because I haven't been making art

Garlic and Potato Soup!!!

One whole head of garlic- separated

1/3 cup olive oil

Preheat yer oven to 400. Pop the garlic into the oil in a saucepan (I prefer cast iron) and cover with aluminum foil. Send those suckers into the oven for 30 or so minutes- until your garlics look brown and are soft... mmm

Save the oil!

(roasted garlic oil yums!)

One large yellow onion chopped

One large russet potato- diced

Two baby red potatos- diced

4 cups vegetable or chicken stock

salt and pepper and a tid bit o spice- I used red chile but I am sure cayenne or paprika will be just as tasty

One lemon

pour a teaspoon or so of the roasted garlic oil into your soup pan with a pat of butter, and turn your burner on high/ medium high. Put the onion in, and once it becomes translucent, add the potatoes, salt, pepper, and chile spice. Add the stock and turn the burner to high until boiling, and then put it down to med/ medium low heat. Add the roasted garlic (save the oil!) Then add your lemon juice for a little slow-simmerin.

Once your potatoes are soft (after about 20 minutes or so), go ahead and pop that mixture into a blender and blend-a-roo!! Add the rest of the garlic oil to this mixture. A YUM-O. DONE

I garnish this dish with slices of avocado and red onion... I am sure green onion or chives or hot sauce or whatever would go just great on top.

Have fun EATINGGGG

and stay warm

Bill Love

A portrait for Chris of his dog, Bill

the holidaze

Be looking forward to your Holiday Letters, ya'll!

and happy birthday to a very special momma

Because I Missed Printing

I slowed down on the hats.

I made this drawing, Horse of the House (portrait of Mom) and then I had to do something else because the process was getting a bit stale. I think Horse of the House will be accompanied by a another, a DIPTYCH if you will. But I just had to get some printing out of my system, so I printed the bobcat and the buffalo.

Plez Hats By Night

So, I thought this was done. And I was wrong. I think now it is done.

dog stack hat self portrait

because sometimes you just have to be selfish.

Couples Hats

These are my parents with their Plez hats on (Plez was my first dog. Plez, short for Pleasent). I think I am the burning house between them but I am not sure.

This one is considerably larger than the others. about 20" by 26". And I chain stitched the frame.

Hats for Dad

coyote fence hat dad

and

goggle hat dad.

graphite.

Hats for my Mom, Hats for my Dad

burning house hat for mom

snake hat for dad

My mom has been looking through her flat files and rooms upon rooms of storage full of old work. She told me that most of the paintings she's found with me in them (she worked with photos and oil paint) contain this burning motif- burning child, burning house, burning child inside the house, burning mother, burning this burning that. I was quite the rage rocket, and my temper tantrums were easily translated to flames, an uncontained wildfire. Sometimes, I caught my mom's head on fire, sometimes I caught myself on fire. Regardless, there was always fire somewhere with baby Teal's tantrums. So I've decided to give my mother a burning house hat.

My dad gets a snake hat. I'm not sure what this is about yet, but I know it is not an aggressive snake or a poisonous snake. The snake that acts as the frame is the lazy snake you find in the middle of the road, soaking up the heat. This drawing is solely graphite- no embroidery. I was traveling when I made this, so for practical reasons I did not take my embroidery materials with me, but I also see my dad as the graphite draftsman, so it is only appropriate for me to make his hat out of pencil.

more hats to come...

Hats for my Mom

So I've found this system that works. It is easy to say look I'm done once you have a set of three, (a triptych always functions pretty well). But there is much much more to be explored. Can't wait. Lovin' hats

Hats

I have a whole list of hats to choose from now, it is just a matter of pairing the right hat with the right person.

This list is taken directly out of my to do list book I refer to as my "Things" book

HATS

Bread Hat

Crow Hat

Cat Hat

Dog Hat

Snake Hat

Rat Hat

Horse Hat

Rat Hat

Lawn Hat

Fence Hat

Spatula Hat

Milk Carton Hat

Shoe Hat

Toys Hat

Goggle Hat

Underware Hat

Wire Hat

Bra Hat

Hey, This compass works!

not sure if this is done

but

it is a start to something new. All compass needles are finally facing North and I think my direction is some what clear. I mean, at least my compass is working.

It is funny to look back at what I have done, those drawings in my sketchbook that seemed meaningless. This was a drawing I did during a hung over road trip back to Colorado after a weekend at Momma and Poppas in New Mexico. I think this triggered something in me that I didn't even recognize until a couple days ago.

Embroidery Obsession

Guys, I'm hooked. Even my drawings now, which I put so much time and effort into before, are simply sketches of ideas for embroidery.

...8 months later...

It has been eight months since my last post. I was recently informed by my teacher that he ran accross this blog and I felt some guilt for my blog neglect. So, here is the abridged version of eight months.

crow man (the short hand of my s

ummer working with 7-9 year olds)

sketch book sketch book ideas ideas

embroidery

you know... senior thesis type stuff. (whatever that means)

And what am I most into cooking right now? Bread! Lo and behold I've become a baker!

Simple White Bread:

2 cups warm water (warmed up about a minute and a half in microwave)

2 tbspn Yeast

5-6 cups flour

2 tbspn Sugar

2 tbspn salt

2 tbspn olive oil

2 tbspn honey

Combine your water and yest. Then add 2 cups of your flour and your sugar, salt, olive oil, and honey. Mix this aggresively with a spoon until you get your 'sponge'. This is a very special bread making term and you can impress all your friends by knowing it. After you have your sponge (it should look like a liquidy sponge with some bubbles here and there from the yeast) begin adding the rest of your flour, one cup at a time. Combine this first with your spoon. Make sure you're gettin all that flour down in there.

