Sneak peek: Dreaming

As promised, here is a small detail from a new piece I am finishing up and will be listing in my Etsy shop later this week. It's quite different from much of my other work and I am very excited about it. I may have an Illustration Friday post, too. We'll see. The theme is intricate… hmm…

Keep Calm and Carry On

KEEP CALM and CARRY ON

I put together what I think is a really lovely treasury on Etsy last night. You can find it here. I am becoming obsessed with making treasuries — it is so much fun to play curator! Anyway… I'm working on a couple of new pieces that I hope to add to the shop this week. I'll be doing a sneak peek later today. I am also working on revamping the shop: cleaning up photos, checking price points, rewriting descriptions, that kind of thing. If anyone has any suggestions or feedback, I'd love to hear it!

Thinking of you

Sweet Quagmire, Sam's dog of fourteen years, passed this morning. We are missing him greatly.

For the kids out there

Flying Frog

After my post with the giraffe on roller skates last week, I received several words of encouragement that I should work on some childrens' art. With that in mind, I post this. I'm thinking about working on an alphabet series. What do you think?

Compare and contrast

I've been working on this drawing and can't decide if I like the palette. I tend to go with much softer colors, but that is not what happened in this case. Looking back at the original sketch, I am trying to decide if I went in the right direction. I may save this version and then try again using a milder palette. Although looking at it so close to my banner, I am rather liking it… feel free to chime in!

IF: Breezy

I haven't posted to Illustration Friday in quite some time, but I really like this week's topic, "Breezy" — particularly since I am weathering a 14-degree day here in Ann Arbor. Thinking tropical thoughts…

Welcome signs of spring

This is a very happy post quite suitable for a Friday. The apartment complex we moved into in the fall is not a fancy place and has very little in the way of landscaping. So as the fall turned colder, I did some last-minute guerrilla bulb planting knowing that the Michigan winter would be long and I would need a healthy dose of spring when the time came. I put in about twenty daffodils and tulips in the shared courtyard space. I began looking for signs of them a week or two ago because we had had a bit of a warm spell and I was afraid I hadn't really planted them deep enough. I wasn't really expecting to see anything since it is only February, but today, what did I spy…


Yes, that's right. Some very early signs that there will in fact be a spring here. I do hope it isn't too early and they don't shrivel up and freeze away. But I was reassured and delighted to find that there were already some bulbs around and they, too, are peaking out, so all should be okay. We should have some spring color before too much longer. Yippee!

Nothing's for free

What to do with all of those plastic bags piling up in the kitchen, under the sink, in the coat closet? A while back I decided I would knit them together into a tote bag. Clever me would be able to tote my groceries in a bag of grocery bags. I had just read through Mason-Dixon Knitting and was inspired by a rug made by looping together cotton potholder handles into one big ball of yarn. That would be fun, but at $5/bag of loops, the rug would cost $100. Not such a good deal. Hence the bag on the cheap: free in fact.

I became extreme — rinsing out the thin little produce bags, saving the bag from the carrots. We had damp, limp plastic bags draped over every available surface in the kitchen. Slipped over the utensil jar, hanging off the pot rack, propped up by the soap dispenser. I didn't pay close enough attention to the fact that in the book, the author had her children loop together the yarn. Hmm, I realize now that this was for a reason. IT'S DAMN TEDIOUS!

You flatten out each bag and then cut it into horizontal slices. these slices are then connected by slipknots forming a chain. The chain is then wound into a ball. Four months later, and I am stuck on this step. I spent several hours one evening hunched on the floor connecting the loops. By the end of this session, I could barely straighten my back and was cursing the plastic. (OK, so maybe next time I should sit with better posture. Whatever.)

We are still saving bags. the difference now is that I wad them up and shove them into a bigger bag — complete with water, mud, etc. still clinging to them. This makes my next session of chain-making even less appealing. But dammit, I want that bag. The boy had generously offered to help cut them up and loop them together while we watch movies at night, but who really wants to do that? Me reclining on the couch with a pair of scissors and a beer doesn't seem like a good idea, non?

