I wanted to post something inspirational today, but I was in a quandary. Then I read a response to a comment I left on the site of a fellow blogger, which included an interest in my work. Here is a melted crayon landscape that I created during my senior year of high school, oh so many years ago. It was the most fun assignment I had in four years. HAPPY EASTER!
I wanted to bake something for the holiday weekend. Banana bread was on my list, and so was chocolate cake. Realizing that I couldn’t do it all (there were other things on my list as well), I made a creative decision. Why not combine the two?
Remember that pumpkin bread that was more like cake with the chocolate I snuck in? My new recipe is similar. It’s more than a bread, but less than a cake. Almost guilt-free, chocolatey-banana goodness. Is your mouth watering yet?
Double Chocolate Banana Walnut Tea Cakes
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Oil four 2-cup Pyrex glass bowls. Mix 4 ripe, mashed bananas, and 2 beaten eggs together in a large bowl. Stir in 2 cups unbleached flour, 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 cup sugar, and 1 teaspoon baking soda.
Add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts and 1/2 cup chocolate chips and blend. Spoon the batter into the oiled bowls and bake for about 45 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm or cooled. A banana- and chocolate-lover’s delight!
As I approached my tulip garden, I heard a tremendous buzzing, but I didn’t see anything. The bee was inside one of the flowers. It appeared and posed for me before it vacated the premises.
Here is my final version of Three Apples and a Pear. I have cropped it in Photoshop, which helps me to define the composition, and now all I need to do is mat and frame the watercolor painting itself. I am finished with all of my still life of fruit projects, and so I will concentrate on my flowers.
The tulips are progressing well. I took another look at the rose that I did some time ago, and now I think I should revisit that before I finish the tulips. Good practice!
Sounds like a clever name for a sitcom, doesn’t it? But it’s actually the subject of a watercolor painting that I began over a month ago. I guess it’s time to return to the scene of my dilemma.
Yesterday I added shadows, and may have gotten a little carried away. My husband looked concerned.
Today, I added color to my anemic fruit, and brightened up the foreground and background. I may have literally painted myself into a corner on this one. How to finish?
I have thought a lot about my color scheme for this. I already changed the color of most of the fruit. You can see my model and the beginning of my work here. Now I am trying to decide wether or not to modify the pear. I need to tie this all together! More thinking required.
Today I dug through my “portfolio drawer” to look at some of my older artwork. I knew I had a self-portrait in there somewhere. These sketches were done about twenty years ago. I look so young! They are the only self-portraits I have ever attempted, and it may be time to try another one. This time I just might use some watercolor.
Self-portraits always strike me as being self-indulgent. Also, there is the temptation to “adjust” them to make yourself look as attractive as possible. But the truth is, who will ever sit as still for you as yourself? At the time I did these, I also sketched my kids. The likenesses weren’t impressive. But they were very young and very wiggly. I could probably get them to hold still for portraits now. Hmmm.
I could write an entire cookbook just on the subject of breakfast. It is, after all, the most important meal. I tend to stick with certain breakfast foods for extended periods of time. Why change something that’s working?
For a couple of years, I took banana or zucchini bread to work, as I was always in a hurry in the morning, and had a windy (as in the long and windy road to my job) commute, so breakfast before I left the house wasn’t a good idea. Surprisingly, it took me a while to figure that one out. Why was my stomach knotted up on the drive? Hmm.
Then I began eating a little hot cereal with fruit in the morning. Just the thing during the winter. Especially when you are out the door at an unholy hour.
Occasionally, on the weekends, I like to prepare an egg dish. Again, I tend to stick to something, and try variations on a theme. I discovered that scrambled eggs cooked in the microwave was fast and easy to clean up. Recently, I decided to try a microwave omelette.
I mixed two eggs in a Pyrex glass bowl, and added some basil, a little chopped tomato, some diced avocado, sliced mushrooms, and a little grated mozzarella. I microwaved it for about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes, checking it every minute or so. There is no end to what you can toss into a microwave omelette. It was yummy!
I’m quite excited about the progress of my tulip watercolor. But I have to pace myself. This is not something to be rushed. That’s always when I start ruining whatever I’m working on that requires patience and manual dexterity. So, I forced myself to put down the brush after adding Cobalt Blue to half of the image. The rest will have to wait!
Today I’m back to my Promise of Spring project. I added a layer of Cadmium Yellow, and then some Permanent Rose watercolor. Here are my results.
My earliest memory of artistic endeavor was finger painting in Kindergarten. From there, I branched out to drawing with mud on the sidewalk. By the time I was in the sixth grade, my best friend and I were knitting each other headbands.
In high school I actually constructed a macrame backpack. I like a challenge! It was made of jute string, and lined with burlap. the first time during my crafty phase that I wore a pair of jeans without embroidery on them I felt naked.
I tend to get hooked on a particular craft until I have run out of experimental ideas, and then I move on to the next. My knitting goes in cycles, and I picked up the needles again a few years ago. I have never made anything fancy, just hats and scarves. But the other day, inspired by something I saw somewhere, I decided to try making a felted bag.
My experiments with felted hats and scarves during the last couple of years yielded mixed results. This time I chose something small to play with. I was originally going to make an oblong clutch-type purse. Then I decided to use a circular needle, and it ended up being a pouch. My Kindle fit perfectly before I shrank it to felt it, and now it is too small for that, but definitely large enough for other “stuff.” It is awaiting a trip to the store for hook and loop fastener.
Now to duplicate the test model. If I had to make these for a living, I would starve. I won’t tell you how long this first one took. I might be finished with a second one a little sooner…or not.
When You're Bored 