food for art

Not every work of art will appear under a glass case in a museum, nor will it be meticulously positioned on exhibit in some rare “too cool for the room” gallery down town. It will never be criticized or adored by critics, no. Sometimes a work of art will be presented to the audience for whom it was created and before it has time to cool, the masterpiece will be devoured. Yes I am talking about the art of good food. If food is art, tonight’s meal was worthy of its own show.

I have included some pictures however; I do not feel they do the meal justice. I read a t-shirt one time that said “really good art will not match your sofa” The ultra artsy woman wearing this shirt struck up a conversation with me and we had a nice chat. I hesitated before I asked but kind of fell into the trap and asked about the shirt anyway-(you know how you see someone just begging to be noticed and OF COURSE you notice them but there is just something in you that says almost in slow motion …DOOOONNNNNT DOO IIITTT….Dooonnnn’t aaasssskkkk quueeesstiiioonnnsss….) well I hear that voice a lot and I normally listen to it, but there was something about this chick-I liked her, I liked the concept of her shirt and to be honest I liked that even though she was wearing “paint” clothes (I could break here for just a moment and vent a little about the pretentiousness I find in those who wear their “paint clothes” out-I mean seriously..We get it, you paint. You are an artist. You are deep and talented and way cooler than those of us who insist on wearing clean clothes in public.) Ech hmm…as I was saying chick was rocken the “I just took a break from my studio to grab a soy skim whatever “vibe and we began to chat. She explained her t-shirt and we had a nice exchange. I don’t know her name, and I have never seen her again. I did walk away from the encounter with a shared understanding and agreement with her t-shirt. “Good art makes you feel something.” By that standard alone. Tonight’s dinner was in fact. Good Art.

I have always associated food with an expression of love. When I am sitting at a table with friends and we are sharing grilled asparagus wrapped in thick sliced bacon, and pork tenderloin stuffed with granny smith apples and onions that were sautéed in a Dijon mustard sauce, slow roasted in garlic and rosemary. When I eat food like that- I feel something…I have lots of feelings regarding a meal like this. And love is at the top of the list.

Do I think food is art? Maybe not all food-but the food I had tonight was prepared with the love and the talent and passion of a Rembrandt. Yea baby, this food had the master’s touch!

Sketchy sort of day!

Last night I had the perfect opportunity to finish a major project. I did not seize such opportunity. Rather I cooked dinner, washed dishes, ironed clothes for work, packed clothes for gym, folded warm towels right out of the dryer (ahhh) and watched The Ace Of Cakes on food network. Whew! I do anticipate much productivity this weekend. Work today has been filled with lengthy phone conversations. Which make for easy “doodling” Additionally I’ve had a lot on my mind and I have a long standing habit of “doodling” when in this state. On a side note, the things I doodle may or may not coincide with said telephone conversation. Likewise my “deep thought” doodles may or may not reflect those thoughts.

I will post today’s works in the order they were sketched.

"hmmph" This would just about sum it up.  I began sketching this some time during a "well I know you are not really responsible for this-but" phone call. Now this is a case where the doodle has NOTHING to do with that phone call.  It's just a random doodle of the skirt I wore today and I added my hair and sunglasses (answer to unasked question, one of my favorite things to draw and paint is "flippy hair".  Flipped hair makes me happy and I will normally give any female a flippy hair do. :) 

Happy Birthday Dayo!!!!  Dayo is an artist I met this past summer.  Now I need to explain a couple of things. I will try to be breif.  The moment I met Dayo and looked at her paintings-I started crying. I can't explain it, I just did. Not sobbing sad tears just tears, her art overwhealmed me with emotion.  And she made a very generous donation of "imagine" one of her works to my Kenya Dig It? auction.   That paintnig is posted here. (Go to facebook.com and befriend Dayoart if you would like to see more of her stuff. ) We were instantly friends. I love her very much!  Today is her birthday and she has been on my mind all day.  While on hold with a medical equipment sales rep, I doodled out this cake then added lots of the other stuff.  I did this for Dayo!

