painting updates, pantry notes *** pretty long pt 1 of many

i was up most of the night painting, i think it's starting to come along now. i am starting to like what i see here. however i will be cautious with my optimism, as i don't want to become so enraptured with this painting that i don't see if i make a mistake. it's good to keep a critical eye on your work. 

this particular series will be larger in size then my original ones, and i think more intricate, reflective of where i am in my life now.

i do like the 'peeking into' aspect of this painting, a glimpse into a sheltered and secret world. 

some of my favorite things are in this painting, maple leaves, wild berries, the nest and eggs. 

this painting was extremely soft starting out, and still is mostly, but i think things are starting to sharpen up a bit, which they needed to.

now onto another thing that i was asked about recently...

starting and maintaining a home pantry without making yourself nuts. yes it can be a huge job but it's easy one step at a time.

our forefathers (really our foreMOTHERS) marked the rhythm of the seasons of an agricultural based year, taking things in plentiful and season and preserving them for times of want and winter.

for us, it is more a matter of making sure that if there is a hardship, such as illness or job loss...

or a storm, or money is tight, we can survive. despite the supermarkets all around us full of food and goods, sometimes they are beyond our grasp.

so i am going to try to help you put a pantry together if you don't have one, increase your pantry if you do have one, and try to help you save some money while you are doing it.

***please note that when i refer to our pantry it includes batch cooking freezer meals, dried foods, canned foods and homemade 'tv dinners'' part of our pantry, as during hurricane sandy (no running water and no electricity for over a week and then no hot water for another 2 weeks) the food i had already cooked ahead was what we reheated on the woodstove.  it also includes extra amounts of things like coffee, tea, sugar, lightbulbs, toilet paper..... 

first you need a plan. 

and a notebook (i use a three ring binder- and i get a ream of prepunched holed paper for it)

ok, what do you eat during the week (please don't say 'take out every night'..or we will have to talk)

let's just say an average week

make a list of your suppers

here's mine for cold week in fall: 

sunday- pasta and sauce (salad)

monday- meatloaf, baked potato, carrots (gravy optional)

tuesday- chicken stir fry with mixed veggies, brown rice

wednesday- porkchops in apple cider with homemade mac/cheese and home canned cole slaw (yes it stayed crisp
thursday- chicken soup with no knead bread

friday- homemade pizza

saturday- beef stew

summers are in a way, easier as we eat a lot of salads out of the garden, but we'll just do this normal type week.

what else does your family eat?

make a short list of favorite main dish meals

i have a list of about 60 different main dishes put away.......

now you know that you have to eat daily,

so decide for now, how many days or weeks you would like to have stocked for?

***i started out when we were first married (37 years ago) stocking monthly, we shopped once a month, i spend saturday cooking and then we ate for the month without worry....just picking up milk and maybe eggs or bread and some fresh veggies weekly (we lived in an apartment at that time and i worked full time outside of the house)

when we moved here, we started to stock up for 3 months at a time, but soon graduated to 6 months at a time....and finally to a year at a time.

let's say you want to stock for two weeks, 

you know you need 14 meals, but say your family LOVES homemade pizza and you have that every friday night....ok so that really is only 13 meals (cause one is doubled)

and say you make a big roast on a sunday, then cut it up for stew, and the leftover stew is now going into a pot pie, ...hmmmmm see what i mean? (hint, cut the roast into stew chunks before you put it away on sunday, and it's ready to go for a fast stew during the week.)

now i know at this point in the process, i was sitting there overwhelmed and wondering how i was going to do this, where i was going to put everything, afford everything, .....and just remember everything. if you're at that point right now, just remember, i too was there, we were on a very tight budget, we have an extremely tiny house, no closets, a damp basement, a total wreck of a kitchen without kitchen counters, and i was scared, so if i can do this YOU can do this, 

ok so we have a sample week of supper menus, and a list of other meals your family likes

plus an idea of how many weeks (2) you want to try and stock for.

now we do some math,  first off you take the meals you know you will repeat ......so that would be say two meals of  homemade pizza

and you are going to make a roast either of beef or chicken or even turkey, and cut that up for a stew, and the pot pie.

now you just have to fill in the others (fill in your own meals ok-i'm working on a pdf for you to download)

1. roast
2. stew and/or potpie
3. chicken stir fry 
4. meatloaf
5. pizza
6. pizza
7. pork chops
8. pasta
9. soup and sandwitch
10. baked chicken
11. tuna casserole
12. tilapia fillets with parmesan coating
13. enchiladas
14. chili

ok so there is about a two week batch of meals...just supper at this point, cause lunches are normally leftovers (so i just make extras- enough for a meal or two for the freezer and a bit leftover for lunch the next day)

now we are going to break it down into manageable units ( which is going to start tomorrow as i have been working all day and my eyes are exhausted!)

please leave any questions you may have in the comments and we'll work them out as we go along

dehydrating 102- & pantry cooking- PHOTO heavy

to continue from yesterday
(for rho)
today i am going to show you how to use some dried veggies in a meal.
i took pictures and posted them of the tortilla potpie bowls the other day (scroll down) if you would like to make a pot pie using tortillas (which we do as it's fast)...and that is a whole wheat tortilla in the photo.

melted butter with olive oil added

1/8 cup flour added

now as to filling, i tend to leftovers for potpies, and normally i start with a roux, which is a mix of equal parts flour and a fat .....
for pot pies i use a mix of butter and olive oil for the fat.

starting to whisk flour in

beef stock added

so lets say we start with a tablespoon of butter and one of olive oil, melt the butter in a heavy bottom pot, then add the oil and let that heat a bit
then add about 1/8 cup of flour, you can use all purpose
 whisk that together
i used beef stock in this, about 1-1/2 cups

finished sauce

you can use whatever you have on hand. you can even use bullion reconstituted if you absolutely have to. (ignore my crappy non counter, i am still trying to get counters in the kitchen!)

whisk it while heating until it gets thicker and smooth.
it should be lump free doing it this way
btw, this will also make gravy if you need to, the very same method, but use the pan drippings after you separate out the fats

dried onions in mason jar

dried veggies soaking

 meanwhile i took some dried veggies and started to soak them in hot water as we aren't going to do a true soup or stew. i just grabbed whatever i had close on the shelf, so it ended up as diced eggplant, vidalia onions, and some diced sweet peppers ( i need to dry another batch of carrots it looks like)

chicken sauteing in pan

leftover potatoes and onions to add

i diced up some chicken breast i had.....and simmered that with the veggies and their dehydrating water- i also had some leftover potatoes and onions from the other night....yup they went in there also




added some fresh ground pepper, and a dash of paprika and garlic powder,  a bit of tomato sauce i had in the fridge (you can use a cube you froze from something else)

dried veggies added to pan

sauce added and stirred

then added the roux thickened beef stock to it all and dumped it into the tortilla bowl..








