L.A. Matsuri Taiko Website

Posted on March 2, 2011 by Jenny

A good friend of mine, Sandy, belongs to a Japanese taiko drumming group.  I have known Sandy for awhile now, having met her at my first job, where we collaborated on many projects together.  Sandy’s taiko group previously had a MySpace page, but decided that they wanted to develop a full-on web presence and they asked me to help them!

The group was not quite sure how they wanted the site to look, but they knew that they wanted several elements on the website, and they knew that they wanted to use the big drum as the basis for their navigation.  From there, I drafted up a page based on their input, using the elements in ways that I thought would be visually-appealing, and they liked my draft and wanted to continue along those lines.

They ended up loving the design that I thought up and then set me to creating the site.  One challenge in building this site was that this group wanted to be able to edit some particular aspects of the content after I finished building the site.  While I am totally cool with handing my clients the code and saying, “Go to it!”, I was concerned because none of them really had much experience in HTML/editing web pages at all, nor do they have the design program I use to build websites.

I thought about it and decided to use plug-ins available on the internet to help them achieve their desire to add things to their website.  For instance, they wanted to post a slideshow of pictures.  Since they already use Picasa to host their pictures, I used a piece of code Picasa develops so you can post a slideshow of pictures on your website.  Similarly, I used another piece of 3rd-party code so that they could also display thumbnails of their photos so that the user can click on the photo he/she wants to see. (Both of these tricks also save room on your webserver; you don’t have to pay extra for a bigger storage amount in order to hold larger sizes of all of your pictures!)

One other thing I did on this website that was the first time I did something like this for one of my clients was to put a Facebook “Like” button on the page.  When visitors to their website click on the “Like” button, it automatically adds their group to the Facebook pages that person “likes.”

All-in-all, working with this group was a good experience because they are very creative and keen thinkers about what they want their website to do!  It challenged me to learn how to do things in new ways.  Since creating this site (last fall), I have applied some of my new tricks to the sites of some of my other clients.  Very cool!

If you want, you can check out the site for yourself: http://www.lamatsuritaiko.com

Posted in client, design, japanese drumming, la matsuri, taiko, website | 1 Comment

“The best scones I’ve ever had.”

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Jenny

That’s what my mother-in-law told my husband the other day.  I made her scones for breakfast the next morning when she spent the night around Christmas time.  I made the scones a month or so before for a morning meeting and since both Gavin and I loved them, I decided to make them for her.  I most certainly did not expect that her response would be that they were the best scones ever, especially not weeks after she ate them!  Anyway, with that kind of response, how could I hide this winning recipe?

I found the original recipe on the Smitten Kitchen blog, but she adapted from Gourmet magazine.  I highly recommend, by the way, that you follow the Smitten Kitchen blog…lots of very good recipes!

Meyer Lemon and Fresh Cranberry Scones

Prep time: 20-30 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Serves: I think I get something like 15-20 2-1/2″ scones out of this

Ingredients
1-1/2 TBSP freshly grated lemon zest (preferably from Meyer lemons)
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar (plus 3 TBSP additional if using fresh cranberries)
1 TBSP baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (I use kosher)
3/4 stick (6 TBSP) cold butter (cut into bits)
1-1/4  cups fresh cranberries, chopped coarse (you can apparently use dried cranberries, but I would definitely recommend using fresh if possible)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 cup heavy cream

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (I use one of those Silpats, which are amazing!)

2. Zest the lemons and chop fine.  Reserve the lemons for another use (perhaps Meyer Lemon Sorbet?)

3. In a food processor, pulse flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, butter and zest until mixture resembles coarse meal and transfer to a bowl.

4. In a small bowl, toss together fresh cranberries and 3 TBSP sugar and stir into flour mixture.  (If using dried fruit, just add to flour mixture without mixing with sugar first.)

5. In another small bowl, lightly beat egg and egg yolk and stir in cream.  Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined.

6. On a well-floured surface with floured hands, pat dough into a 1-inch thick round (mine is never usually round…it’s more blob like, but definitely 1″ thick or thereabouts) and with a 2-inch round cutter or a rim of a glass dipped in flour, cut out as many rounds as possible, re-rolling scraps as necessary.  Arrange rounds about 1″ apart on baking sheet and bake in middle of oven 15-20 minutes, or until pale golden.