Once you have added about 3 additional cups of flour to your sponge, you should have a pretty solid mass of dough that can be handled without sticking all over your fingers. Tranfer this dough to a cutting board cover in more flour to prevent sticking. Knead this baby, punch it down and pull it up, until you have your dough to about the consistency of your earlobe. No sticky stickies.

Pop this back into your bowl with a dizzle of olive oil and cover it with a damn (not wet) towel. Put in a warm place to rise for about an hour/ hour and a half

So now you dough is nice and fat. Punch it back down and kneed it on your cutting board as you did before (with more flour on your kneading surface) after a minute or two of kneading, take a chunk about 3/4 of the dough off and begin kneading that separately. So you will now have a smaller batch and a bigger batch of dough- the smaller with be your bread roll and the larger with be your bread loaf. Shape your larger bit into a loaf shape, seam side down, and pop it into a loaf pan. If you don't have a loaf pan, a baking sheet is fine.... but I suggest that loaf pan. Take the little guy and put him in whatever shape and whatever baking apparatus you have on hand (I use my cast iron pan). Drizzle these both with Olive oil, prehead the oven to 375, and cover your loafs with a towel. Let the rise however long it takes for the oven to preheat, and then just pop 'em in! Bake for about 20-25 minutes. And now, you have fresh bread- YUM!

Beet Soup! (with Cilantro Pesto)

This soup has the most beautiful color I've ever seen.

Carrots
1 sweet onion
Celery
Vegetable Stock
Beets
Salt and peppah
A pinch of Oregano

Cilantro Pesto:
Cilantro
Garlic
A brick of parmesan
Yogurt
s and p
a squeeze of lemon

Sweat your onions, carrots and celery in the bottom of the soup pan with a couple pats of butter and a Dash of olive oil (you can do this all with butter but I like the flavor of a bit of OO) While this is cooking down, slice up your beets (the smaller the chunks the faster they will cook.) Add the beets and vegetable stock until the stock comes about a half inch above the beets. Bring to a boil and cover. Turn down the heat as needed but do not bring it down to a simmer. Cook the beets for about and hour/ forty five min. (until the beets are soft) and add your seasoning. Pour this whole mixture into the blender and puree. YUM! now for the cilantro sauce

This sauce is good to make while you are waiting for the beets to soften. It tastes best when its been refrigerated for a bit. Chop up your cilantro (this can be a rough chop) and add it to the blender or food processor. Add a couple cloves of garlic and grate in some parmesan cheese. Your parmesan to yogurt ratio can change according to what kind of a parmesan punch is desired. Add your yogurt (about a cup or a lil more) and blend that baby together. YUMMMMM

When all the components are done, put them together for a delicious meal!

Cat Art?

I don't even like cats.
4 x 5 ink and watercolor on illustration board.
building my "image lexicon", if you will.
blah blah blah.

Preparing for my lame little baby of a show "My Mickey Mouse Shoes."
up for a week.
KCAI printmaking gallery.

That Other Guy

put some pattern on your pants.

Split Pea (oh gee)

1 large yellow or sweet onion
Carrots
Celery
Garlic
8 oz or so of split pea
4-6 cups of chicken or veggie broth
Salt and Pepper
Basil
Thyme
Oregano
Dash of cayenne or other chili powder

Okay. Very simple here. Sweat the onion in the bottom of the pot with some butter and a touch of olive oil . Once they are translucent add your carrots, celery, and garlic. Add a dash of salt and pepper along with the spices. Keep in mind you can add more spices at any time. Pour in your Chicken stock after everything begins looking soft and cooked. Then add your split peas and bring this concoction to a boil. Once it boils, set your burner at med-low and cover for about half an hour (or until the split peas are soft). Stir occasionally. You can always add more water or stock if you think your soup is to thick or thin. You can also take a blender to your peas break them up to create a creamy soup. This soup goes great with a fried egg on top or, simply a quesadilla or grilled cheese. YUM YUM YUM

Your Apartment Stinks

Always in different houses, always wishing we were in the same house.

On Her Third Birthday

My sister's third birthday. Don't you remember the age when you could only recognize people by their feet and legs?

Ink Wash:Colored Pencil O'Clock

Coloring Time

My mom bought me an enormous zip-lock baggie full of colored pencils from a thrift store. I have never seen such a collection in my life. and now it is mine.

In a PICKLE

pickled red onions

I love everything to do with pickles. so does Simone. So I thought I would try pickling some red onions, and of course, they were fantastic. Go great on anything, especially tacos and sandwiches, maybe salads or soups as well.

1 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup lime juice (freshly squeezed tasted miles better than from the bottle)
3 tbs sugar
1 tbs salt

Bring these ingredients to a boil while you are thinly slicing your medium- sized red onion. Pop the sliced onion in a bowl and pour the boiling liquid over them. Cover this concoction with some plastic wrapped and pop those suckers into the fridge for a couple hours. They will become a lovely redish pink (begin to look like candy) and cool completely, and thats when you know they are ready to eat.

Domesticated Laday

What can I say? The cold makes me want to cook, and now, with my new sewing machine, there is no reason to leave the house. All I want to do is cook, sew, and homemake. I'm just your everyday natural domesticated lady.