But I did just check online and found a great-looking knitted plastic bag bag at DIY Network and they say to cut the bags in one long spiral from top to bottom and then just knot together with next. I may have to try this technique since it entails just one cut and knot per bag… hmmm, I'll keep you posted.

Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons

That is the name of a fantastic cookbook by Diana Henry that I received as a gift recently. It has many tasty-sounding Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and North African recipes, but I had yet to try any of them because they seemed to have so many exotic ingredients. However, I realized that this was mostly because each chapter starts with wonderful descriptions of various unusual ingredients and I had actually sat down and read all of these in depth, leaving me with the impression of all kinds of wonderful exotic places and tastes and smells. But I was determined this week to tackle something in there, and I went through the book and discovered that while there are some recipes with hard-to-find things like rose petals and orange flower water, there are plenty of approachable ones. I picked out a handful and started with Greek Herb Pilaf with Shrimp and Feta. It has a huge amount of herbs in it, so I was curious to see if they overwhelmed the dish — I am happy to say that they do not, but instead lend a unique and surprisingly mild flavor to the whole thing —not to mention the whole apartment smelled unbelievable.

This is only half the herbs, another equal portion is stirred into the cooked rice.

After some sauteeing, the rice is cooked with a towel-wrapped cover over it — I would assume to absorb the moisture.
This photo truly doesn't do it justice, but right as I finished we were interrupted by an unfortunate old dog having an accident incident. Poor dog. Yummy dinner. It's loaded with flavor, with lemon and olives and herbs and tomatoes and shrimp.

Thinking about Ed Emberley

This is my Ed Emberley inspired drawing for the day. I don't know how many of you grew up with his books, but I recently found one of them from my childhood: Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Animals. This was one of my favorites as a kid and I drew every single thing in it. It is based on using simple shapes—rectangles, circles, half-circles—to build up pictures. Looking through them makes me want to go out and buy all the other ones I never had. They are so clever and simple. Draw a black dot: Wow! You've drawn an ant. Draw a green dot. Wow! You've drawn a black ant wearing a green sweater. I really think this shaped my world—and what a charming world it is!

Rye humor

When I was in elementary school, I thought the lyrics to the Rolling Stones' Start Me Up were: "And you can call me rye!" (Actual lyrics: Don't make a grown man cry… close, non?) I guess I was destined for the kitchen… Anyway, in honor of my youthful ear, I will tell you about the rye bread I baked this past weekend. The recipe is from Baking with Julia. It had all kinds of weird steps including hanging the dough in slings (why didn't I take pictures of that?!?) and odd shaping techniques involving hospital corners: I should have known to venture no further at that one. (The book is great — I have had great success with recipes, but…) The loaves look pretty lovely and have a great texture, but just don't have a really nice strong rye taste. There's no doubting that it's rye, but it's a bit mild. I just did a search to find another recipe to try and found these lovely beauties over at pete bakes. That recipe will definitely be my next rye attempt.

I love this gnocchi!

I wrote about this gnocchi before, but I didn't have pictures at the time. The boy and I made them again on Saturday — it's much better with two people forming the little puffs. Otherwise it takes a LONG time! The recipe is from Food & Wine and you can find it here.

First you roll the dough out into 1/2" wide logs.

Then you cut off little pieces and roll them against the tines of a fork. It all gets very gooey, but it works somehow. Next you boil them but I will spare you the photo of that stage: the photos made them look like maggots: eeewwwh!

Then you saute them and coat them with the sauce and some chives to garnish —tasty!! (I only use about half the sauce as made in the recipe. It's mucho better.)

