White Flowers Watercolor Painting

This is another watercolor painting I did in my love/hate Tuesday class last October.  I have no idea what kind of flowers those are — I found the picture in an Arizona magazine the instructor brought in.  My Aunt Trisha identified them, but I have since forgot what kind they are.

Anyway, I am really pleased with how this painting turned out!  I think this is the first class I attended, and the teacher hovered over me the whole time, anxious to provide feedback and instruction.  I had forgotten a pencil that day — only had a black pen, and so even though my drawing is imperfect, I like how the ink defines the flowers.  Anyway, eventually it became evident to the teacher that I had painted before, and she eased up after that, which made me glad — I do not take hovering well.

Posted in art, aunt trisha, beautiful, class, drawing, floral, flowers, painting, pen and ink, watercolor | 4 Comments

Cliffs at the Beach Watercolor Painting

Last fall I occasionally attended a local watercolor class on Tuesday afternoons.  I debate about the class – on the one hand, the class does not offer much instruction and the work I do in class is often better than what the instructor does (at least in class…I haven’t seen her real work)…on the other hand, it gets me painting regularly and I really like the paintings I’ve done when I’ve attended, like this one.

I forget the “theme” of the class for this week (composition, maybe?), but basically we were to choose a picture from the instructor’s stack of pictures and compose a painting from it.  I chose a picture of a cliff/beach scene and omitted much of the stuff in the foreground, to tightly crop in to a better composition than the picture.  I really like the colors in this one, and the tiny detail of the people walking along the path.

Posted in art, beautiful, class, colorful, painting, summer, watercolor | 4 Comments

Fused Glass Ornaments

Right around Thanksgiving, I started thinking about going back to the glass workshop to make a few Christmas presents, and got the bright idea to make Christmas ornaments!  Unfortunately, I didn’t have Gavin take pictures of all the ones I made, or even the ornaments finished.  However, he did capture the first few that I made, and I am sharing them with you, below.  I loved doing them, and each week I made them, they came out differently!

 

PS: Doesn’t Gavin take great pictures?!

Posted in beautiful, christmas, glass, iridescent glass, ornaments | 1 Comment

Artist to Watch: Sharon Shock, oil painter

Last year I decided to finally give my brother and sister-in-law their wedding present, essentially after two years of marriage.  Carrie, my sister-in-law, said that they needed artwork for their walls, particularly on their first floor.  I said ok before I realized how difficult it is to pick out artwork for other people’s tastes.  For her bridal shower, I got her a pretty painting of some palm trees I found in a random art gallery in Ojai.  I thought she might like it, but I weighed it more heavily — I was pretty sure my brother would like it (he can be a tough customer), so it was purchased.

Wanting to get them some artwork to go with that, I looked all over the place, and didn’t find anything until I discovered Sharon Shock.  I don’t know how I ran across her, but Sharon posts a painting every day on her blog, and as I was looking at her paintings earlier last year (and late into 2010), I realized that they would be a nice fit with the painting I got my brother & sister-in-law earlier, since she lives in Carpenteria, CA and paints a lot of beachy-type scenes.

Here are the paintings I bought for them:

Sharon has some really beautiful paintings that are really very affordable.  Follow her on her blog, and maybe you’ll find something you like!

 

Posted in art, Artist to watch, colorful, painting, tree | 1 Comment

Brown Butter Winter Citrus Pancakes

As a super huge fan of citrus, I loved this recipe I found on a blog I follow and have made it several times.  When people learn that when I make pancakes or waffles on the weekends from scratch, they seem to think it’s really fancy.  But, really, there’s no need to buy pancake mix — you probably have all of the ingredients in your cupboard already, and it takes less than 15 minutes to make the batter.  I actually find flipping the pancakes the hard part, which Gavin willingly takes on!  It’s good to have a marriage that is a partnership!

Brown Butter Winter Citrus Pancakes

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Yield: Serves 2

Ingredients

  • 3 TBSP Butter
  • 1 cup Buttermilk (I use milk and add in 1 T of vinegar to make buttermilk, since I don\'t keep it on hand)
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 cup All-purpose flour
  • 1 TBSP Granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp Baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp Baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Citrus zest (I used oranges, but you can use whatever kind you have/want)
  • 2 Tangerines, peeled and separated
  • 1 Grapefruit, peeled and segmented
  • 1 Blood Orange, peeled and segmented (I used regular oranges since blood oranges were not quite in season yet)

Cooking Directions

  1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. The butter will foam and froth and begin to brown. When the butter solids begin to brown, keep an eye on them so they don\'t burn. The butter will smell rich and nutty (I rely on this point to tell when it\'s done). Cook until butter bits are brown, then remove from the hot pan and place in a small bowl.
  2. Whisk together egg, buttermilk, vanilla extract and citrus zest. Whisk in the browned butter. Set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the buttermilk mixture all at once to the dry ingredients. Stir together with a fork until well incorporated. If the batter is lumpy, that\'s fine.
  4. Let batter rest while you heat up the skillet over medium head. We have a nonstick griddle, so I don\'t bother greasing the pan, but if you don\'t have a nonstick one, you may want to consider that. Spoon pancake batter by the 2 tablespoons full into the hot pan. Let cook until browned on one side, flip and brown on the other side.
  5. Arrange the pancakes on a plate, top with segmented citrus and maple syrup (if desired).