i briefly softened another tortilla(not soft enough from the look of the photo) and put that on top, then into the oven at 350 for about 20 to 30 minutes. (i like the top a bit crispy)

add paprika & tomato sauce

add to the tortilla bowl

it is pantry and leftover cooking at it's finest!....
now i like to keep a lot of whole wheat tortillas on hand for my new found love ....enchiladas!
which i make out of leftovers, and add chopped vegetables to.
so these tortilla pot pies are sort of an extension of that idea, and while the enchiladas freeze well, i've never tried to freeze these.

i know that the photos are not the best however this is a pretty good way to use up leftovers, or make overs.... i use leftover everything (including leftover gravy when i made the turkey leftover pot pie)

out of the oven!- smells great!

cover with another tortilla and bake

 now i hope this helps you, because it does help to have another way to make leftovers, and to use pantry items.


by drying your own veggies and fruits, when are in season, you save a lot of money, and by keeping a pantry full of food, you know that in case of emergency you have a safety margin for yourself and your family.

here again are some sites for dehydration
http://www.clemson.edu/sustainableag/IP147_food_dehydration.pdf

http://msuextension.org/publications/HomeHealthandFamily/MT200907HR.pdf

http://nchfp.uga.edu/

i hope this helps you....
please let me know in the comments

where in we discuss dehydration of vegetables 101

*** edited to add some links to official dehydration sites at the bottom of this post

as some of you folks may remember, i keep a very large pantry.
i try to make sure that we have enough of everything to last us, in case of emergencies

storms
power outages
shortages (remember the rice shortage?)
financial set backs
illness

i try to keep three methods of food storage.

frozen
canned
dried

my friend rho asked me to do a post about dehydrated foods....
so i am going to start talking about that today (which is thursday for you folks)

first off i want to tell you, drying food at home is not hard,
with some minimal care,
it lasts a very long time, properly stored,
and it's wonderful for emergencies.
or because you just can't bear to scrub, peel and slice the carrots for the stew tonight cause you are so very tired from working all day

first off there are plenty of books on this (we'll get to the book list in another post- if i forget, you remind me)

so we'll start with the real basics, the dehydrator
i have several (yes i know)
i have two excaliburs (one 9 tray and one 5) and an american harvest with something like 11 trays.
i like all of them
and sometimes ALL of them are in use at the same time!

some of the things i dry the most?
carrots
broccoli
sweet peppers
tomatoes
ONIONS (you haven't lived until you've eaten dried vidalia onions-dry them OUTSIDE-you will thank me for that one)
cabbage
herbs
oranges
lemons
limes
grapefruit
zucchini
eggplant
peaches
sliced mushrooms
asparagus
celery


(and occasionally potatoes but you have to really watch potatoes, they mold FAST)

so let's start with something very easy.
onions! in spite of the smell, and i am very very serious about drying them OUTSIDE of your living area, they will get to you if not........
onions are great to dry
i sliced them up in the food processor one year and it was even easier to do
i like them about 1/8 thick
spread them in one layer on the trays, and depending on weather, i start at about 5 hours, then flip them until they are almost crisp. these things are fantastic as a snack btw.

now mine changed color a bit but that was ok too
we also grind them for onion powder as we need them

when they are totally dry, i put them in mason jars with a 'dry can' seal i use a seal-a-meal jar sealer and a used but washed canning lid and ring
label (although onions are pretty obvious.....citrus not so much so)
i think 50 # of vidalia dried down to 4 quarts or maybe 5, i wasn't able to do them this year or last so i can't quite remember how many, but i know that i STILL have them on the shelf
keep them stored in a cool, dark, DRY place (in moist climates, either use them food grade 'stay dry' packs or maybe try the heat sealing mylar bags or both--)

i will tell you also that i hooked more people on drying food by letting them have some of my dried vidalia onions....they are like fantastic chips- seriously, they are better then onion flavored potato chips!

i basically dry citrus the same way, just sliced and dried......USE ORGANIC citrus if you are going to do that ok? and remember to label the jars...... next time lemons and limes are on sale.... pick them up and dry them
i dry these guys crisp, and i do use them often
the oranges in either blueberry orange compot or my cranberry orange sauce at the holidays
sometimes i grind up the citrus slices and throw that into cookie dough......

now some things need to be blanched briefly before drying, i usually blanch broccoli and then slice it thin and dry it- not so much things like peppers or tomatoes, or zucchinis etc.

i cut the veggies uniformly, and i try to cut them into pieces that are pretty easy to deal with, i like to dice peppers and eggplant
i slice carrots and zucchini into 1/8'' slices
i grow special tomatoes sometimes for sun drying but i dry them in the dehydrator (they sometimes turn very dark but that's ok, i don't use sulfur or anything to preserve color)


use? well....... i mostly use them in soups or stews (either soak in liquid prior or just throw them in about 1/2 or so before you're going to eat )
and in sauces- also in dips with sour cream
i like the broccoli in cream of broccoli cheddar soup

but i am going to tell you a HUGE secret.......shhhhhh don't tell bernie, and DO NOT TELL YOUR KIDS
i grind my dried veggies up and put them into things like stuffing for poultry, or into a casserole sauce,
or into meatballs, meatloaf...... hahahaha
what they don't know is wonderful for them

ok, so that's your intro to dehydrating veggies and fruits
i know it's basic but really it's not hard

ask me questions in the comments and we will continue this for a few days if you find it interesting and useful...

http://www.clemson.edu/sustainableag/IP147_food_dehydration.pdf

http://msuextension.org/publications/HomeHealthandFamily/MT200907HR.pdf

http://nchfp.uga.edu/

time after time...

a very very busy day tuesday.....
i took more photos of the birds and the nests to print.
i did a ton of paperwork
i have more to do
it was warm and i cleaned the woodstove.
i am so unsettled.

what do you do when you are unsettled?

right now i can't even knit!

don't you hate paperwork days? i spent almost all day with the printer, downloading and printing out files.
that is the downside to paperless statements.

the freezer meals i put by really saved me today, i took out a pork with apple cider and saurkraut for tonight.... it was really good, just popped it into a casserole into the oven (FROZEN TO OVEN!)

so this will post wednesday for you folks...... i am going to try to edit and update this with painting progress photos and etsy photos as well during the day

meanwhile
take good care

vi

a blast from the past..

i have been sending links to some of the really funny posts from my blog to a friend of mine, periodically to make her laugh.

she's had a rough year with some really serious losses, and it's the least i can do to make her laugh for a second or two.

i thought maybe some of you folks would like a laugh too, because there are times during the holiday season and throughout the year that you just need to laugh, to read something funny or silly. so i was sort of thinking about how to do that.... i was going to set up a page and then tag the posts (i am still going to tag the posts) 

but i realized that maybe i needed to do it regularly? 

now the first link i sent to my friend was this one "i come by it honestly"

it is about the time my parents got stuck in my front door.

i swear sometimes i needed a laugh track for parts of my life

this was was pretty funny. (and if you do go and read it, and find it funny let me know- it is a true story, and still cracks me up- my family was nuts i swear.....)

now i need to come with a tag for the old funny posts, so if you have any ideas let me know.