I want to fold my dishwater hands around a dry Martini, not a wet flounder

As part of our Valentine celebration, the boy and I made homemade gnocchi. Quite an involved process, but so worth it. This meant that an elaborate dessert idea shared with me by a good friend was scrapped in favor of the humble cupcake. I used the same recipe my mom used when we were kids. It is from the very funny I Hate to Cook Book by Peg Bracken. I'm pretty sure it may be the only recipe she ever used from there—many have things like frozen potato soup or frozen fish sticks as main ingredients. But the writing is hysterical and when I saw a copy in a used book store recently, I had to shell out the $1. It features terrifically charming drawings by Hilary Knight (of Eloise fame) and is a book "for those of us who want to fold our dishwater hands around a dry Martini instead of a wet flounder…" How could you not love it?!?!?
COCKEYED CAKE
• 1 1/2 c. sifted flour
• 3 Tb cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 5 Tb cooking oil
• 1 Tb vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 c. cold water
Put sifted flour back in sifter (or sieve), add cocoa, soda, sugar and salt and sift this right into a greased 9" square cake pan. Make three holes in the the dry mixture. Into one, pur the oil; onto the next, the vinegar; into the next, the vanilla. Now pour cold water over it all. You'll feel like you're making mud pies now, but beat it with a spoon until it's nearly smooth and you can't see the flour. Bake at 350º for half an hour. (For cupcakes: bake at 375º for 15-20 minutes.)

Maybe next time I will branch out and try Peg's Hootenholler Whiskey Cake!! (The first instruction: "First, take the whisky out of the cupboard, and have a small snort for medicinal purposes." I'm thinking Amy Sedaris is the reincarnation of Peg Bracken circa 1960.

Inspiration, motivation, procrastination

painting by Joe Sorren

Part One
I was looking through the blog Artfulife this week and happily clicked through her link to Joe Sorren's web site. I really enjoyed seeing his latest paintings. They are so refined and quiet. I love the progression from his older work. I haven't looked at his paintings in a long time, but I was happily reminded of a conversation I haven't thought about in a long time.

Some time in the mid-90s I was given one of the best art school assignments ever. You had to give a presentation on one of your favorite illustrators. This may sound bland enough—a glorified book report—except that you had to contact the illustrator directly. This was way before the widespread use of email, so this meant calling the person up on the phone. I was painfully shy then, so I was horrified. But I loved Joe Sorren's paintings and knew that he was the one I had to call. I did. I called him up in Flagstaff, Arizona and he was the nicest, most encouraging fellow ever. I'm sure I asked all kinds of mundane things, but he heard me out and asked me thoughtful questions in return. He sent me samples by FedEx to include in my report and asked me to send him a few samples of my work. I have to smile when I think about it—I can't imagine what I sent.

The one question I remember asking him was: Do you think you have to live in NYC to make it as an illustrator? Now here I was calling a successful guy working out of a little hippy town in AZ—why would I ask that? Of course, he said no and gave me some very good reasons. I moved to NYC anyway and went to art school. I am now 3 1/2 years gone from there and am just now finding a place where I am able to make some art here and there — certainly not making a living from it, but still finding the time and inspiration to do it. I think there are a lot of factors involved that I may write about in this space (hence the part one subtitle above), but for now, I just wanted to reflect on a fond memory of a conversation with Joe Sorren and ponder what I might ask him nowadays.

The painting above was from one of the samples he sent — I found it in my "inspiration book" from that period. It is so much fun to look through it again after so long.

As seen on …

It's so easy to become just completely overwhelmed by all of the blogs, pictures and terrific content out there in the world. So it's particularly reassuring and gives my ego a little boost when I find out that my pictures are in fact making their way out into the world and being seen despite the sheer quantity of rabbit holes one can stumble down. I was reminded of this by two different occasions this week.

1. Kuma Sakuzo was nice enough to include the print above from my Etsy shop in her treasury selection. She's chosen a lovely cheerful collection of balloons. Here is a screenshot of it:
2. Last week Off the Hooks featured my squirrel postcard on her craftyash blog.

This makes me very happy and I thank them both!

From the sketchbook

Here are some of the strange scenes and flower-type things have been showing up in my sketchbooks lately. Not sure what will come of them.

Pad Thai at home

I've never made pad thai at home, but I love it. So after the trip to the Asian market last week, I had all the ingredients and knew it was time. We've had rice noodles sitting in the back of the cabinet for months and I decided to use the recipe on the back of the bag:

Pad Thai
7 oz rice stick noodles
1 Tb Tamarind paste (this was hard to find, but it was in the refrigerated section at Huaxing)
1 tsp brown sugar, packed
1/4 c. peanut oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 c. small shrimp (I used much more: 1 lb med)
3 scallions, sliced
4 oz. firm tofu, rinsed, drained and choppped
2 eggs, beaten lightly
2 Tb fish sauce
1 c bean sprouts
1 tsp crushed chili pepper
2 Tb roasted peanuts, chopped
1/4 c cilantro, chopped
lime wedges to garnish