Posted in breakfast, butter, buttermilk, citrus, egg, flour, grapefruit, joy the baker, orange, pancakes, recipe, salt, sugar, tangerine, vanilla, zest | 1 Comment

Wisemen Watercolor Painting

This past year I was fortunate, again, to be contacted by Glenmary Home Missioners to paint their Christmas and Easter artwork for their annual appeals.  I so love working with Glenmary, as it takes my love and interest in the scriptures and my love of painting and pairs it with their keen eyes to produce really nice pieces.

We start working on their Christmas artwork in July and their Easter artwork in December, so it’s pretty wacky to be thinking about the holidays so far removed from when they fall in the year.  I’ll be showing you Easter’s artwork (which is finished) closer to Easter — let’s just say it was a challenge for me this year — but here’s the final image for their 2011 Christmas appeal: the Wisemen approaching Bethlehem.

 

Posted in art, beautiful, bethlehem, christmas, colorful, glenmary, religious, star, watercolor, wisemen | Leave a comment

Back from snoozing

As my sister-in-law Carrie pointed out to me today, it has been awhile since my last post.  And it has nothing to do with not having any creative ventures going on.  Actually, this past fall saw me really busy.

Right around my last post, I went to the doctor and discovered this:It turns out that thing is a baby.  And that baby takes a lot of energy.  And at the time, that baby made me never want to see or touch food ever again.  Ever.

And then the baby turned into this about two weeks later:A little bit more recognizable as a baby, but still very, very tiny – about the size of a kumquat.  And yet still making me feel incredibly tired and incredibly sick.  At around the same time, I started a new job working part-time for a small graphic design studio in Burbank.  It’s been awhile since I started a new job, so I totally forgot how exhausting it is!  Between the exhaustion of the new job and the exhaustion of growing a baby, I  do not remember doing much of anything except for sleeping in November.  And when I was awake, I was wishing I was asleep.

A couple of weeks later, the baby looked like this: I think this picture made me happier than I was at the previous two visits because you can sort of begin to tell that it’s actually a baby.

Then, a week later, we had an in-depth ultrasound to test for likelihood of genetic abnormalities, and these two pictures came about:

The first one is cute, the second one is 3D and a little creepy to me.  The “sucking the thumb” look is one that comes up often in ultrasounds I’ve had after this (but can’t find the photos for).

But, there it is — my excuse for not posting anything since the beginning of November.  But now I am around 19 weeks pregnant and am told the baby is about 6 inches in length and the size of a large heirloom tomato.  I am also feeling much better in general (although I still have moments of sickness or exhaustion), so I think I’ll take this opportunity to show you a bit of what I’ve been doing this fall (other than the baby-making) — painting, glass work and cooking!  Maybe other things, too!

 

 

Posted in announcement, baby, sneak peak | 2 Comments

Whole Wheat Apple Bread

I look forward to making this bread every fall when I have apples on hand.  The recipe comes from a Penzeys Spices catalog that I found, probably connected to my sister-in-law Carrie, who was given a Penzeys gift package for her wedding.  I saw the recipe, which was submitted by Ruth Weber of Rice Lake, Wisconsin and decided that I would try it and have been super pleased every time.  I’ll have to purchase something from Penzeys so that I can get their catalogue to keep the recipes coming!

Whole Wheat Apple Bread

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Yield: 2 loaves

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Vegetable oil (not olive)
  • 2 cups Sugar
  • 3 Eggs, well beaten
  • 3 cups Whole wheat flour (or 1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour plus 1-1/2 cups unbleached white flour)
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Baking soda
  • 2 cups Apples, chopped & peeled (McIntosh or Granny Smith)
  • 1 cup Nuts (pecans or walnuts)
  • 2 tsp Pure vanilla extract

Cooking Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 8-1/2x4-1/2-inch loaf pans and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the oil, sugar and eggs.
  3. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking soda.
  4. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing well after each addition.
  5. Fold in the apples, nuts and vanilla.
  6. Pour into the loaf pans and bake at 350 for about 1-1/2 hours (check after 1 hour) or until a toothpick inserted in the loaves comes out clean.
  7. Turn out of the pans while still slightly warm (wait 20-30 minutes) and let cool.