comments are open.... (HINT HINT)

next up, a continuation of the current painting in progress, (the other day i showed you the layout, now there is the beginnings of the first color washes on it)- i know i like to see how things progress and i thought maybe you folks would like it too-- i won't be able to paint on it as much as i would normally, due to the ongoing work on getting the first nest series, the bird series etc ready to list on etsy. 

i am trying so hard with that. it's taking longer then i thought as i have to keep stopping for either camera battery recharging or other unavoidable things. but i am continuing. - i have also found unbendable mailers for the prints. 

i found a way to do them as cards as well, but the cards would have a retail of about 3.00 each, so i am not sure (the kickstarter i was working on last year, priced the cards out to be affordable as sets, but that was from a large volume order through a local printer, not done in the studio)

detail of painting

ok .....in knitting news, i am working on the vine lace pattern, and am reduced to counting after i work every single row!- it's ok though as i still find it relaxing,......although it would be better if i didn't have to. counting however is better then tinking (knitting backwards) ** if you want to knit this stitch it's in one of the walker treasuries, let me know and i'll dig it out

now this post i am typing at night, it's actually monday the 2, but it'll post in the morning. tomorrow while you are having your coffee, i will be slaving away over the hot lights, shooting more photos of my work. (apparently doing that correctly is an art in itself)

anyhow let me know if you enjoy that archived post, because then i'll put more links up to the funniest posts (funny stuff seems to go in cycles around here..... the latest cycle is more creative as opposed to funny but the funny cycle will return, it always does)

take good care

until next time

vi

a long and winding...........road

i am slowly finding my way i think,
i did three outlines (see yesterday's post) for the three main projects i am working on currently
and i wish i could grasp how to sort of put them all together if that is at all possible ....if not.... oh well.

in the meantime, i finished the layout of the new nest painting, and started to lay down first washes. (see the layout transferred- that is how i begin working, i transfer it and then erase it!)
i also have now gotten a better way to plan series.
i began to cut all the paper for the series first, so they are all the same size (and type, you would not believe the mess of different papers the bird series is on)
boy it really IS the journey huh?
i've decided first off.....better late then never, and also that when i start the series, the first thing i am going to do is pick and cut the paper!

(*** i put the catalog number of each paper on the back of the paper, and when i cut the paper i also make sure that the catalog number is on every single page back. then i keep a master list of the catalog numbers with the paper manufacturers name, the #, and the surface finish, inside the box of cut papers-now when i go to photograph these paintings, i will take a scrap of the paper it's painted on to set the white balance in the camera with- finally i figured that part out--- for now this feels like the right way to do it) oh and i long for a flat file..... or two, i am thinking now....20 drawers would be about right...to be added to as i continue to paint.

now today started out sunny but it fast became very overcast and threatening. we even brought the ducks in early as they looked miserable out there.
it's not really cold out but raw, so we've kept the woodstove going... i've used pieces of dried bark from time to time to heat it up a bit more then what the log is doing by itself.
it's sort of a lazy day around here.....in spite of my poor overloaded brain.
bernie keeps nodding off in his chair, the cats are laying around like furry little lumps, even the chickens seem subdued, the only ones that seem not to be affected by the day is the budgies.....they are screaming their fool heads off inside.

i want to thank everyone that came to visit me .....i hope you all come back soon.
i am slowly trying to tag the back posts so that recipes, and information on how to do stuff is easier to find, as well as some of the funny stories.
a few posts a day i am tagging with their contents, i am not sure how many i can tag per day but i am doing a few here and there

i spoke to a friend of mine today and read her the post about bernie's angel, i am sharing the link with you folks as it reminded me.... (i ended up crying as i read it to her..) really maybe we aren't alone, even during the darkest times? so since another one of my friends pointed out that this is the beginning of advent if you are a christian, i think putting the link to bernie's angel is ok.

now i am not a religious person at all, BUT, i do believe there is a higher power in the universe. however i definitely do not believe that only one religion has a handle on it-  and i do believe in angels.. maybe not with the whole wing and halo thing though..... (the one dream i had about a winged being scared me shitless for MONTHS)
i also believe in miracles cause we've had them happen to us. anyway this seems appropriate for the current holiday season as well as some of what appears to be going on in my life---

i definitely have had a huge burst of creativity- it's like my brain is getting stuffed to overfill with creative ideas, so very many, and a part of me is trying to enjoy that, because i love when i get a bunch of wonderful interesting and irresistible ideas like that, and a part of me that can't quite see how to accomplish all i want to do yet (despite the project planning lists) throws my hands up and says to the universe, 'well if this is what i am supposed to do.... help me find my way'
somehow that seems to work........ not always fast, although there have been lighting fast responses that i have no choice but to classify as miracles

pyrex oven proof bowl

well folks you'll all read this tomorrow morning, but it's sunday night right now. i'm about to go into the kitchen, we are making sort of pot pies out of tortilla  and leftovers, so we'll do that together (they are actually pretty good and if anyone is interested, i'll tell you how we did it)
oh and rho asked for information on how to dry food and how to use dried foods
so i will get to that too, in a while ( i wrote it down rho)

drape tortilla over the outside

softened tortilla in the bowl

 ok i drape the tortilla over the bowl on the outside and put that in the microwave for about 15 seconds, it softens it up enough to put it INSIDE the bowl then

shaped into the bowl while warm

you can now add your filling, and bake it in the oven. i usually add the filling pre-cooked and hot. you can moisten the edges with water/egg and add a softened tortilla on the top then bake at 350 until the top is crispy (it puffs up)
i'll have to make a start to finish for you on this.
you can make the filling with dried veggies and leftover meats in a homemade cream sauce....
if you want me to run through an whole post on this please let me know


take  good care everyone.....

tis the season... and my brain is on hyper overdrive

good morning!!  it's not quite as cold as it's been.
good thing too,  as the log i put in the woodstove at 4am hadn't really caught, and things were cooling off down here. but thankfully  not quite enough for DA BOY to scream his fool head off at the very top of his lungs.

now i am so excited to show you, a photo of one of the prints.
 i liked it so much i signed it! ( yes the photo of the print is terrible but the print itself is WONDERFUL and i will take better photos for etsy)
i am giving my eyes a short rest and then continuing on with photographing and printing of the nest series and of the bird series.
and i will be taking much better pictures of the digital prints and uploading to etsy.

meanwhile i started a second series of nest paintings, these are larger, and i am hoping will be a worthy successor to the first series.
the second series at this point is planned to be 6 paintings of 8x10 with a larger print size, of i think maybe 11X14 (which at this point will have to be commercially printed)

as many of you can see there are some changes going on around here, one is i have returned to daily posting on the blog. this is something i did for years then stopped when i realized people actually read me!...... i guess now i am thinking ok-- the more the merrier, although it may take me a bit to find my way again.

now today, i am continuing with yesterday's list.--

right now, i have a billion creative things going on in my head, series of paintings that i had planned as books, series i want to paint, crafts that i do, that i want to put together instructions for so the art isn't lost, and all the other things i been babbling on about.

