Chocolate covered brownie bites

Start with any out of the box brownie mix & bake according to directions, with one important step: line baking pan with foil with extra over the edges & grease the foil! Then when it's done baking, you lift the foil out of the pan without breaking yr brownie!
Then slice yr cooled, baked brownie into bite-size chunks.

And then

Melt yr chocolate in a double boiler. Pick up & dip yr brownie bites into melty chocolate. Place on wax paper-lined baking sheet. Once all bites are covered w/ chocolate, place in fridge to harden.

Packed up and ready to go!

Ice bunting

From the crafty crow (www.thecraftycrow.net). A winter boredom buster!

Atmospheric Monday

I was driving home from getting groceries and pulled over to take this shot.

Strange dreams...

Last night I dreamt I rode a bicycle to Philadelphia (yes, from Chicago). Along the way I pedaled through small, hill-hugged towns, with white barns and split rail fences.  I went to Philadelphia because I was visiting a friend who was photographing the ocean (which looked remarkably like the ocean @ Delaware that time Kathleen & I went there on spring break--grey and churning). Then there was this monstrous wave so our beach party retreated to the forest, where we built a shelter out of bamboo & pine boughs and had bicycle races down pine needle-covered trails.

That's the thing I enjoy most about dreams: distance is negligible, and geography can be rearranged to suit the narrative.

Friday

A sprouting seed stamp....
Because spring is on it's way-despite the single digit temps!

B for butterfly

In progress....spent most of the morning on the phone, trying really hard not to have my head explode.

Wednesday, back to school day

The kids had a 4 day weekend, which put a serious damper on my studio-time.
They went back this morning, and I was able to work on this painting again, plus start another alphabet piece.

Pin up Friday

Naughty nurse pin up on Mr. Bob.

N is for Nest

A work in progress...

Thursday!

The beginning of a painting. The figure is cribbed from Parmagianino's Madonna with the Long Neck, c 1535.

Wednesday's art

Here's my art-a-day piece. A block print of a saw-whet owl.

And away I ran...

Hello to all and to all hello!

Remember way back in November (I think it was) when I had talked about doing a collaboration with 2 other guys in the hopes of getting a showing at the VVAC (local art center)?

Well I finally called the gallery director & we are going to meet sometime next week (yay!) The gallery is booked through 2011, so we will be talking about a show in 2012. In the course of our conversation, she mentioned that the gallery can hold up to 150 works. Yowza. That's a lot of pressure for 3 people! So I got to thinking...what if I invited some other people to be in the show?

I thought and I thought and I came up with this: how cool would it be to have a show that encompasses not JUST painting, but music, the written word, sculpture, and photography?
Kind of like the Trail of Tears Art Show at The Cherokee Heritage Center that I helped with waaaay back in 2002.

I sent the word out to friends and so far I have had 3 other interested parties. If this is up your alley, drop me a line. Or if you just like the idea of collaboration, but don't want to be in a show check out 2xCreative; a website that pairs people to do collaborative works.

And now it's back to the studio for art & tea!

Monday Walkies

This is a test photo! Taken on my walk with the dog yesterday morning.

It's all a boggle, really....

Failure: art-a-day. but this was due mostly to
Success: KYLE CASSIDY and the WAR PAINT project coming to Tinley Park.

So I am going to rule that one a draw.

Starting yesterday, I am renewing the "art every day" pledge. And I'm 2 for 2! (Go me)
I made some owls in love for etsy, and started on: the ABCs of remarkable creatures, a zodiac series of jewelry, and watched snow fall outside.

(Do you know how difficult it is to maintain your train of thought while there are 2 small people behind you chattering incessantly? It puts me in mind of trying to do complex maths in the monkey house at the zoo)

since this train of thought has been successfully derailed, i am going to sign off....

Awesome

This weekend has been a cocktail of awesome.

Meeting old vets in their Legion Hall: awesome.

Meeting aspiring fashion photographers from Chicago: awesome

Meeting & getting to know Kyle Cassidy: awesome.

Coming up with a plan to make the next visit 12x grander: double awesome.

What are YOU doing this weekend?

I will be helping Kyle Freaking Cassidy with his WAR PAINT project.

YAY!!
(insert muppet dance here)

If you are in/near Chicago, stop on in and see us at American Legion Post 615 in Tinley Park on Friday from 7pm-11pm or Saturday from 6pm-midnight.

New Year

We're 11 hours into the New Year and so far, so good.

What are your goals this year?

Mine are as follows:

1. DE CLUTTER. This happened after leafing through the IKEA catalogue and realizing that I too wanted flat surfaces devoid of piles of paper, forgotten legos, and homeless USB cables.

2. ART IT UP. Art every day. Whether it's an ATC sized painting, a piece of jewelry (yes! back to that again!), or really truely awful poetry.

3. YOGA. I get out of bed like someone twice my age, hunched over with stiff muscles. It's no good.

4. SAVE MONEY. Because it's nice to have some in the bank for when you want to do stuff, like visit far-away friends & relatives.

5. GARDEN like someone who is more invested in it. I am pretty lax about watering...maybe I should just join a CSA and then I can focus on my herbs-culinary, medicinal, & magical.