You ever try to give up something you love? I have never been a smoker, or drug user, but I am without a doubt a sugar and caffiene addict. I mean HARDCORE addict. I crave sugar- and feel I can not function without caffiene. I make attempts to cut back from time to time to no avail. This would cement the assumption that I am addicted. I have no sense of moderation when it comes to these two things.  I am once again on a quest to "eat clean" and although I have not attempted to kick the coffee/diet pop thing this time, I am doing without sugar and MAN OH MAN---Do I have a Cupcake-Jones!! wow! Obviously-this doodle is a direct reflection of those feelings.

And then there is that sweet Caroline.  That baby's room is the project I need to finish this weekend and I have been thinking and thinking about her.  I ran across a great image during my lunch today-It was done by an artist Karin Taylor.  This is her origianal work   http://www.redbubble.com/people/karin/art/1762778-2-i-love-lollies   Go to her site and check out her talent if you get the chance. She is great!   The black and white sketch is my brain processing what reamins undone on her room and what I hope to accomplish before she arrives in TWO WEEKS!!! HOLY COW!!  I know the Red Hot Momma and The List Maker are so excited!   Have a  sketchy weekend everyone!  

Dance Me

Since I am currently working on a project for “Sweet Caroline” and have had way too much fun in my free time lately to make any progress worth photographing. I will default to blogging about one of my favorite artists and one of the coolest things to ever happen to me (artistically I mean).

I will begin the story in the beginning. I live about 8 hours away from my extended family. Parents, siblings, etc. I like it this way. Most of the time. In the spring of 2003 I was not enjoying the distance so much. A little homesick and to be honest just bored on a Wednesday. (at that time I worked in a bakery as a cake decorator and my weekends were filled with weddings and birthdays etc. My day off was Wednesday) *side bar- weekdays are great for venturing into galleries and museums-most offer a week day special like “free or reduced admission prices”* So…engulfed in self pity I decided to visit Art Under A Hot Tin Roof. http://artunderahottinroof.com/home.asp   She’s calm and peaceful but not in your typical “art gallery” style. True, her walls are white and she has her share of track and focused lighting, but something is clever about this gallery. I find it difficult to pin point exactly what it is…even now, having been there at least a dozen times, I struggle to verbalize her appeal. None the less… I began looking around and found some serenity. The Reverend Al Green was playing quietly over the sound system (told you this was not an ordinary gallery didn’t I?) I sorta got lost in the creativity of other people-wondering what the artist think about as they paint or sculpt and honestly? Sizing up my abilities to theirs, wondering if I will ever experience something that inspires me to THIS magnitude of cool and then….I saw it… “Dance Me” by Felix Sherman.A Russian born artist who now lives in New York. ttp://www.felixsherman.com/  (due to copy writes I can not post the picture from his site- however, if you go to the link above, then click paintings and the blue collection- the painting is found there. The female subject is wearing a red dress)  Here are the reasons I love this painting. 1. I love her red dress 2. The man is  wearing a suit. 3.  and has a balding head. 4.  I love that Mr. Sherman does not view his people as perfect so he does not paint them as such.5.  I love that it is “folkish” but way way hipper than any old Americana type folk art.6. The couple appears to addore each other. 7. They are DANCING! Hellooo-0.  And yes. Of course. There is a part of me that likes to think the subjects resemble me and TK. (right? oh who cares, I think so) I adore this work. I wanted to buy it. I could not afford it. I looked around the gallery a bit longer then came back to it. It made me smile. Each time I looked away and then back again I smiled again. The next Wednesday I brought TK to see it, and he loved it as well. (although not as deeply as me) He likes the colors and agrees the couple could be us.  I found out all I could about the artist and sent him an email. I inquired as to the availability of “prints”. I assumed his agent/manager/secretary would be in touch with a form response. Nope. Felix emailed me back a few days later. He told me there are no prints available and he appreciated my inquiry. For six years I thought about this painting. I have envisioned it in two different locations in my house since then. I have mentally designed our master bedroom color scheme around this work of art. Yea, I like it that much. In an oddly fortunate turn of events, I saw Felix would be coming to Memphis this past October. I emailed him to ask about “Dance Me” I asked if he would be bringing the original to the opening of Art Under A Hot Tin Roof’s new location. Once again the artist himself emailed me to say “thanks for the enquiry but the piece has been sold” My hopes dashed-(yea right, I NEVER had hopes of purchasing a $5,000 piece of art for my home- Are you kidding me? I doubt if my car is worth that much!) I did however hope to see the original again and was disappointed. I took a chance at the whole print idea once more and replied to the email. This time I said something a really dorky boy-band fan would say to JT or TJ or AJ or whoever those boy-band boys are- This time I said this “Mr. Sherman, I have admired your work for six years now and want to say thank you for sharing your talent with all of us. I have never stopped thinking about the painting “Dance Me” since I first saw it in  2003. At that time I asked about purchasing a print of the original and I understand you did not have prints of this work. I do not mean to be a bother to you, but if you ever do print this original I would be very interested in purchasing one. Again, I do appreciate your talent and I love your work! Yada Yada Yada---Gush Gush Gush” Now get THIS….he replied “if you will give me your address, I will make arrangements to send a print to you.” WHAT????? I wanted to make sure I wasn’t purchasing a print for a zillion dollars and politely made sure the price was in my budget. Okay are you ready? He wanted to send it to me as a GIFT! That’s right people…ME! I received an 9x13 original print from the artist himself….A.MAY.ZING! Things like this don’t really happen to me. For several reasons. The first and perhaps biggest of which is I don’t ever try. I mean I can say I never won a radio contest. And in the interest of fairness... I would also have to admit I have never tried to call in to a radio contest. I have never stood around near the stage after a concert hoping to get a guitar pic or the set list or something cool like that- I just figure I’ll respect the privacy of the artist and go on home. Reasoning I got my $35.00 worth.  But then again, I have never really cared that much about winning a free Power 92 beer Koozy and what would I do with the scribbled set list from Nickle Creek’s show anyway?