Viola!  The best scones you’ll ever have.  I think what makes these extra delicious is that they are coming right out of the oven, warm and soft like a biscuit.  I think this is what is wrong when you buy scones at a coffee house…they’ve been pre-made and are a long way from being fresh.  To that end, the Smitten Kitchen states that you can freeze the dough if you roll them out and then flash-freeze each of them.  I have not tried that, but I do something similar with cookie dough when I make cookies and I do have to say it is the way to go.

Posted in breakfast, butter, cranberries, dried fruit, egg, flour, heavy cream, lemon, lemon zest, recipe, scones, smitten kitchen, sugar | 2 Comments

Glass Workshop 2: Window Vases and Potential Earrings

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Jenny

Knowing that I was going to work or be away the last three Thursdays of February, I decided to go to the glass workshop the week after I made the orange and blue window vases.  (Aunt Trisha, by the way, loved them!  What a fun gift!)  Since I enjoy making them so much, I decided to do some more window vases and have them partially-fused.  And, boy, am I glad I did — I think this batch turned out really nicely.

I decided to use this particular session to work on overlapping colors/shapes, to see how the glass interacts with each other.  I bought some more glass, including some small pieces of iridescent glass (which is very expensive — $9 for a piece of glass about the size of a concert ticket).  I love how these pieces turned out:

For my first piece, I wanted to overlap some of the primary-ish colors on top of each other so that I could see what colors can be made.  This is in part because I find myself a little frustrated with the color range of transparent glass.  So I used a lighter blue, a darker pink (although I didn’t know it was going to be so dark — the glass is light blue to begin with…it’s crazy what happens when you add heat!), a yellow (that I thought would be way more yellow than it turned out!) and a deeper green (just because I wanted to use it somewhere).  You can barely tell on the picture above, but one of the corners somehow was chipped off…I am debating — should I chip the other side and re-fuse the glass next time I go in so that the corners get a rounded corner?  I don’t know…

For my second piece, I wanted to pair the pink with a piece of glass I got that was confetti-ed with pink and purple pieces of glass and an iridescent piece of glass.  When the light is not shining upon it, the color of the iridescent piece is a shimmery blue/teal.  When the light shines through, the color is gold.  I love how this one turned out — transparent, but with some flair.

For my third piece, I thought I would use some pinks, oranges and yellows together (with a little of those same blue/gold iridescent pieces).  I forget if I’ve mentioned before how difficult it is to put colors of glass together before you fuse them.  The reason is because what you see is not what you get.  Like I said a little earlier, the color of the pink glass before you fire it is a very light blue.  The yellow I selected was just that — a pale yellow.  And the deep orange I bought (for the blue/orange vases) is also a very pale yellow.

Anyway, I mention that because when I was putting together this piece, I really was not sure what color that diagonal piece was going to be.  As I worked with the yellow for earlier things, I threw the scraps in this box that I collect my scraps in.  In the box were also orange scraps.  And, if you follow from above, the orange scraps are the exact same color as the yellow scraps.  It was kind of unfortunate.  Fortunately, I think it turned out really nicely, and I suppose because I was going for oranges & yellows as being part of the color scheme, it probably would have been a moot thing anyway.

I still had room on my firing shelf once I finished these vases, but not enough time (or really enough space) to make another window vase.  So I decided to make a bunch of little bits, thinking that perhaps I could make them into earrings or a pendant or something.  I haven’t done anything with any of these just yet, but it is in my mind.  Next time, I might make more of those blue squares (perhaps with varying iridescent pieces on them) and then fuse those onto a larger piece.  Coasters, maybe?  A trivet?  Something else?

Stay tuned — a few days after I went to this workshop, I took another glass class — this time, a glass “slumping” class, which is where you fuse glass and then fuse into molds so that you can make dishes, etc.