over the years i learned that it actually is pretty easy (in a way) to do some really big projects by writing down an outline in a notebook.
i take a part of a page for where i am (that's where i am starting from)
i have a page for where i need to end up
then i plan the steps in between
i use post it notes in different colors for things such as  'supplies needed'
and then i sit and figure what i need to do step by step
the other thing i do, which normal people may not have to do, is transfer each step to it's own index card
and then only put the ONE CARD in front of me where i can see it.
(don't laugh, but it's how i clean the bathroom too- it's also how i planned the garden, the freezer meals, batch cooking etc-- i just wish i wasn't housekeeping impaired, you can actually write in the dust on the bookcases, and we named the cobwebs!)

so for the print project, where i am starting from is completed paintings
where i am going is digital prints available through etsy
my steps are:

1. research cameras 
2. research how to take art prints
3. research lights and lighting
4. take photographs of the paintings under different lighting to test the best
5. sort, and prep the digital files for printing
6. research printing options, paper and inks
7. test print and quality check
8. print
9. coat with uv coating
10. research shipping options
11. add costs up
12. write listings
13. photograph prints

i may have some sub steps and if i do i list them on the back of the index card
i hope this helps someone as when i was first learning how to make dolls (way back in the late '70s)
i remember how overwhelmed i was when i realized what i had to do and how much work i had ahead of me......i couldn't think straight!, then one day i decided to do it this way and everything clicked!
i reached most of my goals (the biggest one was to be in Nutshell news magazine and to get a cover, and yes...yes i did!)

my main project is the etsy store,  but i also have a second project of submitting to agents
and a third project of planning a kickstarter (that one is after the etsy store)

i can suggest if you need to plan a project try it this way... and remember to research in between
if you need a suggestion leave a comment and i'll try to help you figure your steps.

ok, i am finished with my second cuppa, the cats are sprawled like little furry rugs in front of the woodstove.
i am going to finish transferring my layout to the watercolor paper and see about first washes on that
then i am going to debone the last of the turkey from thursday and make some 'tv dinners' for the freezer, and turkey stock from the carcass (also for the freezer)

what are you folks doing today?

Clear, cold and saturday

what do you all have planned?
it's very cold here today, but the sun is shining, bernie just asked it i thought it may be too cold for the ducks to go out, (no as it's not windy, so they'll be ok with their little feather coats)
the woodstove is cooking pretty good too.

btw, i want to thank jamlady for testing the 'email me' button, yes it worked thank you, and i responded to you. (thanksgiving week was probably a bad week to ask for that huh?)

i'm sitting here with my second cup of coffee, and i am doing paperwork, making a list of what i have to do today to continue with the etsy store stocking,

*shoot the photos of the printed painting, and then watermark then
*continue to test print, and prep files for that
*research where i am going to get the shipping supplies,-these prints are THICK, they won't roll into       tubes, but i am going to look at 'no bend' mailers
*transfer a layout to start painting part of  the second nest series
*do tear sheets for submission to two manufacturers
*how do i upload a pdf file for people to download?

that's part of my continued list.  please bear with me through this, right now this IS my daily life, more so then normal. bernie's been doing a lot of the cooking (remember all the 'tv dinners' i froze?) as i am a bit overwhelmed with what i have to do, some of which i am learning on the fly so to speak. (and my turtle pace has been seriously speeded up )

i am also considering self publishing that crow book, and maybe part of my sketch planning journal... with the in progress photos of my paintings, along with the notes and things about the paintings
this occurred to me while i was writing the story of how the paintings came about for when i start uploading them to etsy.

i know i am always interested in how folks did stuff, what they were thinking, how they came to that place. then i thought, well if i was interested maybe other folks would be? people seem to like to watch artists and craftspeople work...

actually you folks joining me right now for coffee are sort of part of my planning circle, so any ideas you have let me know. i am doing my thinking out loud to you guys.
as right now a thousand things are swirling in my mind.
seriously suddenly there are so many projects that sound interesting ...... between books, and paintings, prints, and pdf files with patterns for some of the crafts i do.

i am also trying to convince myself that marketing is not an evil endeavor of self promotion but an incredible interesting way of meeting new people...(still working on that idea.... feel free to input)

well folks, i am about to finish this cup of coffee, and i think i'm finished with the stuff on the computer for now.... so i am going to start shooting the bird series and seeing about finishing up with the files and test prints of the nests.
i am going to post some of the photos of the test prints here, you guy can maybe let me know which exposure looks the best to yous?

have a good day
ttyl
vi

GOOD morning! how was your holiday?

i hope everyone had a wonderful day.
we had a very quiet day.
we won't discuss HOW stuffing ended up on my head......
(except to say it was my own stupidity--)
we have hot water again so i was able to take a shower....YEAH!!
i really didn't want to walk around smelling like sage and turkey, (cause no matter how hard you try a sponge bath doesn't really do it as i have discovered) i had visions of every stray carnivore in 15 miles following me around.

i will admit to being lazy about our meal prior to yesterday. we'd had mashed potatoes earlier in the week so we had saved them for yesterday. we roasted sweet potatoes instead of that casserole with the marshmallows and i threw the cranberries in a pot to make sauce as i was letting the turkey rest.

here is a very fast way of making home made cranberry sauce.
i don't really measure things so i am going to give you an approximation

1 bag of fresh cranberries, usually about 12-16 oz
1 cup sugar
1 cup apple cider, or apple juice, OR orange juice
1 whole organic orange or tangerine (you're going to zest the colored part of the peel into this
3 spokes off a star anise

zest the citrus fruit into the pan, and if you didn't use orange juice as the liquid, then squeeze the juice out of the citrus fruit into the pan.
then dump all the rest into a sauce pan and bring it to a boil, stirring occasionally.....i gently boil it until things sort start to pop and the liquid is nice a red.
it will start coating the spoon....
that's it .....it is pretty much done. fish out the star anise and toss that into the compost.
chill it, and there you have it
if you want to can it, i put it in either the small (see the picture-i even made it sorta pretty for you all) 4oz jars or the 8oz jelly jars.
i use a boiling water bath canner and it's 10 minutes time.

now you can also at that point chop some apple into it
and or add some chopped nuts
one of my friends chops bananas into his.
this is fun so experiment a bit.

i was snacking on this sauce last night long after supper.
a fast note on this, i put it in the small 4oz canning jars for serving, cause it looked so cute in there, and it was just about the right amount per person (if you love cran sauce like i do)

ok, now in my painting news, i am still working on photographing my work, having discovered that thought i THOUGHT i was doing the custom white balance correctly, it turns out i wasn't! (remember the polar bear painting from the other day where i showed you what a difference a good crop makes?)
so since i discovered that youtube video on my camera's white balance i realized i needed to reshoot almost all the paintings again.
guess what i am doing today? and tomorrow most likely, and well......i guess every day until i get them all done.
i am working hard on getting them ready to offer the prints in the etsy store i in the middle of working on.
i've also started writing the stories behind how each series started, and what i was going through while painting them, which will go on the listings and also be printed and enclosed with the digital prints.
i am also beginning to plan a kickstarter for valentines day or spring/easter
so if anyone wants to give me some feedback on what they would like to see my images on....... that will become part of the set up. and yes i will blog about it
i personally would LOVE to offer garden flags, i don't know why i want to see my work on them so much, maybe because i have a few and really do like them.
i will be submitting to toland flag in a few weeks hoping to become one of their artists, but i am also going to inquire about having them do a run of a custom flag for me to maybe offer on etsy.