Posted in apple, egg, flour, nuts, oil, pecans, penzeys, recipe, salt, sugar, vanilla, walnuts, whole wheat | 3 Comments

Watercolor Pears

I have been reading The Creative License in bits and pieces recently.  It’s a book by Danny Gregory, who writes about how to start a drawing journal.  It’s very inspirational and gives you prompts of what to draw and even teaches you a little about how to draw.  Anyway, in some of the beginning pages of the book he writes about finding the time to draw, since many people (including myself!) feel that they just don’t have the time in the day to sit down to draw.  His response is that we have more time than we know it, and one of his suggestions is to draw when you’re watching TV.

Well, Gavin and I have recently begun watching The Good Wife, via Netflix DVDs.  As we started watching an episode the other weekend, I thought to myself, why not try to draw while watching?  So, I got some pears from my produce box, arranged them, got my drawing journal, travel watercolor kit and went to town while watching a couple of episodes.

This is my first attempt, during the first episode.  I am happy with how it came out, but realized I really need to work on my arranging skills to come up with some interesting arrangements!

That was done in one episode.  Then we watched a second episode, so I started in on a new painting.  I liked how the first one came out, but am so much more pleased with the second attempt:

Then the next day our internet was down and my arrangement was still there, so I cut a pear in half, ate half and then kept myself entertained while not having the internet to turn to:

Posted in art, beautiful, colorful, creative license, danny gregory, painting, pears, still life, travel watercolor kit, watercolor | 4 Comments

My newest, favorite way of cooking steak

A couple of months ago I finally tried a recipe that I had bookmarked, called “Dress the Board Ribeye Steak” by Jamie Oliver, and I fell in love (which is weird because I think Jamie Oliver is very so-so).  The steak was perfect and so, so flavorful.  The best thing is that it’s very, very easy to improvise.  The first time I made this, I didn’t have mint or a red chile or rosemary, but I did have fresh savory and an anaheim chile.  End result: delicious.  The second time I followed closer to the recipe, but used a jalapeño for the red chile.  End result: delicious.  The third time I used cilantro and a jalapeño (sans rosemary).  End result: delicious.   It’s almost like you can’t go wrong!  I have also used various cuts of steak, so long as the steak is about 1-inch thick.

Dress The Board Steak

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 rib-eye steak, thick cut (~1 inch)
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 2-3 sprigs Fresh Rosemary
  • Olive Oil
  • 1/2 bunch Fresh Mint
  • 1 Fresh, Red Chile (seeded or not, your choice, depending on how spicy you like it)
  • 1 or 2 cloves Garlic, peeled
  • 1/2 Lemon
  • ~1 TBSP Olive Oil

Cooking Directions

  1. Heat a 10- to 12-inch cast-iron pan or skillet over high heat. I leave it on for a number of minutes -- occasionally putting my hand over the skillet...when it gets too hot to hold my hand over the skillet for more than a couple seconds, the skillet is ready.
  2. While the pan is heating, season the steak liberally with salt and pepper on both sides.
  3. Pull the rosemary leaves off the stems and push them into the meat. Leave the meat aside while you dress the board. (I think this is really optional -- I don\'t think it adds that much flavor)
  4. BEFORE YOU PUT THE STEAK ON THE PAN, DRESS THE BOARD (otherwise, you\'ll be in trouble because the steak cooks really quickly)...(I\'m not speaking from experience.)
  5. To dress the board, chop the mint, chili and garlic on a clean wooden cutting board.
  6. Squeeze the lemon juice and drizzle some extra virgin olive oil onto the chopped herbs. Mix.
  7. COOKING THE MEAT:
  8. Drizzle and rub olive oil on both sides of the meat just before searing.
  9. When the pan is good and hot, the steak should sizzle aggresively when it touches the pan, this also sends out lots of smoke, so remember to switch on the exhaust fan and open all the windows you can open - brown the steak. Put the steak in the pan and don\'t touch it or press it or do anything stupid like that after you add it. After about 2-3 mins (depends on your preference for doneness and also your instincts really--I do 2-1/2 mins per side for medium rare), the steak should release easily from the pan and the seared side should be on the golden side of browned. Flip it. Sear the other side for another 2-3 mins.
  10. Transfer meat to the board and coat with dressing...I try to put some on the top of the steak and rest the steak on some dressing as well. Let the meat rest for about 5 mins before cutting and serving. This is the most agonizing part! Enjoy!

Posted in anaheim, chile, dinner, garlic, herbs, jalapeno, lemon, olive oil, pepper, recipe, red, rosemary, salt, savory, steak | 2 Comments