On the Liffey at night

Waiting for the bus, and all the city life has died down, the lights on the River Liffey are glowing.

Finding beach treasures

Rabbit Hat

I used a pattern from Terrabyte Farm ( found through the INTERNET!) to re-use my rabbit coat that is falling apart at the shoulders to make something useful I will actually wear. Just in time for my trip to Ireland, and a very cold winter I'm not used to being from southern Texas and all.

some animals

 I had the day off from work today... turns out I drew more animals than I thought I would...

a Fox

A painting I did this morning. Something to pass the time while I'm waiting to go to the next step on my sacred heart bread box.  Damn, oils try my patience.

Acrylic on Masonite. 8 1/2 x 11 1/4 "

repairs on a thing

Hello world. I am "fixing up" a bread box that my friend Hannah had for my personal amusement. I have taken off the door that was in pieces, glued it back together, and put a fabric front on it. Sanded down the magnet removing the rust and almost ready to put back on. I sanded down the sides since it had years of hand grime built up all over the top and sides and started painting the top with a sacred heart (this version usually seen with the Virgin Mary).

I am working with oils for the first time in six or seven years. I absolutely hated it before (oils I mean) but I thought it would suit my needs for this box and added bonus: I have to go to work and let it dry in the mean time... giving me a sort of forced patience for the next step in my project. It's not done yet. I am going to add details to the whole thing and then put a fun design coming outward from the heart as the very last step.

We'll see how I do!

Edit: Sorry for the low grade photos. I've lost my battery charger for the digital camera...

Dia De Los Muertos ready to go "HMG"

So I gave up on the other one I was working on... I just wasn't getting anything right and I didn't like the colors I was using, plus the delicacy of the fabric meant I could not remove the stitching and try again so HERE is my new piece. A small quilted piece using some of my friends clothes I inherited. the purple fabric was a shirt, the green checkers was one of her dresses and the black backing was a dress of mine that she used to borrow a lot in Austin. I stitched a dragon fly similar to the tattoo she had on her shoulder. I used a darker thread for the dragon fly since I didn't want it to be too prominent.

Come support Lawndale Art Center October 22 - November 10, 2012. Half of the proceeds go to Lawndale (and if the retablo sells, the artist gets the other half).

11x11 fabric and thread mounted with Masonite.

Dia De Los Muertos - AGAIN!

I am working on another Day of the Dead project for the Lawndale Art Exhibit this year, if you remember last years work, I hope I can live up to my standards. I am doing another fabric piece. This one is dedicated to a very dear friend of mine who died in May. I am going to miss her forever, and decided to use some of her old clothing to create this one. So far, I have depicted a deer she indicated to her uncle she had wanted a tattoo of, even though she got a dragon fly instead.
Here is my minimal progress:

Wish me luck. I hope I can finish this without too much crying.

Snowmass, Colorado

I cannot for the life of me find out what the name of this particular mountain is, shame on me. But anyhow, I went for a walk a few weeks ago and snapped this photo from the Rim Trail here in Snowmass, the trail head is about a block from my front door, and the views were spectacular. I'm not too incredibly inspired today, but here is what I got.

Again, working on a Cheerio's box isn't the best surface for color... I need to invest in some decent paper soon.

West Texas art, on a Cheerios box

Trying to find a surface to draw on is sometimes hard... I chose my used cereal box, cut into pieces just the right size to stuff into some 3 5/8 x 6 1/2 " envelopes. Here is the first mini artwork from my trip out here to Colorado. Somewhere between Sweetwater and Amarillo: pen and prismacolor. (original photo in previous post)

West Texas drive

I spent my sweet time crossing Texas to get to Colorado, thinking about my friend, Hannah, and where the next  rest stop was going to be. I took a bunch of photos along the back roads of America thinking I'd do some artwork based on my documentation. Well, I haven't gotten around to drawing any yet, but here's my two favorite photos I snapped on my drive.

Hand Coaster

So, I'm doing a few charcoal drawings onto little 2.5x2.5x.5" wood pieces and this is the first one. Well, it's really the second, but I gave the first away to a dear friend and don't have a photo - oops! (I think the thumb looks like a bird). Tomorrow I will spray this baby with some acrylic matte medium, and drill a hole in the back just in case I feel like throwing it up on the wall for decoration instead of placing my frosty glass on it. I've always had an affinity for redoing medical drawings, I like the therapy I get from drawing repetitive lines.

Happy Tuesday, world!

Somewhere along R755

On my hike yesterday, I took the very long route from highway N11 to the back side of the Sugar Loaf to start the hike up to the top. On my way I stopped and had lunch here, in a random field, and this is what I saw. (For my sisters, Erin and Hilary)

This is me on the top of Sugar Loaf!