1. Soak noodles in cold water for 30 minutes. Drain. (I was worried they weren't soft enough at this point, but they soften more over the heat)
2. In a small bowl, mix 1/4 c hot water with tamarind. Let stand, then push through sieve and discard solids. Stir in brown sugar.
3. Heat half oil in large skillet. Stir fry garlic for a few seconds, then add shrimp, scallions and tofu and cook 3 minutes.
4. Add eggs and cook 30 seconds or until well incorporated. Add noodles, tamarind, remaining oil and fish sauce. Cook about 5 minutes, then add bean sprouts and chili pepper.
5. Garnish with peanuts, cilantro and lime wedges and serve.

Delicious! The flavor was terrific with just the right amount of heat. I think next time I will increase liquids a little bit (not oil), to have a little more of a sauce. Try it!

Asian market adventure

I have been on a hunt for tamarind paste for a few weeks now. Not a kitchen essential, but there are a couple of recipes I have that use it, including Pad Thai. So last night I had the chance to explore one of the best Asian markets I've ever been to: Huaxing Asia Market in Ypsilanti. I love all the bright colors! I had no idea there would be so many great markets like this here. I looked online and can't wait to check out the others. There were MANY things I had never seen before -- and without being snotty, I used to live not far from NY's Chinatown so I thought I had seen some unusual Asian produce and products.

They have a whole row of fish ball freezer cases:


I did not buy these. There is a separate room for produce with a lot of veggies I've never seen before, including this one:


And one that looks like grass that I've seen before, but still don't know what it is:


Lucky for me, most of the labels have an English translation on them, but this was missing one. They also have all kinds of tanks with live fish, turtles and eels. Here's a box of blue claws being unloaded:
What a great find — I can't wait to go back. Look for a post with the pad thai recipe if it's good!

Two for you, one for me

After quite a frenzy of holiday knitting, I had to put down the needles cuz I'd had enough. But after a month's hiatus (other than some sweater finishing), I'm back at it and happy to say that I'm knitting something for myself. It feels like it's been a while since I did that — not through great acts of selflessness, but rather budget-conscious gift-giving efforts! My mom gave me some beautiful blue Blue Sky Alpaca yarn for Christmas that I'm finally putting to use to make a 78" (yes, that's right!) leaf pattern scarf on big ole size 15 needles. You can see the start of it above.

Back on track

Hi all,
Just started a part-time job at an outdoor gear shop, hence the lack of posts this week. Jumped right into it without a clear schedule, but now I'm getting back on track and figuring out a routine. Look for more later today…
Cheers!

Made with love

The only thing missing from my completed sweater (see post below) is a label! Just found this post and know now that it must be added!

6 days to knit, 60 to finish

For those of you following along at home and wondering whatever happened with that lovely Morehouse wool I posted about back in December, here is the answer: In my frenzy to finish the sweater for the boy by Christmas (the Berkshire sweater from Weekend Knitting), I did the knitting in 6 days flat. It's such thick beautiful wool that it went really fast. But then I had so many other gifts to finish, that I never did the real "finishing." I wrapped it up under the tree with loose ends hanging everywhere (shameful, I know!) And then, sadly, yet predictably, it took over a full month (ok, not 60 days) to get back to it. But yesterday -- I finally wove in all those ends, fixed the sleeve that was too long and voila! It's done. My first sweater!

AADL rocks

I can't get over how great the Ann Arbor District library system is. They have figured out every modern convenience. The hours are great. You can track everything online, due dates, holds, etc. All your notifications come by email—they send reminders when your materials are due. You can reserve anything on the web site and it will be waiting for you in easily accessible shelves near the door. They have terrific new material that I wouldn't expect to find, like Mason-Dixon Knitting and the Alabama Stitch Book. There are multiple self-checkout kiosks. You can even check out framed artwork — and not just dorm room Monets. They have all kinds of unusual prints and original art. Amazing! I am used to libraries that can't even afford to be open on Sundays, have barely moved beyond the card catalog and have little new material. What a great resource! There. That's my two sense.