Deeeee-lighted!

On a previous blog I merely mentioned the jealousy I felt towards children who had such toys as Easy Bake Ovens. I casually mentioned the fact that I never had one of those light-bulb powered magic machines. I mighhhht have mentioned that I was also never the owner of a Snoopy Snow Cone Machine…So, picture this…I am sitting at my desk working like the little worker bee I am-on the telephone, taking directions to a meeting tomorrow, responding to an email regarding the Love Bigger T-shirt orders (side bar---designing and ordering t-shirts-NO PROBLEM….It’s the constant “can I change my medium to a large? Can I get a small-even though I ordered a medium and you tried to tell me they are cut for a man so they run big? Can you bring mine to me and I’ll pay you three days after the lunar eclipse…Or you can hold my purse and I can dig $15.00 in change out of my car ash-tray and pay you now…” It’s all that stuff that makes the T-shirt thing a little taxing. (you were warned) ) echh hmmm…I was at my desk working and around the corner peeks this little woman- (Mr. Peepers, Miss Priss, Boss Lady, or Little Lori DISCLAIMER: that’s not to say the other Lori here is BIG- but Mr. Peepers is smaller in stature and as politically not correct as it may be I defaulted to calling her “little Lori” when we first began working together. I am progressively retraining my brain. So---Miss Priss peaks around the corner and much to my delight she has a “happy” for me. *I just LOVE! a little surprise for no reason what so ever* But this was no ordinary treat folks, this was in fact a SNOOPY SNOW CONE MAKER!!! I now have one of my very own. I am overwhelmed with gratitude! This token of kindness has made my week.