i will tell you folks, any imput any one of you may have for me would be invaluable.
so either post in comment or email me from the 'email me' button
(actually someone want to email me from that email button to make sure it works ok? i tweeted it a bit)

now december of 2014 marks the 10 year anniversary of this blog. yes it's true, i been blowing hot air for ten whole years on this blog! amazing huh?
i am thinking i need to celebrate, so i am planning on having a giveaway.... i am not sure what yet, or how to do it but i'm open to suggestions

so now, i am going to finish this cup of coffee, and get started on my list of chores
i hope everyone has a wonderful start to the holiday season

edited to add, since the inception of this blog, it's been a way to talk to my online friends over a cup of coffee, normally i post either after supper (and publish that in the morning) or in the morning when i drink my coffee. just so you all know.....for the most part it is just us over coffee!
someone pass the bagels now?

i wish you and yours all the happiest of holidays

no matter what you celebrate.

i wish you the warmth of togetherness
i wish you good food, laughter, love and magic
for now and for all your days

what says home to you?

today here in the north east, we have a winter storm. (this is being written 11/26 at night-you'll see it tomorrow morning)
it's cold, wet, raw.....and generally miserable to be outside.
(i didn't bring all the ducks out, and the ones i did take out only stayed out about 3 hours before i decided they needed to come in the house)

i was however outside a good part of the day. there were big things afoot out there and i was in the midst of them.
i'm in the house now and waiting for bernie to come home.
it got me to thinking... what says home to me?

i remember when i was young, before i married bernie, coming home on a day like today to the smell of mom's cooking when i opened the door with the slight steam that went with it,...... to a warm house due to the fire in our fireplace (we heated with wood in a giant masonry heater/fireplace) and the yellow glow of the lamps in the living room.
i would take a hot bath or shower, get into my nightgown and robe, snuggle my toes into slippers... and sigh.
i was home- i was safe - i was loved.

now my folks and childhood home are long gone.
and our current home is VERY tiny, and a lot cluttered- books overflow almost everywhere.
we also keep a very full pantry, all over the main part of the house as well as the basement - we don't have closets either.
but it's warm thanks to our woodstove, there is always something cooking it would seem, and we keep the lights dotted around low. (we also keep some 'christmas light's on all year round in the studio...the tiny led fairy lights)

it's lived in for sure
by us, by the pets we have, even at times by the uninvited  mouseguests.
one other thing that wasn't always done at my childhood home.... we normally listen to classical music in the fall/winter
my preference is baroque
it's on low, as i can't abide loud noises... but it soothing to me
after supper (tonight is beef stew i made and froze a while ago) i will knit, while bernie works on a model car.
the cats will snooze in front of the woodstove.
*** i uploaded a video of our woodstove from a few years ago, it still looks the same, so i figured you all may like to see it.....

so now.............

my question to you all... what says home to you?

count down, to the holidays, winter cold and keeping warm

are you all ready for the thanksgiving holiday?

we mostly are, since there were the turkey breasts on sale for .99 a pound.
i have to make cranberry sauce.. which i most likely will some time between now and thursday...or maybe not..if i find a home canned jar on the shelf then we're good to go with that.

i've taken to roasting poultry breast down for the majority of the time- i can recommend it.
i flip it for the last maybe 1/3 of the time, really just to brown the skin
i have found that the meat doesn't dry out.
i like doing breasts instead of whole birds because legs take longer and when they are done it seems that the breast can be dry... but really try a breast down bird ...( try it in an off month, see if you like it)

today was an insanely busy day for me, i had a lot of stuff to do for bernie, then a lot of stuff to do for 'the family' financial stuff, getting the elements that didn't fit returned, tracking down where the other elements are ...all sorts of stuff like that
i managed to print the polar bears, (the wider one) and it looked good but is a bit crooked on the paper...so i have to make sure that the paper is loading right for the next print.

the weather warmed up a bit (yeah all things are relative...it's not above freezing), i was up with the woodstove several times last night.... today i shoveled a coal bed out of it and let it burn down too.
now for those of you contemplating a woodstove or pellet stove, i can tell you some of my reasoning behind what we got (prompted by a conversation i had with someone recently about non oil heating)
i had a list of things i needed/wanted/expected

1) warm/cook food in an emergency
2) radiate heat for a while after it burnt down
3) be safer at around 400 degrees instead of 800 or more
4) non catalytic (the catalytic converters cost a LOT of money to replace )
5) burn something easy to get a hold of
6) easy to maintain

the few years before we got our woodstove, while i was ruling out things like pellet stoves, coal burners, heat pumps, solar.......

Pellet stoves---there was a pellet shortage...no one could get the pellets as at that time i believe, there was only one place making pellets and something happened- (now a lot of 'pellet' stoves also burn 'biomass' so you can burn cherry pits, corn, barley etc... not just pellets- you can't cook on them, and you need a battery back up to run the hopper incase of electrical outages- plus you need to shovel out the ash daily)

Coal or duel fuel coal/wood---i looked at coal or duel fuel coal/wood.... coal burns HOT, too hot to be in the studio. and i wasn't at that time interested in a whole house duel fuel furnace.
i didn't want to shake the grate down and remove chinkers either.... the technology is very good however, they don't pollute like they used to and you can cook on them- but they aren't soapstone so they are HOT

Catalytic wood stoves--- the only thing against them was the need to periodically replace the catalytic converter

Outdoor wood furnaces --- not very fuel efficient, have to go outside every 12-ish hours to stoke them- can't cook on them but they will heat a few buildings, and heat water all outside!

so our choice was a soapstone woodstove.....the hearthstone phoenix-- and really it was the right choice for us.
when we move i swear i am going to carry this stove on my BACK if i have to and take it to the next house!
however if i get a crack at a soapstone masonry heater..... i may reconsider
we burn about 4-5 cords (@ about 500 per 3 full cords of seasoned hardwood) in a bad winter, but we also have very poor windows and insulation in the studio where the stove is...
it does keep the whole house pretty warm, with the exception of those couple of weeks in dead of winter. but still so far (since 05) we've never had any thing actual freeze except the front door a few times ....but then we don't have a storm door

the fire is so delightful.......

currently on the needles, vine lace scarf on size 2 in 'aegean' zephyr-blue isn't my color really but i had gotten a decent deal on zephyr, before TSHTF....... so i'm knitting 'rhinebeck' scarfs....on tiny needs for mindless comfort knitting..

