Rockscape, soup and an orange experiment

Today it got warm enough to spray paint outside, and there was sun and a helpful wind.

 So here we go

Seen out of doors in sunshine 

Indoors in ambient light

You'll notice the outdoor picture is the other way up from the indoor. That's because this is where you come in, dear blogistas. Tell me which way up  seems to you to be "right'.

It reads differently from different directions, so there's no right answer. I'm just interested in inviting your opinion.

This is still a work in progress. Tomorrow I'll paint fine gold veins into some of the rocks, and a couple of other things need changing.

Up to now, this is pretty much coming out as conceptualized.  Always a surprise.

And, as I was working outside in the chilly sunshine, wind getting involved with the paint, i remembered that there is literally nothing better in life than making art outdoors, on your feet, in the sun.  Spirits sky-high.

Meanwhile back on earth, I made a pot of vegetable stock

 finally including the last of the bag of dried seaweed I've been using for years.

The bag just says seaweed, but if anyone can translate, I'd love to know just which one.

And today's soup is leek and potato

Ending with a very good prospective supper, 

cream of leek and potato, slice of home-baked whole wheat bread with what my Mom would call "best" butter.

I also did an orange experiment. For many years I've been a bit allergic to oranges, not other citrus fruits, oddly. 

However I've found that some of my allergies fell away as I aged. So, since Misfits suddenly had blood oranges, hardly ever available in the northeast and a bit different from other oranges, also fiendishly expensive, I thought I'd try a couple.

Here's the first, in the process of being supremed. 

That's  the complete removal of rind, pith, membranes and pits, pretty tricky. It's a five star hotel thing, and I learned it during Handsome Partner's last years when he had limited use of his hands.

He loved oranges and this was a way he could enjoy them safely, no fear of encountering choking hazards. He was so happy when one appeared at his place.

Anyway I did this, quite liked the orange, less sweet than I remembered. But alas, today's urine output, I could pee for England, told me I was not okay with oranges after all. 

Oh well. Worth a try. I've frozen the scrubbed peel for dipping in chocolate to give Handsome Son, maybe at Easter. 

After that TMI, happy evening everyone! Make your own art or food or music or stories, whatever seizes you!

Modular thinking and soup

The current jigsaw puzzle is one that suits me, because as you see, it's modular

It's a grid of labeled botanical illustrations of butterflies. The subject matter doesn't hurt, either. But modular, creating larger works from small pieces, is definitely my style. The bird by bird approach.

I've made large handmade paper pieces for exhibit using a mold and deckle about 8x10 or less, visualizing as I worked the eventual relationships of the parts into a whole. 

I was encouraged years ago by an account of a Japanese paper maker working in a tiny home studio, her kitchen, because of all the water needed,  producing massive installations for exhibit. 

And even longer ago, when faxing first became a thing, David Hockney sent a huge artwork in faxed pieces to be assembled when received at the gallery, with his instructions about which bit went where. 

I think this is the appeal of piecing in textiles and paper collage, too,  giving small components bigger meaning in a context. 

I did a workshop for middle school students a while back, my agenda being for them to feel their part, and that each of them,  was accepted and belonged in the group project. Middle schoolers rarely feel confident with art, beginning the self doubts and confusion of teen years, so they were a bit sceptical and worried about self exposure. But I wanted them to experience the pleasure of expressing themselves anyway, in a safe way.

Everyone, about 45 kids, yes, I had a teacher and a parent assisting,  got an 8x11 piece of black construction paper, a big stack of collage bits I'd collected,  glue sticks, and pens. They were to create a piece about themselves, favorite color, shapes, draw on it, write important numbers -- a lot of birthday numbers got in here. 

Once finished, we assembled the pieces on the wall, like a paper quilt, huge,  and the kids were amazed to find their piece was hard to find in the finished artwork.  They liked how they seemed to be an important part, at the same time, though. The black exposed edges of the sections locked the design together, and gave contrast to the collages, punching up their effect. Sneaky teacher planning for success. Modular power!

And there's soup. This week it's the rest of the leeks and potatoes, home made stock, and flavored with a big spoonful of plain yogurt, Old Bay seasoning, za'atar and something mysterious from the freezer labeled "Spicy for soup" I added in a can of chickpeas after the blending was done.
 

Seen here with hot biscuit and Thai basil. I do like having soup in the freezer for when I can't think what to have.

Art today from a favorite sculptor, Barbara Hepworth whose curves and air and wire thread lines are unmistakable, and full of suggested ideas and images.

Happy day, everyone, bird by bird does it! What do you like doing in pieces that then come together in a different,  significant whole? Many possible answers here.

Added ed. note: we're talking about modules, not components here. A component is not a module. Got more technical than I realized, so I came back to clarify.

Soup, bread, knitting, life's essentials

This morning was about making soup and bread rolls to go with it.

