Thursday, September 28, 2006

taking a small break


small blocks cut and ready for painting on my studio table

close up of a new painting

oh my! Open Studios is just two weeks away now, and I'm freaking out a bit. So much to do, so I'm going to stop posting on and, even more importantly, reading blogs until after Open Studios is over with.

I might post some new paintings here and just pop in and say hi, but I have to get myself off of the computer!

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

want to stay updated?

Hi friendly readers,
I'm working on setting up a mailing list for letting people know about upcoming shows and other exciting art-related news.

For now it's just an email newsletter, but someday I'll send out pretty postcards too.

If you're interested in signing up, that would be cool, and you can click here.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

wedding

Can you tell what we did this weekend?

We went to a beautiful wedding. Scott's cousin Ada got married at Stafford Lake in Marin and it was lovely. The weather couldn't have been more perfect.

The wedding was really interesting and they had three stiltwalker friends in cool costumes.




Thursday, September 21, 2006

New Stuff at AppleSeed

sheer vintage 70's dress
vintage suede patchwork wedges

vintage british money box
vintage figural pin (part of a set)
I'm posting more items on Appleseed. Vintage things and also modern things.
I'm going to post some great fancy things for Halloween too. Because I think that people should wear fabulous vintage things for Halloween, not overpriced throw-away crud from "Halloween Stores".

Please come and see what's new.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

woozy

So now I have an excuse for why I haven't spent enough time in the studio!

I knew I felt funny in there, and couldn't stay long. Turns out there was a big gas leak in there! It used to be a laundry room and the gas dryer valve thing that no longer has a dryer attached to it had been leaking something fierce.

Thank you pg&e guy for fixing it. Now I can make art for longer and with less wooziness.

better fonts

A nice new free font site. They aim to be user friendly, and do a good job of it.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

sweet potato gnocchi


These things were so good! And easy too. I made them yesterday because I was feeling like cooking something new and special and grown up while the kids were with their dad, so I made these homemade sweet potato gnocchi. I had them for dinner last night, and lunch today.

Here's the recipe:
  • 2 roasted yams (I used some left over from dinner the night before that had been roasted at 425 degrees until tender)
  • 1 12oz. container of lowfat ricotta cheese
  • 1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
  • 2t. Janes Krazy mixed up Salt (regular salt works too)
  • 2 3/4 c. flour
Squish the yam out of it's skin into a big bowl and mash it up.
Add the ricotta cheese, the parmesan and the salt and mix it in with the yam.
Add the flour a half cup or so at a time and mix it in, I used a pastry cutter.
It mixes up into a nice light dough.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and make it into about 6 balls. Take one of the balls and roll it out on the floured surface like a play-dough snake. It should make a snake about 20" long and 1" around. Cut it into 1" long pieces. Each ball of dough makes about 20 gnocchi, so you can feed lots of people or have extra to freeze.

Roll a fork over your little piece to make nice ridges (mine didn't turn out too ridged).

Cook them in small batches by boiling salted water and cooking the gnocchi for about 5 minutes until they float. Drain and set aside on a baking sheet while you cook the rest of them.

I served them with a simple olive oil sauce sort of thing.
I sauteed one minced shallot in extra virgin olive oil, and then added a batch of pre-cooked gnocchi and sauteed them too until they were nice and hot.

Then I added chopped parsley, basil, and oregano from the garden, some diced garden tomatoes and a little more olive oil to finish, a little pepper and parmesan, and that's it.

(on the side I had some caprese salad with garden tomatoes and pearl sized fresh mozzerella)

Monday, September 18, 2006

work


I'm painting, and working on AppleSeed and doing my eBay listings. I managed to fight off a cold yesterday, and I'm trying to get as much done today as I can.

We went to the city on Saturday, to shop for bento boxes in Japan Town. There was some kind of big cosplay thing happening there, so the place was packed with Sailor Moons and Narutos and people in cat ears and with red kimono and purple wigs and platform shoes.

I didn't find the bento stuff that I was really looking for, but I got a few things at the Japanese dollar store place. The book store was too crowded so I didn't get to really browse and choose a nice new Japanese craft or art book.

Then we went to Gage's show which was in a lovely gallery. The paintings looked so beautiful all together. I would really like to buy the one of Scott, but it's a bit out of my price range. I saw Kathan Brown there, from Crown Point Press, and that was neat. If you haven't already, you should check out the website for her book, Magical Secrets about Thinking Creatively.

I like to watch the little three minute egg videos.

After Gage's show, we went to a gallery on Polk St. where my friend Art has a piece in a group show.

Okay, back to work. I'm totally wasting time looking for a new audio book to listen to. (any recommendations?)

Monday, September 11, 2006

first day of school

The kids went back to school last week, and it has made our lives way more busy! It's only three days per week, but still changes our schedule majorly.

here are the kids

and their bento lunches (onigiri,edamame,teriyaki chicken with mandarin oranges, and there is cucumber salad in another container)

heart shaped pear and blackberry homemade hand held pie! (Sylvan got a half moon shape because I didn't want to embarrass him with a heart shaped one)

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

perfect

I attended the birth of my new nephew this weekend. It was beyond amazing. This was the first birth, besides those of my own children, that I have witnessed and it was incredible. This birth was so peaceful, and so quiet! Micah was born in the water with only a few concentrated and serene pushes, and he is a perfect little being.

I'm hoping to go and see him again today. It was such an honor to be able to be there, and I'm so grateful.