Posted in art, blue, glass, green, iridescent glass, pink, vase, window vase, Workshop | 2 Comments

Finished Window Vases

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Jenny

I finished the window vases and took pictures of them all assembled the other day, so you can see the finished products:

<– Mosaic Window Vase
I love this one.  I just love how all of the pieces fit together, and I love the color choices in it, too!

Diagonal Blue/Orange Window Vase –>
I also really love this one…didn’t think it would turn out well and I think the fusing really pulled it together.  Here, the vase is being used as it should — as a little vase for a bloom.

<– Diagonal Blue/Purple Window Vase (aka River Window Vase)
This one is very delicate.  I really like this one, too, particularly the simplicity of it.  Someone, when looking at it, remarked that it looks like a river, which I very much see, but didn’t necessarily intend.

Wave Window Vase –>
This one I designed to be like one of those Japanese depictions of a great wave.  The deep orange in the background is to be reminiscent of the setting sun and the orange speckles are to be indicative of the foam on the wave.

<– Geometric Window Vase
I am coming to terms with how this one came out.  The more I look at it, the more I like it.

…And now, for some glamour shots that Gavin took the other day at sunset.  He has such a talent for photography!  PS: As you will look, you will notice that the window looks dirty.  I would like you to know that the window inside has been cleaned — it is the outside pane that is dirty and that’s something I just can’t fix because we’re on the second story.  And now, without further ado:

Posted in art, blue, floral, flowers, glass, orange, vase, window vase | 2 Comments

Old travel drawing, finally painted

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Jenny

The other day I was rummaging through some of my old paintings and drawings, and I found a line drawing I did when I visited Scotland in 2007.  I was visiting a friend from seminary who was doing a field education stint and two friends I met through the internet through another friend through seminary.

Anyway, I was visiting in Glasgow and was out for a walk one day, alongside the river (Kelvin, I think).  My recollection is that it was a really beautiful day out, even though I was there in early March.  I think I took a picture of my walk and then, from the tiny display on my digital camera, tried to draw and paint it (I brought my travel watercolor kit with me).  I drew it, but did not end up painting it.

Hence, the other day, I found a fully drawn and unpainted piece.  I decided that I’d try to paint it in, as best as I recalled, trying to use my little value sketch as a guide (I no longer know where that picture is…may have disappeared when my old computer’s hard drive failed).

I didn’t spend too much time on the painting…had difficulty getting the colors I wanted and trying to distinguish between all of the foliage and trying to get the river to look watery.  I think that the river came out not too bad.  I have debated going in and making more darks and stuff…it might make the painting better, but it also might make it too overpainted.  If I do anything to this, I’ll post an update!

Posted in art, bridge, painting, river kelvin, scotland, travel, tree, watercolor | 5 Comments

The best pancakes ever! Olive Oil Pancakes

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Jenny

I have been making these pancakes for a couple of years now, and I do have to say that they are Gavin’s and my most favorite recipe for pancakes.  They are light, fluffy and really tasty.  The original recipe calls for a honey syrup on top, but both Gavin and I agree that these pancakes need nothing more than themselves.

Prep & Cook time: 30 minutes
Serves: hard to tell…recipe says 4…we make little pancakes (2-3 in.), so we have lots left over that eventually get frozen and are put in the toaster oven for a quick snack.

Ingredients
1-3/4 cup flour
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1-1/2 cups buttermilk (I make my own by taking regular milk and putting 1 Tbsp of white vinegar in per cup, so for this recipe 1-1/2 Tbsp white vinegar…this saves me from having a lot of wasted buttermilk)
3 Tbsp good quality olive oil (The recipe actually calls for 2, but one time I misread the instructions and ended up putting in 4 and found that the pancakes were better…so now I compromise with 3 Tbsp.  Speaking of olive oil, I love California Olive Ranch Olive Oil — have you tried it?)
1/3 cup chopped dark chocolate (we use semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Preparation

1. If you are making your own buttermilk, start it now.  Put 1-1/2 cups milk into a measuring glass, add in 1-1/2 Tbsp white vinegar (or lemon juice).  Let sit for 5 minutes so that it can get chunky and sour.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients.  Whisk in the egg, buttermilk and olive oil and mix until batter is smooth.  Then add the chocolate.