Leek and potato, with leftover spinach/ cheese mix from the lasagna added in. Made six meals.

And I tried out a recipe for bread rolls involving yogurt, and was happy with how it came out. Batch of eight.

So that was lunch accounted for. There's a bread roll on the side.

Then the knitting group met, and here are just a few of the projects. D. modeling a recently finished jacket 

This is the start of a vest in progress, also by D, along the lines of the many colored one I spun and knitted and wove. 

I feel like such a pioneer! She's very keen to have her own version of my vest and I'm so flattered. It's looking very good so far.

And S. is knitting, in mosaic stitch, a cowl lovely color range. She's really good on color choice,  and mixing by holding two yarns together. As you see. I want to try mosaic stitch now.

The chickens, knitted by L,  will probably be framed individually and hung in different rooms as a little running gag.  

I'm still on the socks you saw before, well into sock two now.

The chat was as varied as ever, ranging from a grandchild due any time now, craft and art exhibits, books, cars which look alike causing some of us to try to break into other people's cars, knitting techniques, pom-pom making and Thanksgiving. 

And here's a great link for art for kids from cardboard and tape by Darrell Wakelam

And a montage of Islamic art just to enjoy without needing to do anything about it.

Happy day everyone! May only your good chickens come home to roost!

Soup kept happening

I found myself the hapless prawn of fate today, suddenly making more soup than I ever have at one go before.

First, Hungarian cream of mushroom soup. Pretty much the same as any other c of m, but it had paprika. It's really good, so maybe the paprika was a good idea. Also I made a cornstarch and milk thickening, so the cream of part was particularly good.

And garlic scapes are the usual garnish nowadays, still growing like mad.

Then while I had all the tools out I thought why not make that leek and potato soup I've been talking about, before the potatoes get past it. I didn't get all posh and call it vichyssoise. This is more homey, doesn't talk furrin'. and it used all the potatoes and most of the overstock of leeks.

No pictures of the process, you've seen it before, but here's the upshot in the freezer

There's more under there. Ten helpings of mushroom and l and p. No need to make soup for a while.

My neighbor stopped in again today to continue the restaurant review of the plum jam which he says is perfectly balanced! I'll  never reach this peak again. Maybe I'll quit while I'm ahead.

I also sorted a load of lovely silk and linen and velvet and organdy scraps for freecycling. Or the thriftie. There's also some batting in there. 

I'm improving the shining hour. Or something. This activity was  accompanied by an audiobook of At Bertram's Hotel, a favorite Christie.

I wonder if this cooking and winnowing and reading and not making is related to my horoscope. It's humbling to think of all the planets organizing themselves in order to warn me against my friends, and to make soup.

Ladies, First, Take a Leek!

Famous words innocently spoken by a very proper English lady on her cooking show, very early tv cook in the fifties on BBC.  Anyway, here's the leek and potato soup, which turned out very nicely, complete with carrot greens as a garnish.

Handsome Son visited yesterday, and easily polished off the rest of the pancake cake, which he liked a lot, said, hm, this is like pancakes or something.  Anyway, it's gone now.

And I'm starting to make exciting post vax plans.  I announced to him that, as of late April, by which time I'll have been vaccinated for several weeks, I plan to do my own shopping again, taking the burden off him.  He's been very good about it, and will still visit, but won't have to be taking precious free time to shop for me.  I will still be doing Misfits, but there are other items to get.

He tells me that grocery workers will become eligible some time in April for vax, too, so he's hopeful. He wondered  conscientiously how to fit it into his work schedule, and I insisted that no matter what time and date and location he's offered, just take it.  Everything else can wait.  So he decided, yes, that was a good idea, realizing that this can be a life or death situation.  He's been in danger daily for over a year, having to deal with the public and being exposed for many hours.  It will be wonderful when we both are safely vaxed.

I continue to send useful updates to friends still seeking their vax, in hopes.  But supplies are finally ramping up. And when people are vaccinated, we can see each other again, with caution.  The post vax world will be pretty good.  I have literally not touched another human being, not even an animal, since early last March, when it was already considered risky, but a friend's mother had died and I just had to hold her hands as she told me about it.  It's been a loss.

Meanwhile I read this

and wasn't very impressed with it.  I think it suffered from being read right after Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children, which was brilliantly written.  This one basically checks the boxes, time travel, check, shape shifting, check, battles between good and evil, check, real life sliding into fantasy, check.  But for me it never really stood up as a good story.  He's respected, so I think it's worth trying another sometime.

I'm also rereading a Maisie Dobbs, In This Grave Hour.  Rattling good storyline.  

This is about the outbreak of WW2, and involves Belgian refugees from the previous war, and the aftermath for some of them.  

 I'm a little bit excited about tomorrow's appointment. Who knew that getting a vax would be like a party?  The new normal.