Brittas Bay on a sunny day

Brittas Bay. I even took my shoes off, tried for the cold water, and got a little sun on my arms.

beside the Black Castle

Here is another small drawing of the beach by the Black Castle in Wicklow Town. This one is for my friend Hannah, whose birthday was on the 19th and I forgot to send her a card. (So I'll send her this one.)

And another version of this drawing I did today, just for giggles. Also because my eye is acting up and I cannot go for a walk to collect more images to work from.

1331 Peachtree St

Here's a little update on what I've been working on these past few days. I'm taking a small break now waiting for the color to dry before the next layer goes on.

Ah and here's the finished product. At least I think it is. I might see fit to change it a teensy weensy tomorrow.

Bridge Tavern

Bridge Tavern, Wicklow 4 1/2 x 5 1/2" graphite drawing

For Emily McC

Irish Soda Bread

420 g wholemeal flour

375 g plain white flour

1 t salt

1 t baking soda (bicarbonate soda)

680 ml buttermilk

sift flours, salt and soda into large bowl

stir in enough buttermilk to make a firm dough

turn dough onto floured surface, knead until smooth

shape into 8 in round and place on floured or greased baking tray

cut 1/2 in deep slashes on round in a cross shape, brush with milk

bake at 430F (220C) for about 50 minutes

lift onto wire rack to cool

banANNA bread

Banana bread for breakfast today. This is mostly the same recipe as the one I made in 2008, but slightly different.

3/4 c butter

1 1/4 c sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 C mashed banana

3 1/2 C whole wheat flour

5 tsp baking powder

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, add mashed banana. Sift dry ingredients together and add, blending well. Butter two loaf pans and turn half of batter into each. (or dust pans with flour) Bake in moderate oven 350F (175C) for 1 hour or until tested done.

In the previous recipe I used whole wheat flour. In Ireland, they have either white, self-rising white, or "whole meal" which is whole wheat but not completely ground smooth. I used 2 1/2 C whole meal flour and 1 C regular white flour. And in the other recipe it called for 4 t baking powder, 1 t baking soda, but since I didn't have as much banana, I used an extra t of powder and left out the soda. I read here that the difference between baking soda and baking powder is that baking soda, bicarbonate soda, is a base and it reacts with an acid to bubble up and act as the leavening agent in a recipe. Well with less banana than the recipe called for, I used baking powder which already has the "acid" in the mix, or cream of tartar. So there you have it... Banana Bread!

Farmhouse Spinach & Double Cheese Plait

500 g spinach

15 g butter

1 medium leek, finely chopped

2 t chopped fresh thyme

300 g self-rising flour

80 g finely grated parmesan

1 t seasoned pepper

3 T chopped fresh basil

150 g feta cheese, crumbled

250 ml milk

*add spinach to pan of boiling water, let simmer for about a minute, drain and press out water

*heat butter in a frying pan and sautee chopped leek and thyme until soft; add spinach, stirring on medium heat for about 5 minutes or until excess water is evaporated

*stir flour into medium bowl, stir in parmesan, pepper, basil, three quarters of the feta, spinach mixture and enough milkl for the dough to mix to a soft, sticky dough.

*turn dough onto floured surface, knead untli smooth. Divide into three pieces, shape into 14" sausages. Plait sausages together on greased baking tray, sprinkle with remaining feta.

*bake for 40 mins at about 220C (430F)

Very tasty bread, I will put up the conversion for "American's" some time this week. I recommend letting your bread cool for about 20 minutes before cutting into the loaf, or you'll be like me and get nicely squished slices that haven't finished setting.

Recipe from The Australian Women's Weekly 'Muffins and Breads' 2011

Bray Head

4 1/2 x 6" View of Bray Head from the coast.

For Ann McNulty

From Bray Head looking towards Greystone

4 1/2 x 6" drawing looking fro on top of Bray Head towards Greystone in County Wicklow.

For Magdalena

St. Patrick's

4 1/2 x 6" Graphite drawing of St. Patrick's Church, Wicklow, Ireland.

Thank you card for Ann and Joe F.

Pouch no 2

Draw-string pouch made from red denim and yarn. Perfect for collecting sea-shells!

Graphite drawing, Wicklow

4 1/2 x 6" Graphite

Sent to Emily S.

Black Castle

This used to be a really big castle in Wicklow... now it's not. You can read about it here.

This one was sent to Erin T.

Pouches

I've created a small pouch for my Euro coins, yay! My hand fits right inside, and it'll be easier to sort through my coins waiting for the bus now. How handy-dandy.