3. Cook pancakes on a griddle until they’re golden brown on both sides.  Gavin and I love to make the pancakes a bit smaller than your average pancake (2-3 inches in diameter) and recommend that size, if you’re game!

Posted in breakfast, buttermilk, chocolate chips, la times, olive oil, pancakes, recipe, sugar | 8 Comments

Glass Workshop: Orange & Blue Window Vases

Posted on February 10, 2011 by Jenny

I went back to the Stained Glass Supplies store in Eagle Rock to attend their glass workshop.  On Thursday afternoons, for a fee of $45, you are welcome to use their space to create what you like, and they will fire it in the kiln for you.  The catch is that you have to come with your own glass (or buy glass there).  Because glass was included in the fusing class, I hadn’t had to buy it before so it was a big surprise in going to the workshop to find how expensive it is to buy panes of glass.

Nonetheless, I went back the Thursday after my fusing class to give it another shot because I enjoyed myself and the products I made so much.  This time, I went with an idea in mind: my Aunt Trisha is having her 50th birthday today (Feb. 10th) and I arranged to go down and take her to lunch that day.  Wouldn’t it be a good idea, then, to be able to give her a present of some of the glass stuff/window vases I’ve been working on?  She recently remodeled her kitchen and bathroom, and I thought it would be neat to select blues and oranges that go with her kitchen.

Little did I know that the color range in glass is not too wide.  Certainly, there are some colors, but it seems like only a couple shades in each.  I also rediscovered that glass pre-fusing is a much different color than glass post-fusing.  But, I picked out some clear, light blue, dark blue, orange (which ended up being a very deep orange), and a clear/speckled orange piece.  $80-some dollars later, I was on my way. (Thank goodness you don’t use all of the pieces at once, just pieces here and there…otherwise, I could never afford this hobby!)

I set out and created three window vases.  The first I made into a wave made out of mosaic pieces of glass, the speckled orange representing the foam on waves and the deep orange representing the setting sun. (The picture, taken by Gavin, is upside-down and difficult to tell the pattern I was aiming for.)  This one looked great when I first set it, but then when I had to clean off every piece of glass, I forgot my pattern.  So I did my best to try to remember where everything went, but had a difficult time.

The third piece I did (Gavin did not have a good picture of the second piece alone, so I will talk about the second piece last when I post a pic of all three together) is a smaller window vase and for this one I just did a diagonal stripe one, like I did for one of the vases I did in my glass fusing class.  This one I did not hold much hope in turning out good but, to my surprise, I like this one the most, post-fusing.

The second piece I did (left, in photo) I am the most disappointed with how it turned out.  I have come to like it (like, not love), but this piece did not turn out well, I think, with the full-fusing I did on all of the pieces.  I should have made them partial-fuses, so that the colored pieces of glass would have retained their shape better.  I had really neat, intricate shapes that fit onto the vase and I am disappointed that those shapes lost their shapes and became more blob-like.  But, like I said, I have come to terms with what it is and am beginning to appreciate it for what it is, not what it was.

Anyway, you can tell that at the time the pictures were being taken, that I had begun the process of making them into vases, with the bales being attached at the tops.  It is on my to-do list to get a suction cup so to show the finished product of how the vases look all put together, with a little flower or something put in them.

I am not sure which one I will give to my aunt (or if I will give them all, or let her pick), but I think with the leftovers I might list them on my Etsy account.  Time will tell!

Posted in art, blue, glass, orange, vase, window vase, Workshop | 2 Comments

Massaged Kale Salad

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Jenny

Last summer my friend Emily sent me a recipe for Massaged Kale Salad.  Kale is not part of my typical grocery or even farmer’s market shopping.  I ignore it, mostly because I’m put off by the heartiness of the leaves.  But, I had to buy a bunch of kale for a soup that I was making, so I decided to make the salad recipe Emily sent me with the leftover kale.  The result: a delicious, delicious salad that I keep on thinking about.  Try it — you’ll like it!

Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Serves: 6 (when I made this, I halved everything, but I’ll post the full recipe here)

Ingredients
1 bunch kale, de-stemmed and cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries, or dried currants (I used golden raisins)
1 small apple diced (I love using fresh apple in salads — a nice, sweet crunch!)
1/4 cup sunflower seeds, toasted (I left these out, as Gavin is slightly allergic)

Preparation

1. Put kale into a large bowl.  Sprinkle salt on top and gently massage the salt into the kale.  Per the recipe, if you’re using the standard curly kale you might find in the grocery store, it might take a little longer and you might have to use a little more salt.  Eventually (a few minutes later), the kale softens/wilts.

2. Toss in the remainder of the ingredients.  Toss and serve! Simple, healthy, delicious!

Posted in apple, cranberries, dried fruit, kale, olive oil, recipe, salad, side dish | 5 Comments

First Watercolor Painting in 2011: Purple Hyacinth Bulb

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Jenny

Since I don’t have a regular studio space, I don’t paint regularly.  Towards the end of Christmas time, I painted a lot — an Easter painting for Glenmary (that post will come out in April, since the painting is secret until then), a Christmas present for Bonnie, and the Farmer’s Market painting.  There may have even been more, but those are the ones I can remember.  After all of those, I cleaned my stuff off of our dining room table and haven’t painted since.

When I get into these spurts of not painting, it’s difficult to get back into the groove.  Mostly because the next time I pick up the paintbrush, I feel rusty, even though it’s been only a few weeks.  But, I wanted to start painting again, and I really want to finish a fruits/veggies series that I am doing as a belated wedding gift for my friends Terrence & Liz.  I have one painting left, and I am psyched out because I started with this painting and it turned out horribly.  So, instead of jumping back in to that painting, I decided to do a fast, easy painting.

Hence, the Purple Hyacinth Bulb.  I bought this bulb at the nursery down the street, mostly because I loved the clear vase…and I thought it would be cool to grow something.  So, on a sunny afternoon, I got out all of my stuff and decided to paint.  I did something different in this piece — I tried pen & ink, without using pencil.  I usually draw out a detailed sketch in light pencil and then paint over it.  I have tried pen & ink before, but have always been disappointed on how the pen runs when I put the paint to the paper and it’s hard for me to lay pen on paper and not be able to erase.

So, I tried it as the setting sun was coming through the window, illuminating the vase & bulb, and I think it’s ok.  It’s not my favorite, but I do like how the colors blend together and define the lines.  I found defining the roots of the bulb and the various colors in the vase to be difficult, but it’s not bad, especially for an hour-long drawing/painting.

Posted in art, bulb, floral, flowers, painting, pen and ink, purple hyacinth, still life, watercolor | 8 Comments

A person to watch: Stan Fellows, painter

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Jenny

Last year at some point, I was flipping through my Martha Stewart Living magazine when I noticed a beautiful watercolor done of a tree.  It was so beautiful that it made me pause to look up the artist and see if I could find him on the internet.

Which I did: Stan Fellows is his name, and he lives in or around Iowa City, Iowa.  I can’t find the original painting that I saw of his, but when I visited his blog (linked above) I discovered a host of very beautiful paintings.  Loose (yet defined), colorful and what I particularly like are his “unfinished” paintings that clearly finish the painting, the white space helping to define the composition.  Although I love everything posted on his blog so far, here are some examples of what I am talking about:

Stan FellowsStan Fellows

Stan Fellows

Stan Fellows

Stan does not post very frequently, so I follow his RSS feed and when he posts, it’s like a treat for my day.

Anyway, the wonderful connection is that he lives in Iowa City.  Gavin’s sister Kendra lives in Iowa City, since she’s finishing up her Masters at the Iowa Center for the Book.  Since she’s graduating this year, I got it in my mind to write to Stan to see if he is offering any workshops in the time period when I’ll be out to see Kendra graduate.  Unfortunately, he does not have any workshops scheduled, but he is willing to give an individual session!  For a very reasonable price!  So, I am excited to figure out dates and plans so I can put this on my calendar.  I’d love to learn from him how to be more thoughtful about negative space in my painting.  Exciting stuff!

Posted in art, Artist to watch, Iowa City, painting, Stan Fellows, watercolor, Workshop | 2 Comments