Available Art

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

My painting needs a name!



I need help! Hopefully if I can get this painting framed by Friday I would like to enter it into a competition. Its gotta have a really catchy name though. The title of the show is "Method". So far I am thinking about:

Artful Recipe (courtesy of my mother-in-law)
Failed Escape
Ill conceived eggscape
Ill conceived escape
Tragic escape plan

Can you see where I'm going? And that I'm stuck in a rut? Please tell me if you like one of these titles or if you have one of your own that you like better!!! My goal is to find title that will help it to mesh with the show and keep the judge thinking. I know that some people say titles don't mean anything and the work should speak for itself but people always want to know what the title is! I always want to know too! I hate it when paintings are "untitled". Post a comment here or Facebook, whereever!

Oh, by the way if you hadn't noticed, this is the finished version of the painting I've been posting to show its progress. I hope you all enjoyed watching how its done. I was up all night so I got to finish it around 2:30am. Of course then I did a little twittling on it this morning after I got up. I don't know why I couldn't sleep last night. The last time I looked at the clock it was 4am. The crazy thing is I got up around 8 and I'm not even tired!

Flaky Cream Cheese Pastry Dough


This recipe is for my friend Erin....I know you've been waiting patiently! This is a little bit of work but it is the best crust I have ever had! It makes even a crappy pie taste decadent! You can double the recipe if you need a top and bottom crust. Every time I make apple pie this is the crust I make.

Whisk together throughly in a large bowl:
1 Cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 tablespoon white sugar or 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cut into 1/4 inc pieces and add:
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter
3 oz cold cream cheese

Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut the butter and cream cheese into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some peas-sized pieces. Drizzle of the top:
2-3 tablespoons Cold Heavy Cream

Cut with the blade side of a rubber spatula or stir with a fork until the dough begins to gather into moist clumps. Press the doughn into a flat disk, wrap tightly in plastic, and refridgerate for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.

This recipe and illustration is from "The Joy of Cooking"

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Peanut Butter Fudge



Okey dokey, so several people at my job have never had peanut butter fudge. I was SHOCKED! I can't believe so many here in the south have never had it! I made some today and I plan to take it to work and share the love! Frankie, Crystal, Sean and someone else who I don't remember be prepared for a party in your tummy! I have the mostest easiest recipe so make sure you write it down I promise you will not be dissapointed!
Creamy Peanut Butter Fudge
4 Cups White Sugar
1 Cup brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter
12oz evaporated milk
7oz marshmellow creme
16 oz peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a deep pot on Med Heat combine sugar, brown sugar, butter and evap. milk. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Boil for 7 minutes continuing to stir. Remove from heat and stir in marshmellow creme then peanut butter and vanilla. Pour into a grease 9x13 pan or 2 smaller pans.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Brian watching TV



I did some sketching of Brian the other night while he was watching tv. He says they don't look like him but I thought they did some what. I realize that its not an exact replica of his face but that isn't what an artist does....thats what a camera does. What do you think? Does it look like him? Brian pointed out that his eyebrows were too high, which they are but maybe he just happened to see something really interesting on tv! We were watching 48 hours after all!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Featured Etsy Blogger Feburary

The featured Etsy blogger for Feburary is TiLTcreations. Shes got a lot of cool purses, clutches, and bags. I really like this throw back to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy used to be my secret shame. Don't judge me! She also has a second etsy shop at http://tilttoo.etsy.com where she sells fabrics and patterns. Be sure and check her out! Shop homemade...Just say no to Walmart!

Brian is Drawing!!!



As some of you know, my husband is going to school and to fulfill a silly credit he is taking a drawing class. As far as I can tell he isn't really learning much. I think his teacher is just getting paid to talk and to draw. No teaching involved! I have been trying to help him out a bit. I've posted a couple of Brian's gesture drawings of me. I think they are fun! He thinks they are crappy but he is a beginner. Thats just the way it is when your new at something! He is being a very good sport about it he even laughed when he saw I was posting his drawings of me.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Valentines Day everyone!


Happy Valentines! Or to my aunt Debbie and my brother in law Stevie Happy Birthday!
I haven't celebrated Valentines Day in a long time. I think it can be a fun holiday for kids because you get all that candy. I can still remember being so excited about the haul I was going to get and maybe just maybe have a secret admirer! Of course you have to take the good with the bad. I also remember not wanting to give valentines to certain boys (sorry Clifford but you were always kicking my chair) but unlike some of my friends I just picked the ugliest valentine I could find instead of giving them the card that listed everything in the box. Oh, the things we did when we were kids!


I got a chance to work on my "failed escape" painting last night (i'm still playing with titles). I went to bed about 12:30 am but was still wired so I got up and worked for about an hour or so. I made my self stop and go to bed because I wanted to go to church this morning and then I've got to go to work this afternoon. Maybe I'll become a night owl and just start staying up all hours of the night to get my work finished!



Saturday, February 13, 2010

A tragic death at the Olympics

I had originally planned for this blog to always have some pictures of my art in each post. Tonight though I feel like I should comment on the poor guy that lost his life in the luge. I read an article on Yahoo which I will post here. The blogger wrote about how it was "perfectly acceptable" for NBC to show the video of the guy dying. Why would that be acceptable? I think that it is down right disrespectful to the deceased and to the family to show the video. All they had to do was cover the death with still pictures of him while he was still alive, they didn't need to show the video THREE TIMES IN SLOW MO! NBC should be ashamed of themselves! Where is our moral backbone that we feel the need to watch someone die? Have our brains become so numbed by all the fake death on tv and in movies that when someone dies a horrific death we want to see it in slow mo while we eat our popcorn? Did people change the channel or did they stick around to watch it three times and suck their teeth like they were watching Americas Funniest Home Videos and someone just got a crotch shot? I'm disgusted that the writer of the article picked the pictured they did much less that NBC showed the entire video. My heart and prayers go out the friends and family of Nodar Kumaritashvili.