The Whole CHICKY

 

Sometimes you get together with your friend and cook mouthwatering buttery chicken goodness. We layered up on  parsnips, carrots, turnips and cauliflower because I'm allergic to potatoes. Basically if you squint your eyes they are the same thing except more color and flavor. We could rebrand them “fake potato mix”.  Personally, I think they are better.  I’m not hating on you, potatoes, I’m just saying that if i had to choose, I'd go for the rainbow assortment of root veggies.

We also slathered the sucker up with compound butter and better yet we DIDN’T DROP ANYTHING on THE FLOOR. The 5 seconds of pulling the nasty giblets bag out of the cavity gives a mild echo of despair. Then stuffing the lemons and onion back in seems equally violating. Then you forget all the gross stuff by the time it comes out of the oven glistening.

 

 

SHE WENT AND TOOK PICTURES OF HER DINNER AGAIN…

 

I haven't done any food photography in a while and I thought I’d play around with my dinner tonight. You see, over Christmas, my wonderful parents gifted me with a Dutch oven…and it’s the best thing ever. Tonight I marinaded some chicken in spice, herbs and honey. I seared the sides in some olive oil before adding some stock and broccoli and let it slow roast on low for about an hour. My go-to is to plop stuff down on some quinoa because it’s hearty and filling and feels super pretentious in a sentence.

Have I ever expounded on my love for arugula and fruit combo’s? Peppery lettuce mixed with a tangy/sweet fruit just hits the spot for me. Also,  blood oranges at Trader Joes right now, I did a happy dance in the store. They are my favorite fruit of all time ever!

Salad dressing :                                                             Salad:

1 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp blood orange juice 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

arugula pecans shaved parmesan chopped honey crisp apple

 

Tapir illustration

soft chalk pink tree

Woodland Snuggle

Sometimes you gotta just let yourself go and see what you make. I started drawing this without a plan and it was purely for relaxing.

Wheat Way

this little sweet thing is up in the etsy shop here

MISTY MORNING

 

Two weeks ago I had the privilege  of romping around in the woods at the wee hours of morning. There’s just something magical about mist+fog and a little coffee in my cup to make my mind aware that mornings are actually wonderful. I should do this more often….as soon as winter goes away.

sunset hill 12x12 oil painting

    

PUT A BIRD ON IT

 

Exactly one score ago, a very awkward 7 year old with giant glasses, stumbled up to the library counter with a stack of books on origami. My art teacher had played 1000 paper cranes in class. It was incredibly creepy and I had nightmares about Hiroshima for a long time as I was seemingly innocent in things like history or people wanting to kill each other. However the art of folding paper was something new and exciting and I latched on like bubblegum stuck in hair.

I’d already perilously started trying and discarding crafts. Like taste testing I plowed through crocheting, (womp womp), knitting, (I made a scarf once). I tie died t-shirts. I glued cotton balls together. I latch hooked half tiny rug BUT FOR SOME REASON paper, folding little pieces of paper was MAGICAL. I started folding paper birds from my church bulletins, flowers from my starburst wrappers and this one time I put glitter everywhere and made GLITTER ELEPHANTS! because sparkles y’all, sparkles.

Looking back, I think i must have been the most annoying kid on the planet, spreading my glitter and paper bit trail for all to share.

 

Sometimes when I am talking, I still fold. It’s incredibly relaxing & it’s a really great distraction for kids. I think any adult that can magically produce a flying bird reduces their scariness levels. This has been my go-to project for rainy day’s while I nanny’d.  So if you’re bored, go grab a paper square and try. There are about a zillion different tutorials on youtube!

 

CLIFTON SON OF TARA

 

Nothing spells out class like painting off paper plates and a giant piece of cardboard on your bedroom floor. It’s so cold that I couldn't work outside, so enter stinking-up-the-bedroom-with-oil-paint-fumes.

This giant monstrosity of a painting was for a friend that fights in dagorhir. I’m not 100% in love with how my riders proportions turned out but it was good for me to try to paint things beyond blobs. I’m good at blobs. Not so great at straight things. Learning curves are a pill.

Clifton was really cool and brought me duck feathers so I can make earrings. I’m stoked. Good friends bring dead ducks over. Its a thing. He sent me a picture of the painting in it’s new home next to the TV playing Lord of the Rings. It was a deep set moment of nerd accomplishment to know my painting was hanging up and being enjoyed.

STORY OF MY LIFE

I made one of these to sit above my desk for a little while. Too often i get sucked into the internet and pinterest telling myself “I'm working! see, I'm planning” …only to never actually start. Or worse, to over think something during the middle and never finish. A goal of mine for this new year is to limit my social media time so i can spend more time creating. Good luck to all of you over-thinkers out there!

A Few Snapshots of Thanksgiving