Studios Words

This guy and I hung out for a little bit this morning when I went on my morning walk around Lake Harriet.  He even was ok with some photos, what a cool thing to see that close in the cities!

I was cleaning at my mom's house a few weeks ago and found a painting in an old sketchbook that I totally forgot about.  I rather like it and the style of it. 

It is acrylic on paper and found book page, and has some nice luminosity to it.  

did this drawing at the Moto-I's rooftop patio a few weeks ago, I also ate delicous mussels! I have to say it was a perfect evening and had a great conversation to boot! I think they are the best mussels I have had to date!

As I was driving home today, I saw the stranges rainbow I have every seen...

So I tried something a little different on the grill the other night with varing results.  It was apples and shallots over grilled pork chops. Here is what I did:

2 pork chops

1 granny smith apple peeled and cut into wedges

1 shallot

½ cup of hard cider (I used locally made Crispin honey hard cider)

salt & pepper to taste

ancho chili powder

Cut shallot into quarters, put into aluminum foil (shape like a bowl) and grill until soften

Add apple slices and cook till softened slightly.  Add hard cider and cook down, mean while grill pork till done, remove and put apple shallot glaze over chops.

It was good, but I was having a hard time get the cider to reduce on the grill, next time I will try to do this on the stove and may swap out the cider for some dry white wine since it was a little sweet.  Other option might be, no apple, add dried cranberry or other more tart fruit in a hard cider reduction, and something to cut the sweetness, maybe some hot pepper? Not sure.

So I had poses a question on my figure drawing group, "What does the term Artist mean to you".  I am not going to get into what was said there but I want to answer that question here.

There is a simple and complex answer to this question in my mind.  Simple answer is an artist makes art, duh, right?  Yeah, then you have the argument about what is art, chicken and the egg quandary.  I once heard someone say that art is something that has no "practical" purpose, it is because it is.  I don't really agree with that statement either, but I think I will not go there right now. 

What do I really thing the term artist means?  Well for one an artist is someone, anyone really, who observes the world and makes or does something in reaction to it, whether overt or obtuse, abstract or realistic. 

An artist is often a person who can not, not create.  Give them a moment with a pencil and paper, and they doodle, scribble and write with out giving it a second thought.

Artists like to use their hands, their bodies, their passion in every day life.  They think, dwell, and often do things and notice things others never see.  Ex. I am always saying to Shae as we drive down the road, or sitting somewhere, I will say "look at that blankity blank, isn't that cool how it blahdy dah!" or "that reflection in the glass is interesting how you get that double negative effect".  She agrees and says, only you would notice that.

Really though, being an artist is a lifestyle, one not chosen but one that is a part of their (our) life everyday of every year of our life. 

I know that I come from the visual, but I must give props to my spoken word, written, dancing, film and theater and all the other creatives out there, thanks for making life worth living.

This will go with the lime fajitas that I am grilling up tonight

6 Roma tomatoes halved and seeded
½ white onion roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic roughly chopped
nub of fresh ginger roughly chopped
1 (or more) jalapeño peppers (remove seeds and ribbing for less heat)
1 lime zested and juiced
½ tsp soy sauce
½ tsp red wine vinegar
hand full of cilantro (coriander for you folks across the pond)
¼ tsp ancho chili powder
¼ tsp cumin powder
¼ tsp paprika (sweet)
salt and pepper to taste

Roast tomatoes in oven 400 degrees F. for 15 mins, peal skin off after they cooled slightly.

In a shallow pan, sauté onions and garlic in a little olive oil till soft, add the ginger about half way through.

Throw everything in food processor, pulse until happy with the chunkiness or lack there of.

Put in fridge to cool and let the flavors meld for 2 hours before serving

What would I do different next time, I think I will up the spices by double, at least the cumin and paprika and maybe a bit more of the vinegar as well

A drawing from the Figure Drawing Factory that I finished today. It is a more formal drawing of one of the quick drawings I did, see this post.

Pencil on paper, done in the deconstructing the box sketch book.

NFS

I did this last week, sitting outside, a tree in the front yard of a neighbors, I find trees difficalte to draw...