Snowpocalypse or Creative Opportunity???

First BIG(ish) snow storm of 2014!!

Snowpocalyspe 2014!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

   So all the news outlets were bracing us here in the north central midwest for the worst storm in decades...the arctic vortex they were/are/is calling it! Snowocalypse!!! Snowmageddon!! Snowvalanche!! Snowapture!!!! people fleeing, running for their lives...scared that we are finally, FINALLY gonna bite the big one!!! be assured, big brother is there for you to warn you( fear mongering) and protect you(don't go outside or we'll give you a ticket).......

PISH POSH!!!!!!!!!

Here is what REAL mid-westerners do...ya put some clothes on and you dig out!!!! 

THIS storm was NOTHING compared to the Blizzard of 1978 baby!!! :)

Snow??? I say so what, BRING IT cuz I DIG IT!!!

All said and done we received about 16 inches in a 24 hour time frame. I was so excited I could hardly stand it!!! I was posting photo updates on Facebook for all my friends.
I couldn't wait to see how much snow we would get in total. We estimated about 14" just judging by the fact we already had about 4" of residual snow on our table from earlier in the week.
In the morning I called my folks, who live just a mile or so away. My Dad had measured the snow in an area that was previously bare. He measured 14" on Saturday night but we got an additional 2-3" over night. So I'm going with a grand total accumulation of 16inches!
SCORE!!!!!!

 I suppose some people would freak out by that amount of snow but we DIG IT!!! LITERALLY!!
When you get a  big dump of snow like this, especially living in the area where we live, north central Indiana, , you learn to prepare for winter, which includes big storms, and you just deal with it and hunker down. I grew up on a farm so this stuff is just easy peasy!!


The only thing about this snow storm that bothered me a bit was the fact that the polic were ticketing people for venturing out. I guess in a way, they were doing it from a safety standpoint to protect stupid people from themselves. I suppose if people are dumb enough to go out in arctic temps during a declared blizzard, you get what you deserve and the law of nature wins again, cleansing the gene pool of stupid! ;)

What to do when stuck at home? BAKE!!

 So I am stuck at home yesterday, going stir crazy because I have so few art supplies at

home and was itching for something to do rather than just watch  cat from hell and women gone bad crime shows all day long... Now I had made this big pot of chili on Saturday in preparation for the storm but dang if we didn't forget to get hot dog buns for the chili dog eating that always accompanies a big pot of chili a couple days later. 
So, I decided to make some! I just kinda winged it and decided if they turned out, would attach the recipe...well they turned out beautifully so recipe will follow.

 Healthy  Buns

 2 cups white flour, all purpose

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup oat flour

1/4 cup flax meal

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp sugar

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 1/2 tsp dry yeast

1 tsp white flour

1 cup warm water

Chia seeds or whatever seed you like

 Mix flours, salt, flax, garlic, baking soda and 1 tsp of sugar in bowl. Stir well with a whisk.

Make your sponge: yeast warm water and 1/2 sugar along with 1 tsp flour (the flour and sugar feed the yeast), stir well and set aside in warm place for it to ferment until bubbly and foamy. If it doesn't bubble and foam, your yeast is bad. Get fresh yeast and start again.

Once yeast has proofed and sponge is nice and foamy, add it to your flour mixture and then add in the vegetable oil.  I use my mixer with a dough hook but is easily done by hand. Now just mix/stir for about 5 minutes to incorporate everything and now add white flour, 1 tsp at a time just until the dough starts to ball up and is not super sticky. At this point, let the dough hook work for another 5 minutes to knead it or if doing by hand, turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. (I oil my hands a bit for this) The dough should be satiny and elastic looking when stretched. Now it's ready for the first rise. Place it into a lightly oiled bowl and give it a couple turns so that the dough has been coated with a light layer of oil. (this keeps it from skinning over) Now place a sheet of plastic wrap or a clean damp towel over the bowl and let rise about 45 minutes in a warm place (I use my oven as it has a pilot light that keeps temp ambient). Once it has doubled in size, punch down , give it a knead for about 5-7 minutes and cut into 8 equal pieces and roll into ropes about 5 inches in length. Placed on a greased baking sheet. Brush or mist with water and sprinkle with the seeds. Place back in warm place and let rise again till double. I mist with water again just before going in the oven to keep the crust soft. 

Bake at 350°F for about 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool on rack and enjoy!