well it's cold, really cold....like january/february cold--
windy as hell too.
the ducks and chickens will be staying in the house.
now this week, we are to get a bad storm, from what i understand.
although it's been downgraded from snow to mostly rain
i feel for everyone traveling on thanksgiving
i am so happy that we have that wood stove, and i am so very thankful we have a lot of wood in..... bernie is splitting that big maple up now that died and was dropped two years ago (it wast two right?-- either 2 or 3)
i miss that tree, it was my favorite one (don't tell the others, i tell each of them that they are my favorite, except for that swamp maple out back that insists on dropping bumper crops of pollynose seeds into my garden right after i plant it)
anyway that maple is now keeping us warm.
and now the front maple died (smaller tree) and that will be coming down and be used for firewood as well.

are you folks ready for thanksgiving? we pretty much are as ready as we are going to get. i would have liked a rutabaga, but probably won't get one.
i could also have used an orange for the cran sauce..... but i have some dried so i will most likely use that.

i have two turkey breasts and a full turkey in the freezer, we'll do one of the breasts for the holiday and i think roast the full turkey and cut that up for freezer meals.
i love turkey, i think it's my favorite meat ........ i am eating turkey soup with pastina as i type this (on sunday night, it'll publish tomorrow morning)

today i was not well, bernie made us scrambled duck eggs this morning, and didn't realize that 5 duck eggs are way too much for two people.... along with bacon....
it was way way too rich for me and i got very sick
at the most i think two to 3 duck eggs are more then enough for two people to split....
they are huge!
 they are much richer then chicken eggs
oye....and now.....nothing i am doing is keeping me warm, even with the woodstove having the studio temperature up to 80, and me all bundled up in fleece and wool..... i'm chilled

ok so today i finally learned how to set white balance on my camera, which means that the paintings are going to be redone (some are ok, but some aren't so i plan on redoing all of them)

some of the paintings that i love the most are actually studies, loose, fast and charming to my eye
i'm experimenting with different cropping to see how i like them best...
one in particular is the momma and baby polar bear......it's actually done on a failed aurora borealis study!..... it just was a bunch of experiments that worked ...i cropped it very tight at first (digital cropping, the painting is actually huge).... then cropped it wider...
i like both, as the tight crop shows the bears better but the wider crop makes the bears part of the desolation of the arctic...... how utterly empty it can seem during the winter there.
see what different ways of cropping images does to them?
if you have a print you love but maybe there is one area .... not so much, you can get the mat made so that area is not there anymore.

i think when i offer that as a print, i will offer both...... and even though it is a study, i love it........and that is WHY i am going to print it.
i can tell you, i am getting some inquiries on prints, i actually have been even before inna talked to me.
this has surprised me, as i thought mainly that these paintings need to be 'something' like a card....or a calender or garden flag... maybe i was wrong?

well folks, i been working on this post for the last three hours or so, on and off... in between eating soup and knitting while bernie watched a pirate movie on dvd (one of the johnny depp movies...they all look alike to me)
so now i am going to hit publish and call it a night
sleep well

tell me if you hate it ?

i allowed adsense back on the blog.... tell me if you hate it ok?
if it's too distracting i will remove it again.

ok so this is what is going on here, i continued to print more of the nest paintings...and of course ran into trouble with the colors, but being the turtle person that i am, kept plugging away.
i am going to start to document this printing/licensing journey with you all
i know some of you folks have been with me a long long time
the blog is going to be 10 years old soon!
i will admit that at one point i took a break, having gotten scared at how high my readership got....
i thought i was talking at most to like what? 7-12 people, and then realized it was a lot bigger then that
i am ok with that now.
in fact now i am thinking..... the more the merrier
i've hoped that i have helped some folks along the way here and there...
maybe helped them avoid some of the pitfalls i fell into with things ( such as the water heater element fiasco)
i hope that some of you got enjoyment out of watching my paintings evolve.....
or a smile at the duck stories.....
maybe you got a laugh from some of my family stories?
i hope so
i know for a lot of the time, it's just me and you having coffee together......

i also know now, i am being pushed toward putting my paintings out in the world, part of me is scared shitless..... thinking ...'well they are just another painting, there are plenty others just as good if not better then i am'
and part of me is saying..... 'listen, i don't know WHY but i feel driven to do this, so want to come along on the journey with me?'
so that is where i'm at right now
and i am so very far out of my comfort zone that i feel like i almost woke up in someone else's life....
or on mars or something....
yet at the same time.... some of the work i am doing is really fascinating me!
and i am determined to LEARN marketing.... to get my work licensed.....i really really REALLY want to see my crows on garden flags.....
and see some other as yet unpainted work on dinnerware
books, calenders....... journals..... plus cards and prints too



oh and we got a light dusting of snow too.... (when you read this, the snow will have been last night-- i am writing this now and it'll post in the morning)

sponge baths are for the birds *** edited, scroll to the bottom!

and not even my birds! (they take real baths)
and here is an older photo of phoebe (before the woodshed was built!)
we probably won't have hot water until tuesday
so we have been taking sponge baths with stockpots full of hot water.... i hope this no hot water thing isn't now an annual pre-thanksgiving tradition.....
(and to insure that it isn't we are so getting not only solar showers but point of use hot water heaters, just in case-the small ones .... one for the kitchen one for the shower)

now on to other things.
as some of you may know, i am going to be putting my prints on etsy soon.
i am still working out bugs (like the black and white prints are printing with a gray background)
well as an adjunct to this, i have to market them
so i found some online sites that have marketing tips for artists.
one site in particular stood out, with the following article
99 ways to market your art

and with that
this is a quote from there (it's step 5)

5. Realize you’re already brave. Ask friends, fans, and customers what things you have the nerve to do that they admire. You probably tend to take your piano compositions or playwriting for granted, yet how many people have told you they could never do what you do? You can talk to them in person or send them an email with a few simple questions. You might get some surprising answers.

 so i am asking you folks that read me....... what would you tell me? (and this is a huge leap for me asking you folks)
i don't know what it is exactly about marketing that makes me (and so many other artists especially) get the 'run and hide hives' but it does

i know i am at the point where i am actually liking my work, (not enough to set on my laurels mind you/ i got a love hate thing going on with it)
it seems that other people like it as well, i've been getting feelers out about commissions
which at the moment i am not doing (unless it's prints)

anyway i read through that link and a lot of the stuff that they suggest makes sense to me......some seems over the top but i know a few people that are successful working self employed and they seem to engage in endless self promotion
(which at this point even the thought of it is exhausting to me)

anyway, i hope some of you folks will comment on this and give me some of your thoughts
(i also hope that the comments link is working now)

oh and we are hoping to have some big to us news in a few weeks... so of course i will let all you folks know
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ok, this isn't the huge news we are hoping to share in a few weeks but this is news for me~! this is my first color test print of one of my paintings!!!! it's part of the nest series and it's centered on a 8x10 heavy weight photo paper. i like it very much, (excuse the crappy excited photo of the first one)
i will be offering the prints for sale on etsy soon, (with much better photos) for 20.00 plus shipping.
they are sized so that they can be put into a standard frame, under uv glass (seal the back of the frame with brown paper and tape as all art prints should be)
so... whatcha all think??