The best shrimp ever!

This is a recipe we keep going back to -- probably once a week even! And it just keeps getting better. It's adapted from a recipe at epicurious from Ken Hom's Foolproof Chinese Cooking. I've doubled the sauce, added snow peas and changed out black bean paste for chili-garlic paste.

Spicy Sichuan-Style Shrimp

• 1 1/2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 2 Tb finely chopped fresh ginger
• 1-2 tablespoon coarsely chopped garlic
• 2-3 tablespoon finely chopped scallions
• 1 lb raw shrimp, shelled and deveined
• snow or snap peas
  

For the sauce:

• 2 tablespoon tomato paste
• 3-4 teaspoons chili-garlic paste/sauce
  
• 4 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• 4 teaspoons sesame oil
• Cilantro sprigs, to garnish (optional)

1. Heat a wok/large heavy saute pan over high heat. Add the oil, and when it is very hot and slightly smoking, add the ginger, garlic, and scallions.

2. Stir-fry for 20 seconds, then add the shrimp and snow peas. Stir-fry the shrimp for about 1 minute.

3. Add the sauce ingredients and continue to stir-fry for another 3 minutes over a high heat. Garnish with cilantro and serve at once.

The best!!

Comparing apples to oranges

I am posting this lovely tangerine because it brought some cheer to my otherwise cheerless afternoon. I made the rounds at the local temp agencies today and could hear the crickets chirping. It was a rather demoralizing effort. Thankfully, I went to the busiest agency first: there was one man with me in the waiting area. He had been laid off from GM after 30 years. In the second agency I visited, the lights were literally turned off in the front office as one woman worked in a back corner. My only other experience with temping was in New York. Manhattan will always have actors and newbies, and my temping was during prosperous times. You can imagine the contrast. I know I shouldn't compare, but …
So here's to comparing lovely bright tangerines with stems intact to the Big Apple.

A Yeti saved my Gocco!

Today I spent the whole morning working on hand-printing cards of a little house in snow. I cut out shapes from cardboard, which didn't work — I kept getting the corrugated lines which I didn't like. Then I moved on to styrofoam. Pretty easy to cut. The result was okay. But then, as I was applying the final touches of hand-painting the snow, I realized something awful. The freakin' houses didn't look like houses. They looked like Yetis! Some like King Kong. Only one kinda resembled a house. Bummer. Well, not a total bummer. Everybody likes a Yeti. But I felt like I wasted a whole morning. I added eyes to this one to really show off the Yeti-ness:

My little disaster turned into an afternoon of pure bliss! I dusted of the cover of my highly-prized, yet never touched Gocco printer. I had gotten the full B-6 kit for Christmas a couple of years ago, but it only came with 5 screens and 10 bulbs. Since Gocco has discontinued production of their printers, I have been saving my Gocco for THE BEST DESIGN EVER for it to be worthy of using my limited supply. I've had the darn thing for over two years. What good is it if I'm afraid to use it. So, today was the day. I love it! I'm totally hooked. I immediately ordered more screens and bulbs despite being jobless (oops!I couldn't resist!) Have a look:

Low-tech printing methods

I've been having difficulty with printing methods. I want to make art that I can easily share with others. But I don't have a decent printer. My drawing style has a lot of line work with thin, delicate details that reproduce well on high-quality digital prints, but this is pricey if you are not doing it at home (and to purchase that kind of printer is REALLY pricey!) So, that said, I've been exploring/rediscovering more basic hand-printing techniques. This means a very different way of thinking about the design. In some ways, the limits will be good for my work and will let me focus on other things. So… here's my latest experiment with the good old-fashioned potato stamp:

Gocco-worthy?

I've been trying to come up with a Valentine card that's not too schmaltzy. I picked up a huge stack of old Martha Stewart mags that someone had left in the free area at the library the other day and this image is inspired by an article on collecting old hooks. It was a beautiful layout, but I think maybe my card is too obscure. I can't decide. I have a Gocco printer that I have yet to use. Because the supplies are so hard to come by, I'm hesitant to use it unless I'm really happy and sure about a design — I don't think I'm there yet. I'll keep working on it!