Thank you. Thank you. A thousand times thank you!

Now…who wants a frozen Margarita?

Comming Soon-To A Crib Near YOU!!!!!

Sweet Caroline!!! This is just a tiny sneak-peak into the new project I started for her last night. The plan is this: A focal point wall where her crib will be centered. The actual wall is painted with dots in various sizes and colors to coordinate with bedding (and I learned last night from the "red hot momma" of sweet Caroline, you don't really NEED all this bedding. "The quilt is a danger to the baby because there is risk of Sudden Infant Death (good to know) likewise that bumper pad is "not recommended" once the child starts wiggling and squirming about for the same reason. So really, all you need is a sheet and if you want a pretty bed ruffle that's okay" All of this information has been taken into account-if TK and I decide to one day TAKE THE PLUNGE. Back to The Plan-so the wall has dots! For the record-I am a "dot kind of girl" I am fond of lady bugs because of their dots, I have no less than THREE different polka dot dress shirts for work (one short sleeve black/white dots one long sleeve silk black/white big dots and a loopy tie thing at the neck, and one long sleeve cotton-purple/white tiny dots and ruffles all down the front-additionally I have a brown and cream dot head band that always draws a compliment and my newest dotted addition-red/cream dotted vans-tennis shoes who's strings are constantly coming untied but I love them anyway) Here's the thing with me and dots--we go WAY back. Imagine with me a simpler time in life. I had a bicycle with neon beads on the spokes, I had my sister's light-bright slightly modified. Instead of patterns I used black construction paper and wrote messages to my family with those tiny lights. A time when I was totally excited to inherit the hand me down record player my family used in the den (u know the one that had a radio,cassett,8-track and turn table-SWEET! and a "phono" button that made a cool popping sound in the 3 foot tall speakers when I pushed it in-Man! I loved that record player-I would listen to Donny Madewell's Jazz trumpet album for hours) I digress. A simpler time- no cell phone, game boy, internet, or cable tv. Just me and my partner in crime Ann-all day-in my room-mom was at work---the short of it is this. I had plain yellow walls at the beginning of the day-but one butter dish lid as a pattern, a stapler opened so it could be used against the wall, and a pack of copy paper later- I HAD DOTS!!! Not little random dots oh no-6 inch systematically placed polka dots from floor to ceiling. Mother and Dad were not happy about the holes and said so in a very passionate manor for what seemed like a very long period of time later that afternoon. I made no apologies-I loved my polka dot walls and besides that no one ever told me NOT to do it. Dots are whimsical (used that word for Shaundra) and they make me happy. They made me happy then-they make me happy now. My hope for sweet Caroline and her family is the finished product will make them happy too!

Crayons Crayons I love Crayons!!!!

First off I will say- I remain amazed at the power of a 60 watt light bulb.  I mean as a kid (who always covetted the easy bake ovens of my friends b/c I never had one, nor did I have a snoopy snow cone maker but that's beside the point) even as a kid I was amazed at the fact that we could bake a tiny pan of brownies in this pink oven powered by nothing more than a light bulb...I am willing to admit my deprivaty as a child is partially to blame for my giddieness over this crayon maker.  Here's the deal, The Fireman got his girl-friend/my friend Jess a crayola crayon maker for Christmas and it is great fun.  While playing with her new Christmas gift tonight-we decided to search the origin of Crayola crayon color names.  If you would like to see the current available colors you can click here.  http://www.crayola.com/colorcensus/history/current_120_colors.cfm 

Here are some pictures from this evening's creativity thus far. 

The sharpener and extra new crayons.

We mixed yellow and red to make a ketchup and mustard blended crayon.  I named that color "kustard" 
We also mixed green and yellow and named it "sprite"
The picture you see here is of the crayons melting.



The melted crayons are poured into the mold.











I love this!




TADDDDAAAHHHH!!!!!!