Almost three weeks ago I began a colored pencil still life of apples and a pear, with the intention of using watercolor.
I spent most of yesterday thinking about my color scheme. Today I revisit that drawing with two more steps in the process. I have added a background, and put down the first layer of color.
Today a new week has begun. Looking back on my frenzy of baking during the rainy weather this past week, I have decided to share the recipe that I liked the best.
This began as a pumpkin bread recipe in my old Fannie Farmer cookbook. The recipes in it are very traditional. I like to start with them, although I have other cookbooks, and then I adjust to suit my frame of mind. The recipe that I ended up with is a cross between zucchini bread and carrot cake. You could even add or substitute coconut and pineapple.
Carrot Zucchini Apple Walnut Mini Loaves
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Combine 3/4 cup unbleached wheat flour, 3/4 cup whole wheat flour, 3/4 cup sugar, and 1 teaspoon baking soda.
Grate 1 medium apple, 1 medium zucchini, and a dozen mini carrots (total of grated ingredients is 2 cups). Add this to the first mixture with 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 2 beaten eggs, 1/2 teaspoon allspice, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 3/4 cup chopped walnuts, and 3/4 cup golden raisins. Mix until just blended.
Bake in four 2 cup Pyrex glass bowls for 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool and remove from bowls. Serve warm or refrigerate. This bread freezes well.
OK, this Forest Corners project that I began on Thursday is finished! I got a little carried away…but I think I made my point. I have spent a lot of time in the forest, and this abstract composition is my attempt to capture all of the elements in a unique presentation.
I love trees. But like many other creatures, I prefer the margins of the forest where it touches meadow, water, and sky. I decided to add a few beastly inhabitants to this ecosystem, because after all, just because we often don’t notice them, it doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
When I am on the road, and driving through the lush forested mountains of the northern California coast, I often try to imagine all of the creatures that are under that amazing forest canopy that blankets the mountains. It’s easy to forget about what is out of sight!
You may need to use your imagination to see the forest in this corner study. It is still a work in process. I wanted to try a landscape of sorts.
I am still considering whether or not to add collage to this. Today I will work on it some more, and then decide!
It’s been a wet week. Usually I feel more like painting on a sunny day, but I am so cooped up that I have resorted to an art-a-thon! Today I began one painting, and finished two others. Since I’m still gazing at two of them, I will post the one that is absolutely finished (I hope).
I began this one awhile back. Here is my first post on it two weeks ago, and here is last week’s post. I was working on this last night, trying to fix the blotchy background. Then I added a couple of finishing touches this afternoon.
Tomorrow: more corners with a twist!
If I had known I was going to post this today, I would have baked my pizza in a circle. For my Pi Day post check out my other blog!
There are times when my husband and I like to make pizza at home. He likes his one way and I like mine another, so we customize it. Below are my selections: mushrooms, zucchini, and red bell pepper. We use a simple recipe for the dough:
Mix 4 cups flour with 4/3 cups warm water, 1 packet rapid rise dry yeast, and 6 tablespoons olive oil. Kneed the dough for 8-10 minutes, adding flour as desired, until it is consistent. Let it rise in a covered bowl until double in bulk. Roll out the dough with a little extra flour, and it will fit into two 10″ by 15″ jelly roll pans. This will make fairly thin crust pizza.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Top the dough with your favorite pizza or marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese, and other toppings as desired. Bake for 10-15 minutes, cool slightly. This is also great for a family gathering, with everyone pitching in and sharing the fun of building their own pizza and enjoying the results!
Six weeks ago I published my first novel as an e-book on Smashwords and Amazon. Now I am faced with the task of marketing it. When I considered the cover of my book, which not only represents my work but inspires others to read it, I decided to try collage. This project was the beginning of my collage adventure.
I began with a watercolor background which suggested the ocean, making two of these so that I could decide which one worked best. Then I cut out the silhouette of a ukulele, which figures prominently in my story, from a brown paper bag (one of my favorite art materials). This was attached to the background with clear acrylic medium. Flowers cut out of handmade papers and other printmaking leftovers create a Hawaiian lei. What says ukulele more decidedly than a Hawaiian lei?
In Photoshop, I added the title and my name. Here is the finished product! Click on the image below to learn more about my novel, and read a free sample.
I prepared this post a couple of days ago, and then realized that today is Jack Kerouac’s 90th birthday. Here is the post that I saw on Facebook from Brain Pickings.
My husband is a fan of the writer Jack Kerouac, so we stopped in Lowell, Massachusetts on our way to visit my friend in New Hampshire during our cross-country trip in the summer of 2008. There is an installation of excerpts from his works in the city where he was born.
Today is a blustery day. If you look out the window one minute it’s sunny, the next there’s a heavy shower. So my thoughts have returned to our summer 2008 trip across the country, from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic.
After a wonderful visit with two of my husband’s brothers in North Carolina during our cross-country adventure, we sprinted up the East Coast in order to reach the third brother on Long Island by the Fourth of July. Here I am, getting my feet wet for the first time in the Atlantic Ocean at Fire Island, on the southern edge of Long Island, New York.
This map is courtesy of Wikipedia and the National Park Service.
Here is the view of the beach and ocean from the top of the lighthouse at Fire Island National Seashore, adjacent to Robert Moses State Park.
After playing around with those apples yesterday, I needed to do something more. I took another look at my Corners of the Sky, and decided what it needed was some collage. I now believe that collage is the answer to almost any problem!
I pulled out some papers I had saved from printmaking, and found colors that would jump out at the viewer. The blue-green section was created by adding a piece of semi-transparent, hand-made light blue paper. The multicolored sections are from pieces created by printing off of a plate with leftover ink that I dragged a knife through and sprayed water onto. The streaks and bubbles go with my cloud theme.
I’m not sure if this is a wrap yet. I am thinking about some colored pencil shading…
When You're Bored 