water heaters, parts and such

well you never know around here when you get up in the morning what the day will bring
today it brought me...... waterheater parts!
we have a kenmore survivor water heater.......it's 20 years old now and nope does not leak
however getting elements for it is a nightmare
this doesn't use the standard elements
in doing research i have discovered that not only is this water heater still available....(it's now called 'marathon' ) but that it's made for RHEEM now by water innovations inc
i tracked this all down by looking at the marathon water heaters at home depot web site...then reading the use/care manuals...... THEN calling home depot online to ask 'well you sell the water heaters, where do you get parts'
they told me rheem
i went to rheem and FOUND THE PARTS NUMBERS for what i needed!
then i realized on the old boxes that it was drop shipped from water heater innovations!
which i had also called but couldn't get through
so there you go
the marathon water heaters are the exact same guts as the kenmore survivors....with some minor differences
and the parts numbers are the exact same!

oye
meanwhile i am out about 200 bucks at the moment
and i am going to put an instant hot water unit at the kitchen sink and probably the shower in the future
as hot water problems drive me absolutely apeshit nuts

i swear i hate sears..... ever since we bought appliances from them......we will NEVER make that mistake again..... the appliances are good (or were) but their customer service sucks....and has sucked for at least 30 years
i will dance when sears finally goes under (and walmart too- another company that should be ashamed of themselves)

further researcch

EDITED TO ADD- i am considering a limited number of my black and white illustrations, hand colored.... what do you guys think? they would be a lot more money though, the actual drawing i would print and then just hand color in selected areas.... (i don't know how much to charge for that ) they would be archival to about 400 years from what i understand from the pigment tests.....

at this point i can sell 'digital prints'
not giclee prints ( also not at giclee prices which are a LOT of money anyway)
so this is the deal at the moment
i'm going to be offering a lot of my paintings as digital prints
the sizes will at this point, be a maximum of 8x10
they will have uv coating for an archival life of approximately 75 to 100 years
(from the research i've done-)

i believe that the prints will retail for 20.00 .... before shipping
the prints will be unframed but they will fit in commercial frames so that no one will have to pay custom frame costs unless they want to

now if there is enough interest (ie: sales) then i'll move up to larger sized prints, and even maybe the books will get printed

now i will need some help marketing this project when it launches, if you folks wouldn't mind
because between marketing/agent search/printing/shipping/painting.....well we all know i will need to spend a lot of time painting too

and no this won't stop me from looking for representation because i would really like to see the crows not only as a book but as garden flags........ and the arctic goddess myths~legends, maybe as a calender?
not to mention some of the new work i want to do.. with the teacups/teapots, the botanicals and a very limited entomology, (yes jennifer, there could be butterflies).
of course bernie wants me to continue crows..... i may  but i am not ready to face the crows again yet, they really did take over things- and while i was painting crows, we had a TON of crows hanging around outside..it's like they KNEW

now in the meantime, i am continuing to work on getting this stuff printed up
so i can stock the etsy shop
i will need to drive traffic there ......and i am researching that as well
marketing so has not been my thing
tooting my own horn is something i am trying really hard to get comfortable with .......
i kept thinking that if i was a good enough artist the sales would just come!
ahem......maybe that's why a lot of artists had to wait until AFTER they are dead 100 years?

i don't really want to wait that long

again, any one have any comments.... please post here or email me
this is a bit scary for me, way out of my comfort range
and (thank you so much don for the comment) all the support you can give me is appreciated

dreams again

i dreamt that bernie was working at a new job... and that we were packing for some sort of trip
now the last dream that felt like this did, came true (october 04 )-- which i am hoping that this one does as well-- the last one was bad though.this is a better one
so we'll see-- i also had a dream a while back that my work was in a gallery ......... of sorts
it was like a museum ...and it was built to house my paintings.... it was a surprise in the dream, and i was brought to the opening gala.... which i ducked!
and wandered into the gallery..... shocked to see my paintings and drawings all hung
(especially since i am not focused on getting into a gallery but getting commercial work~!)

meanwhile
i have a SCORE mentor, who asked me to pick 10 dream companies i would like to work with
(i wonder how she knew i actually had that list?)
so i sent the list by return email
meanwhile i am still plugging away--i am also looking for paper to print these paintings on
putting together a plan for hiring an agent and also for licensing submissions
with an additional plan for producing some work inhouse.
and seeing about distribution
in a way it's exciting and in a way it's super scary....as it's all fine and good painting and designing in the studio... (which i am always doing) ....but it's another thing entirely to start sending your 'children' off into the big wide cold world.

AND
in the midst of this the elements on the hot water heater went out!
FYI, kenmore is actually made by AO Smith......and they had elements to fit
our elements have a 1-3/8'' nut, not the 1'' that is common now
so we ordered two from them
but i think we are going to look into one of the tank-less hot water on demand heaters
one for the bathroom and one for the kitchen-
i would also like a solar water heater too...

it's been very warm here ......... 50 at night and  60's during the day
bernie's been doing seasonal laundry too, the quilts and that ( i can't get the laundry out of the machine let alone carry it up anymore so he's been doing it....we fight over who gets to hang it out)
eventually we plan on putting a stack able washer/dryer in the studio- but we'll still keep the big washer downstairs for seasonal quilts and the big towels

ok before i forget, i've noticed that some folks are trying to comment and can't.. at the top of the blog on the right is an 'email me' link.... if you can't comment, email me.....
i'm trying to make sure the comments are fixed but i am not sure if they are or not

ok my shoulders are super super bad today, i've already iced them several times and taken a lot of Tylenol- which just took the edge of the pain off.....
it's bad today
so i've got to stop knitting, typing and painting for a bit

take care all
and email me if you can't comment

it's the middle of the night

yup yup a bit after 2am and i'm up --partly cause bernie is having a restless night, partly cause my head is in a total muddle

my dear friend inna ( you've heard me mention her before. inna from ingo jewelry http://www.ingojewelry.com/ and https://www.etsy.com/shop/ingodesign  -- yup that's her inna of the amazing shawl pins and jewelry) had a heart to heart talk with me about my work,  and suggested that i open an etsy shop to sell prints of my paintings (while i am looking for representation)

now i have to tell you all.....first off i am so blessed at the amazing friends i have......(you guys know who you are.... i wouldn't have gotten this far without you all)
people who've not only stood by me but been there when life dumped on our heads repeatedly.....
they are smart women too... very smart so when one of them starts to talk to me, i listen up
i don't always take their advise to heart but most of the time i do

and inna made a lot of sense today-it overwhelmed me, it moved me way out of my comfort zone....but she's right....and you guys are right
and i am going to listen

i've been moving towards selling my images for the past few years. it's a scary thing for me, because what i paint is who i am, it comes from my soul....it comes from the place that i touch the divine
now everyone has that place, some folks pray in a church....me i create.....i work with my hands
most of the time that's meant doing something like sculpting or painting, gardening or cooking.

so it's sort of difficult putting what i do out there, i took a huge leap out of my comfort zone last year when i did the kickstarter that didn't end up funded.
now i am thinking that maybe it was a good thing, although i didn't think so at the time, at the time all i could think of was how i failed...

