Bad Paintings

 Some time ago, maybe seventeen years or so, I took an art class where every week a different model would pose and we furiously painted portraits in oils. I then hid the paintings in the garage and promptly forgot about them.

The teacher painted in a photorealistic style and described my paintings as "decorative", which was pretty derogatory at the time. After a couple of months I realized that I didn't really like painting portraits that much and quit. But looking at these made me feel like perhaps I might like to paint people again.

It also made me realize that it is okay to experiment and fail, as long as you get back to it and keep trying.

Marilyn

 This model worked at Medieval Times and had long hair. The words around the edges are from a poem by John Donne, "At The Earth's Imagined Corners" and talks about angels blowing their trumpets to raise souls from death.

“The object isn't to make art, it's to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.”
~ Robert Henri

In My Kitchen for June

This last month was busy with birthdays and Mother's Day.

 

Victoria Sponge Cake with Chocolate Ganache frosting for Mother's Day. 

I had never made a ganache frosting before and it was surprisingly easy. I used very dark 80% chocolate and it bordered on bitter. Next time I'll be a bit more generous with the sugar. The fresh strawberries made it juicy and sweet.

 

 I love broccoli and picked up a bunch of broccolini from the farmer's market. I used it in a stir fry with seitan, bell peppers and sesame seeds.

Also for Mother's Day I made a tropical fruit salad with apples, oranges, raspberries and strips of mango.

Breadmania continued... 

I finished my "Twenty Hour Challenge" of bread baking. I learned a lot. I like the routine of it, and there is something to be about a process that billions of cooks have done for centuries. I'm not sure what my next kitchen challenge will be.

For my birthday my hub bought me a glorious Le Creuset sauce pan. For it's maiden voyage I made a Bearnaise sauce. Mostly I've been using it to flash boil veg. It's just the right size for peas, green beans or broccoli.

 The rest of Mother's Day was pretty quiet so I made some pasta. I don't make pasta from scratch very often but I bought a bag of good semolina flour and thought I'd try it out.

The paper toy for the month of April was tiny books, which you can find here...

http://www.thetoymaker.com/Toypages2/101TinyBooks/101TinyBooks.html

Finally, I've been posting a dragon's hoard of jewelry in my Etsy shop, lots of shiny happy things.

 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheToymaker



What's been happening in your kitchen?

Wishing you a creative week,

Marilyn

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 Don't be afraid to attempt something new.

 Remember, it was amateurs who built the ark.

 It was professionals who built the Titanic.