Recycle and Reuse

We went garage saling this morning with Tim's parents in Colorado. We ended up at a elementary school that had an entire gym filled with people...and stuff.

I like buying frames at garage sales because usually with a little TLC they can be reused to frame artwork. Also, it's tons cheaper than buying a frame from a store or getting a custom frame made.
I had some great luck today because I got several frames, some for photos and some for artwork. I got two for $9 that even had canvases in them that I can paint over and reuse. Pretty sweet!

The only problem is that it's hard for me to see art in garage sales, thrift stores and other discount places. Someone put themselves into creating something, something they felt good enough about to sell or give as a gift and then years later it becomes "junk." People don't want it anymore. It's not valued. That makes me sad.


I thought it was fitting to post the paintings I bought today so that even though I'm going to use the canvases for myself, the artist's work can still be documented and remembered somewhere by someone.

Here's to you H '87 and Walters, wherever you are.

 

Not much to report

Well, there isn't too much to report since my last post.
I finished reading My Name is Asher Lev this week. It is definitely in my "top reads" list. Very inspiring and emotional.

Also, my husband and I are getting ready to embark on a journey to Colorado for a week! We are both very excited.
Last Sunday I purchased some small-ish canvases to take with us so that I can do some plein air painting while we are there. Tim likes to bike, so I figured while he is off mountain biking I can sit and paint.
I worked this week to get my canvases ready to go. Here's a photo of all the ones that are in progress right now:

There's a lot of potential here!

I have never done plein air ("painting outside from life" for those of you who haven't heard that term before) painting before and I am excited to try it! I believe a lot of impressionist painters did this so that they would capture a specific light in a landscape. It will be interesting to try something new and see how it turns out.
I will post photos of my attempt, so stay tuned!

I'm not really a reader, but.....

One of the things that is great about not being in college anymore is that I actually have leisure time. I come home from work and then I can do pretty much whatever I want...with the exception of going to the grocery store when there's nothing in the refrigerator. I don't always want to go to the store, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do if you want to eat.

When I'm not at the grocery store, I spend a lot of time painting, and recently I have spent time (even during my lunch hour) reading.

I've always wanted to be a reader, but I've never had a really good attention span. That makes reading for pages and pages and pages kind of difficult.

I recently finished the Matched trilogy by Ally Condie (shout out to Layne and Lara for recommending it!), and now I'm on to My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok. I'm seriously obsessed with this book.

It was recommended to me by another friend a couple weeks ago. A few days later I checked it out from the library (that's a crazy story in and of itself--library cards aren't as easy to come by as they make it seem...) and then a week later I was about half way through the 369-page book.

Those of you who are on the "serious-to-professional reading level" may not be impressed by this, but seriously y'all this is a super accomplishment for me...and also a testament to how amazing this book is.

It's about a young Jewish boy who has the gift of drawing. His life is very tumultuous considering his father makes reference to his art being from "sitra achra" (evil or the "Other Side") and his mother has a nervous breakdown after her brother dies. For some reason Asher can't help drawing. Sometimes he looks up and realizes that he was drawing in a textbook and doesn't remember doing it. We aren't talking the typical doodling either. His work was straight up amazing apparently.

I can't say that I can identify with Asher 100% because for one thing, I know I'm no prodigy. I also have been very fortunate to be surrounded by people who support me.

There was passage that was particularly striking to me though:

"That was the night I began to realize that something was happening to my eyes. I looked at my father and saw lines and planes I had never seen before. I could feel with my eyes...I could feel lines and points and planes. I could feel texture and color...I felt myself flooded with the shapes and textures of the world around me." (pg 108)

I wish I could feel things the way Asher does here. I have no doubt that there are really some people who have senses like that. In some small part, I am able to identify because when you study something for so long it becomes part of you. After I did all those portraits for my show, I noticed that I am very sensitive to people's noses now. I find myself looking very seriously at them. You're thinking I'm strange. But I'm really not. A nose is a very important part of making a person look the way they do. If one tiny thing is off, the person no longer looks like themselves. In this way, I am forever changed. When I look at people, I trace their noses with my eyes and try to notice every angle and nuance about it. That is how I know "that something was happening to my eyes."

I highly recommend My Name is Asher Lev to artists and even non-artists. It's a very powerful book that has probably earned a spot in my all-time favorites. I just hope that the second half is as good as the first.....

What books are you reading? Any suggestions for what to read next?

Starting a New Chapter, Part 2

Being married is not the only new thing in my life these days.

I graduated from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in December with a B.F.A. in Studio Art and a B.A. in Spanish.
Before that, however, I had to put on a senior art exhibition last April. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
The goal of the exhibition series was to capture the electricity, connection, and love between couples. (You can see photos by clicking here by looking at the "Couples" album). With that goal in mind, I painted six different couples in a graphic, modern realist style. For months...and months...and months I dedicated my life to that. I even planned on continuing that style and theme somewhat in graduate school. That's where the chapter ended.

I didn't get into graduate school.

I was discouraged and knew it was time to turn the page. I will always love painting couples. I am painting them on commission now, but I needed something new to try.

For a while my mind had been firing off ideas. My brain kinda felt like this:

You know, one of those toys that randomly shoots out electric currents. Idea after idea constantly floated around in my head.

Not getting into graduate school was the push I needed to take a break and experiment with something new: abstract.

It is so freeing to finally do something  totally different...and be satisfied with it!

Here are my first two attempts:

 

This is entitled "Hope 1" (20x16" oil on canvas) and is about having hope in the future through God and Christ Jesus by the forgiveness of sins despite current events and hardships of the world.