So that's how I spent yesterday! :)

...And now we paint...

 I have two paintings going right now at the studio. I started another painting I had planned to do. While waiting for the oil glazes to dry on my Asparagus still life,

adding oil glazes

I needed something to do so decided to start another painting so that I could flip back and forth. This seems to be a GREAT method for me since I LOVE airbrushing, which is perfect for doing base painting and I adore traditional brush work which is perfect for the final detail work. I have recently taken to using oils for the final detail work because they lend an incomparable transparent depth of color that acrylics just can not. My friend Stuart Hughes badgered me into trying this combo and I am so glad I did!

see the difference another layer of glaze makes?

It's kind of like painting a car with lacquer (which is pretty much extinct unless you know some old 70's guys have a stash of paint left, you lucky bastards!!! :) , the depth in the layers is crystalline. It's like looking at an clear ocean floor and thinking you can reach out and grab the bottom except it's 30 feet down. Thats the beauty and nature of oils and solvent type paints. Acrylics can get close but are always translucent at best which is still slightly opaque. If your going to couple acrylics with oils, you have to learn the sequence. Always, always ALWAYS layer acrylics first THEN oils but never the other way around. You can not go back and forth. If you try to layer acrylic atop a layer of dry(?) oil, it will not adhere.

So while waiting for paint to dry, I had taken a photograph of a still life had set up a couple weeks back. So far I am calling it Tea Time because frankly, I suck at titles and I am not very creative with names...that part comes from my Mom. (dog named Pup, rabbit named Hoppy, chicken named Chick....you get the idea)

I had gone antiquing with my folks right before Christmas and my Dad bought me this lovely little tea cup and saucer, it's the one on the right in this pic.

Snowy day at studio, Jan 1, 2014.

 It's a very delicate, translucent Japanese  bone china. It has a lovely iridescent patina with pretty pink stripes, gold leaf and roses on it. So pretty! I had thought it would look just beautiful featured in a painting I have wanted to do featuring some of my other vintage stuffs and antiques. I have an old stoneware teapot and a really cool tea canister(part of a set) and some old plated art deco style silverware...PERFECT!! It sort of reflects my nature because nothing in it matches! :)

So I started 'Tea Time' last Wednesday, New Years Day. I just kind of busted it out not giving a care of what was totally accurate or not at this point.

Just sort of developing the bones. You can always correct mistakes as you go, which I do. It's just paint after all and you can always fix things...always! I started out using a dark umber (Createx Wicked acrylics and Illustration Colors). I am using a Learn Mojo III airbrush for this. After I umbered it in and got the value sort of close, I started developing it more with a toned white. I always have a bottle of white that i ever so slightly tint so that it's a warm eggshell tone.
This is what I generally always use on warm toned pieces and umber is a warmer tone.

Once I had  developed enough, I started introducing  the toned white and just kept going back and forth with the umber and the 'white' until the values were almost completely on point but not quite. The addition of color does add value so you have to get the piece almost there but not quite

Now the finished painting will be a fully colored warm piece and I'll add more color later but for now, I am just working the 'under-paintings' structure and value until it's correct. This is where you make any structural corrections, which I have done.
It will soon be time to start adding in the colors.




Here you can see the difference adding a bit of color makes on a piece that has correct values mostly established. I still have areas where I will fine tune shapes yet but that can be done as you go along. I will keep working this back and forth until 'close' to being done 
then I will come back in with the oil glazes to finish it. 

I rather enjoy this method because it feeds two needs, the need to airbrush because I absolutely LOVE to airbrush and the desire to paint with a traditional brush because it is relaxing and soothing...it puts me in that zen zone...
So far all I have used are acrylics up to this point. Probably have another day or so of painting with the acrylics to get it ready for the oil glazes. This on is coming along rather nicely and quickly! The size of both of these paintings are 11x14", canvas covered panels (I made them by gluing canvas to masonite and adding smooth sanded gesso layer on top).



So that's pretty much where I am at with things during my first week of being a 'full-time artist'. I painted every single day last week except for Saturday and Sunday, which I have designated as my days off.  Now I can spend more quality time with my awesome husband! :) 

So right, I have caught you all up and now it's time to brave the frozen tundra (ferk  me, -11°F this morning!!) and drive that incredibly loooong stretch of road (1 mile) to the studio and spend a GLORIOUS day painting!!! :D
Hope everyone has a fantastic day!  Stay warm!!

Kath