed with water and acrylic craft paint. Finally, I used silkscreen to print a poem into my book. The poem was about a pear, of course!

Then three years ago, I decided to do some studies with Prismacolor pencils, to get back in touch with my drawing self. I gravitated once more to the pears that beckoned to me from the kitchen. No need to lug my art supplies to an exotic location!

From there I moved on to an acrylic painting of a pear, watercolors of pears, and so forth. Sometimes I added apples, but my heart belongs to the pear. My next project is going to be pastel pears. When I adopted pastels into my repertoire two years ago, I stuck with other subjects, trying to branch out. Now my pear collection seems a bit narrow in media scope!

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Picture a Day #117 – A Perfect Day for Weeding

Posted on April 26, 2012 by joanienaz

We were supposed to get showers on Tuesday. Finally, yesterday afternoon, it started misting. Then last night it turned into more of a steady light rain. This morning was one of those on-again off-again events when it’s sunny and then it’s hailing. In between showers, I weeded.

I had been wondering what to do with my tulip garden, as the blooms were losing petals in the most recent blustery weather. Then I discovered that the nasturtiums I planted eight weeks ago were in fact growing, making their way through all those daffodil and tulip leaves to show themselves to the world. Hooray!

They are such a charming plant, I think. An interesting shape of leaf, kind of like a footprint. The flowers come in different shades, and best of all, the plants require very little care!

Now that my daffodils and tulips are on their way out of the picture, my iris bulbs are sending up stems and buds like crazy on the other side of the yard, right on schedule. This happened seemingly over night. I feel another watercolor painting developing…

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Picture a Day #116 – Return of the Tulips!

Posted on April 25, 2012 by joanienaz

I have really dragged out this tulip watercolor painting. Here is my previous post on this project. During the last three and a half weeks (!) I added Cobalt Blue to the rest of the leaves, and began filling in the background and adding depth.

Today I did more touch-up work, and completed the background. Sometimes it pays to slow down and work carefully. And ruminate. I think it’s finished!

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Picture a Day # 115 – A Giant Cookie

Posted on April 24, 2012 by joanienaz

Sometimes you need a cookie. In this case, an extra large cookie. Today I used a pizza pan to make my cookie.

Giant Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine 3/4 cup vegetable oil and 1 cup packed brown sugar until creamy.

Add 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla and beat well.

Add combined 1 1/2 cups unbleached wheat flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon cinnamon, mixing well.

Add 3 cups uncooked oats, 1 cup chocolate chips, and 1 cup golden raisins. Mix well. Press the cookie mixture into an ungreased 14 inch circular metal pan using waxed paper.

Bake 20 minutes until light golden brown. Cool before storing in tightly covered container. Sampling the cookie is highly recommended!

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Picture a Day #114 – Sprouts!

Posted on April 23, 2012 by joanienaz

We had such a warm weekend, that just three days after planting seeds in my container garden last Friday, I have sprouts. Most of them are radishes, but there seem to be a few carrots and lettuce sprouts as well in some of the planters.

While I was admiring the sprouts, I noticed this interesting insect on the leaf of one of the sunflower plants. Can anyone identify it? I hope it’s friendly!

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Picture a Day #113 – Earth Day in My Organic Garden

Posted on April 22, 2012 by joanienaz

I planted my container garden the other day with organic vegetable seeds after preparing the soil with an organic container mix. But I’m not resting on my laurels! I am keeping those seedlings moist in the sudden burst of heat we have had this weekend. What a great way to celebrate Earth Day!

Today, after much procrastination and fanfare, I am preparing my raised bed garden. It has been a work in progress for some time. I rebuilt the garden bed with cinder blocks several years ago. Then a variety of events occurred that prevented me from advancing to the next step of my project until I planted bulbs in the border a couple of years ago.

Yesterday I finally purchased (on sale!) enough organic soil mixture to fill the raised bed. Only four more bags to go! I also purchased more seeds, and more mesh wire fencing material to keep out marauding cats, who think our yard is their litter box. Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler and overcast, a good day for planting. Can’t wait to finish!

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Picture a Day #112 – National Park Week, Day 1

Posted on April 21, 2012 by joanienaz

Today is the first day of National Park Week. In honor of this event, I am posting photos that I took at Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, during the summer of 2010.

I remember the first time we visited this park. It was early April, and the entire park wasn’t open yet. We were only able to drive to the visitor center, and it was buried in snow. It was like walking into a large snow cave or tunnel!

My husband and I like to camp here, and then have a nice meal at the lodge. If you haven’t been and are in the Pacific Northwest, it is well worth the trip!

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