This one is titled "Blue" (24x18" oil on canvas) and was more for the experience and technique than the message.

I like this direction. I plan on developing it more in the coming days.
Stay tuned, my friends!

Starting a New Chapter, Part 1

Since the last time I've posted I graduated from college and became a Mrs! Yep, I got married on January 12th to my boyfriend of four years and two months. Well, he was my fiance for ten of those months, but you catch my drift.
Let me tell you, it's been an amazing three months of marriage!
Here's one of my favorite photos from the wedding:

And another from the reception:

It's wonderful to come home to your best friend every day. I guess I got to marry the prince after all...

One of Tim's (my man's) many amazing qualities is how encouraging he is when it comes to my artwork and pursuit of creative achievement.  He is definitely my biggest fan...well he and my mom are tied for first.
He has allowed me to transform our apartment balcony into my tiny "studio," which gives me room to spread out and not worry about getting paint all over the walls and carpet. (Let's be honest, I get almost as much paint on myself and my surroundings as I do on the canvases sometimes.)
I know that someday he will buy me a house that has an extra bedroom that gets beautiful afternoon sun, has excellent ventilation, is big enough to hold all my art supplies and has a great view out of the large windows. Hey, a girl can dream right?

Until then, I'm happy just to be married to the love of my life giant studio or not.

The most delicious dinner ever!

Several weeks ago I accidentally made the best dinner ever! I saw salmon patties at HEB and thought they looked delicious, so I decided to try to make them myself. It did not go as well as I had planned at first. I realized that the salmon I bought still had scales on one side-gross! It was almost impossible to cut them off, so I decided to try to wing it...or I guess in this case, "scale it!" ;)

I put my fresh salmon filet (scales and all) in a ziplock baggie with a olive oil, salt and pepper and let it marinate while I was in my night class. It was seriously one of the most delicious things I have ever cooked! It was definitely the most delicious thing I have made up the recipe for!

Fish, veggies and parsley are all good for you, so I am qualifying this as a healthy meal! I decided to make it again tonight and write a recipe for it. I haven't included measurements or cooking times, however. Everything is up to you! Make it how you think you will like it. If you discover a delicious twist, let me know!

Ready, set...

Prep work:
1) Slide salmon filet in a ziploc bag with olive oil, salt and pepper
2) Let it marinate 2 hours or more
Cooking time:
3) Chop up a carrot or two into bit sizes
4) Dump all the contents of the bag along with the carrots into a medium sized skillet and set the stove to medium low/medium


5) Place the lid on the skillet and let the fish simmer.
6) Cut up a celery stick or two, add it to the skillet when the carrots are starting to become tender and replace the lid.
7) Wait until both the carrots and the celery are even more tender, then add a chopped up green onion and a sliced tomato (Champagne tomatoes are the best, but Roma tomatoes are good too). Replace the lid.
8) Pinch the leaves off two stems of parsley and add this to the skillet just before everything is tender enough to cut with a fork. Replace the lid.

9) Once the parsley leaves have wilted and the veggies are cooked to your liking (I like mine tender enough to cut with a fork), plate your dinner!
10) Combine with spinach and a spritz of lemon to complete this meal...and...TA DA!!!



Enjoy! This dinner also makes great leftover lunches to take to work =)

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Deuces.

Smoothies for breakfast!

Well, I have started making myself fruit smoothies every morning, because according to Dr. McKeith, fruit should be eaten 30 minutes before any other food group (carbohydrates, proteins, vegetables). She suggests that breakfast is the perfect time to eat fruit because your stomach is empty. This is one part of her section on "Food Combining." Dr. McKeith says that if you eat the wrong food groups together then you are "mak[ing] complete digestion impossible...prevent[ing] nutrient uptake and risk a host of ills" (pg. 78). This is because certain foods digest at different speeds and required different enzymes to break them down.

Thus, my fruit smoothie for breakfast. Not to mention, fruit smoothies are delicious! I purchased a new blender at the beginning of the semester just so I could start making those healthy treats. Smoothies are great for students and other people who rush out the door in the mornings. A lot of people do not eat breakfast believing they either lack the time or that not eating will help them lose weight. These beliefs are both wrong! 1) Smoothies are quick (especially if you decide the night before what kind of smoothie you want and prepare all the ingredients then) because you add your ingredients, hit a button and pour it into your glass. 2) Eating breakfast actually jump starts your metabolism and gets it going for the rest of the day.

I even have a trendy, cold-beverage Starbucks glass that has a twist-on lid and straw (Shout out to Mrs. VT for the glass!) that is perfect for taking my smoothies with me on-the-go. It has become my ideal morning to pour a smoothie into my glass and take it to class with me.

I have tried a couple different fruit combinations so far, but my favorite is what I'm calling "Banaberry." It's totally delicious! Trust me.

In your blender combine:
1-2 Bananas
1/2 carton (about 3 oz.) raspberries
A handful (or two) of baby spinach
Orange juice (the more you add, the more liquidy {I just made that a word} your smoothie will be)

Blend/liquify/puree (depending on your blender buttons) to your heart's contentment! I think I may have added 1/2 an apple as well. Consider it an optional ingredient. Enjoy!
Bonus: the Spinach is well masked by the sweetness of the bananas and raspberries so this is a good way to get your spinach-haters to eat that nutritious leafy green.

Deuces.


*I feel it is necessary to say that I am in no way legally connected with Dr. McKeith or her book. I am merely a reader of You Are What You Eat who has decided to blog about personal experiences relating to the book.