so with that printer that i have had since last year, ( with the good archival ink technology )
this is most likely going to happen
we're going to set that printer up and test it.... now that i have the right RAW digital files of my work ( the images are blowing my mind, they are exactly the paintings)
this part i think i can do myself!

i have hopes that down the road i can get a wider bed printer, and photoshop with a really high end computer and digital drawing tablet to help but i can work with what i have now it looks like without sacrificing quality.  and the end quality is very very important to me

now i've been getting inquiries before this for paintings, which i have been turning down, as i didn't have a way to do prints until i had the paintings converted into digital files- that's almost finished now, so i can so do this.
i have a few other surprises too... i did a whole set of  'paper dolls' as well as halloween images on treat cups for dogs and for humans
i can print them too!
while i really at first didn't want to do manufacturing of product anymore here at home, (tiny house, without real space to hold supplies or do the work)
i think that for prints i can do it...
if i actually can make this work and start to grow then a new space would have to be found but for now, i think i can do this!
there is also the possibility that i can work with a commercial printer if i get to that point-
which brings a few other things up
the books i have half finished, they could happen too
they are a lot of work but they've also been a very exciting idea.
even though i plod on slowly like the turtle i am

so that is also why i'm up tonight (this morning) yes, i am worried.... about bernie mostly, but then i have all these wonderful swirling ideas buzzing in my head
not that they are actually new ideas.....some i've been working on for almost 10 years! but now it seems like they are do-able.....that maybe their time has come?

and most importantly....
i am again looking forward to the future, and starting to enjoy the present again!
and i secretly suspect......i am getting over the fears i had about my work....about putting myself out there again

and i hope the 7 people that still read me, will join me while i do this

photography success at last

FINALLY..... i have been wracking my brains and repeatedly (doggedly) reshooting the paintings
i would shoot a batch... come down to download.... check them and delete the entire mess
i finally figured out how to see them on the camera before downloading ( and being able to super zoom in so i could tell how in focus)
of course the very first IN FOCUS batch that i then downloaded got completely obliterated --- i thought it was downloading to a formatted dvd, i did run the format
but there was a different formatting program that needed to run to actually format so the entire shoot was gone!
however, now i am zipping along nicely
next stop US Copyright office to batch copyright
then packets off to agents and manufactures both by snail mail and email
 i can't wait!
i'm shooting in RAW and also jpeg format

oh and that painting is a study of a teacup, that is being done in prep for a new series.... which i have been kicking around, teapots, teacups, fruits....still life and botanicals
whatcha think?

that's my mom's china on a piece of silk i plopped on my painting table... i've never painted china before so i want to do studies to learn it (that's how i work, i do studies then go from there)

now if anyone has suggestions or comments....please by all means feel free ok?

WTF ?? totally out of focus

ok so i set up for a shoot with the new 16.1 megapixel camera that does (apparently) everything on the face of the earth, including but not limited to......sending photos to your tv, phone, printer.... with wifi
washes the dishes
turns on the woodstove
sings to the cats
hangs the laundry
however for some odd reason
i can't get it to focus!
the old camera.....3.2 megapixels ......sharp as a tack
this one........ omg my eyes are killing me
my back is too (cause the way i have to set up the lights)
and my brain

out of all the photos i've taken i got ONE in focus......from the first time i used it for the paintings
and while i have the shutter speed and ISO information
i have no idea how it came out sharp and clean ( but skewed cause the painting was of course.....not perfectly straight)

meanwhile i am sitting here waiting for the battery to recharge

so that means my new list is

a few rechargeable batteries..
a few extra memory cards
a card reader
and a ball head for my tripod as opposed to the pan/tilt head i currently have
oh and a new computer
yes ma'm ...... JUST for this special camera
(i'm thinking a desktop-no?.......i can send the photos over wifi)


until then
i am going to try and figure WTF i did wrong....oh and i am supposed to be able to check it with a zoom thing.... guess what doesn't want to work????

again life turns on a dime

well first off......virginia is now democratic again....well done to them
i am a confirmed democrat ...... i used to be more moderate until they started to try to clamp women into slavery again
so i had no choice, as i had to fight for women's rights.. so i vote democrat now

we've had some set backs here too

but we are soldiering on

i am painting teacup studies, but the plans have changed as now i am going to paint only what is laying around....
we'll see how creative i can get with the crap i either inherited or purchased along the way
so i am expecting to paint teapots sooner rather then later...
maybe this is a good thing?
i had planned the work and was preparing to work the plan...... now the universe decrees that the plan change

damn i wish for a crystal ball right about now
i think one thing i really can't stand is upheaval and change- some folks thrive on it
some like the turmoil and swirling of change.....they are able to pluck opportunities from it
for me, i am a steady plodding on sort of person.
i've learned from years and years......that i picture where i am going....and i just keep moving towards it.
that's how i taught myself to make original porcelain dolls..... how i ended up on the cover of a magazine, how i ended up writing and being published......
how i taught myself soap making and built a small business
how i taught myself watercolor......and am working towards licensing
sort of a slow and steady tortoise of a person---

so naturally when i planned on teacups and had to change it further unsettled me
but maybe it's a good thing........and switching to just the stuff i had around the house already may work out for me
i had planned on picking up teacups and after the paintings and studies were all done.....selling them off maybe with the prints of them
maybe next time.....although i can't see me painting too many teacups can you?

the other thing that i've been looking at is light fast artist grade colored pencils
and i have decided on a combination of faber-castell and caran....... that too will wait it's turn..... as will the botanical work i am planning (have been planning)

the one thing i've learned about myself is that .......i do eventually get around to most stuff  i say i am going to do
if i decide that it is really something i need to do.....eventually i do it

i don't know if it is a muse (although i refer to it as the muse) or what... but i sort of do seem to do what i set out to do

so the past few years i've set out to create a body of work for licensing..... slowly building up paintings in series
i got the camera (still trying to learn it - but i figure i will when it's the right time)
i've started to contact agents.......started getting my 99 NOs
all along the way i have crystalized where i see these images...... and i see them on flags.... cards, puzzles....... maybe even ipad/ipod cases.....prints too
journals
part of me would LOVE to produce the product myself...... and do the packaging because i really did enjoy packaging when i had the toiletries business..... i had a total blast designing a 'brand'

(i thought of it as a 'coherent, consistent line'- and it was totally satisfying to envision and then create it- it also boosted sales.... the packages were as pretty as the product was good and that still floats my boat)

so the temptation to do a whole 'product' line INCLUDING packaging is very great for me

i have an overwhelming belief.......feeling......idea? compulsion? that something, anything you purchase should be presented with exquisite packaging..... the anticipation of opening something..... and packaging so very special that you buy the product as much for that
it makes YOU feel special and you save that package....
(i have saved some beautiful packaging over the years)

it's not just me.... cosmetics....jewelry..... perfumes.... yup

anyway....this is where my brain is steering me on this very warm november evening...

i am for some really odd reason, thinking of my paintings as product and wondering if it is at all possible to get the financial backing to get them produced..... myself!

oye