A different way of being creative…

I have a thing for magazines…especially cooking and art ones…I love to look through the cooking ones while I am waiting in the line at the grocery store…if I find a recipe that I must have, then I buy it…it was the Vichyssoise recipe that made me buy the latest Fine Cooking magazine…that and the crab cake cook-off article…and the article on searing, braising and glazing on the barbeque…

Vichyssoise has always been one of my favourite summer soups…sipping spoonfuls of this silky smooth cold soup brings memories of my childhood flooding back…I had a wonderful childhood…filled with family fun, friends and adventures with my horse when I took off into the back fields and woods of the farm I grew up on…

When I was young, Mom would buy a frozen version of Vichyssoise...how easy is that?!…if I remember correctly, it came packaged like frozen juice and you added milk or cream to it…I think Campbell’s Soup made it…and it was delicious! We had a huge clump of chives in the garden that we would grab a handful of and cut onto the soup…

Cariño has made this before…but since he has been back at school, his soup-making days are few and far between for now…so I decided to try my hand at it…

Here is my adaptation of the recipe from the magazine…I used 1% instead of whole milk and 10% cream instead of heavy cream, I also reduced the amount of salt and used more leeks…I think the straining it through the sieve (actually you have to really coax it – I used a wooden spoon) is really important for getting the silky texture…

Vichyssoise

• 4-5 medium leeks – use the white part and a bit of the light green, cut in half and wash, then slice 1/8 inch thick – need about 4 cups (generous)
• 4-6 medium yellow-fleshed potatoes, peeled, cut in half and sliced 1/8 inch thick – need about 4 cups (generous)
• 2 cups 1% milk
• 2 cups water
• Salt
• 1 cup 10% cream
• Chives, for garnish

Put the leeks, potatoes and milk and water in a big pot and heat over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer.
Lower the heat to medium-low and add 1 teaspoon salt.
Simmer for about 20 minutes – until the potatoes fall apart when you stick a fork in them.
Remove from the heat and add the cream.
Let sit in the pot for a little while to cool, then, a bit at a time, puree the soup in a blender.
After pureeing, strain the soup through a fine sieve.
Let the soup cool to room temperature, stirring every so often to keep a skin from forming.
Once cooled to room temperature, refrigerate until cold.
Serve with chives cut over top.

Serves about 6 one cup servings

I have been painting a bit too...here are the next 3 for the Alphabet project...like the quilt blocks that I did, I find doing these calming and meditative...

I wasn't going to...but I did...

I joined another WetCanvas project…I seem to be addicted…

This is an ATC project…2.5”x3.5”…the theme is “Alphabet”…I have wanted to play around with Illuminated Letters for a while now…so this was perfect…each person in the group was assigned, by random draw, a letter of the alphabet...I am “V”…so I will receive all “V” cards…

Virtual Quilting...

It had been suggested to me, by a few of the people that I had sent these little watercolour quilt block pieces to in a WetCanvas project, that it would be interesting to see them 'put together' in a quilt...

So...I did some 'virtual sewing' today in Photoshop...all in the name of play and fun...my Mom knows how much I love to sew!!!

Imagine...3 quilts in one day...

On rejection and the dealing with it…

Stephen King…from On Writing
“By the time I was fourteen … the nail in my wall would no longer support the weight of the rejection slips impaled upon it. I replaced the nail with a spike and kept on writing.”

Since I have chosen this year as the one in which to challenge myself, I am jumping in with both feet and this dealing with rejection is something that I am having to learn how to do…how to cope and not let the rejections stop me in my tracks…

A number of articles that I read regarding dealing with rejection said that you had to separate yourself from your work…while it may be your baby, your ever so personal creation…an outpouring of your soul…like a child, you have to set it free…send it out into the world to make it’s own way…

I read further, that when you receive a rejection letter, it isn’t you, personally, that is being rejected…it is that piece, or collection of pieces, of yours that is not being accepted…and many times we aren’t really given any indication as to why…and there are many reasons why your work might not have been chosen…and they certainly are not all because your work doesn’t ‘measure up’…

Recently, there have been 2 events that I submitted to…juried events…and was rejected…both with nice letters…form letters…the main reason given was that there had been so many submissions and there were only a limited number of spaces…both encouraged me to try again next time and one of them suggested other events in my city that I might apply to…

I have to admit that I was momentarily crushed…I am still developing my tough skin…so the rejections do hurt…and even though I tell myself not to let them, they do make me question my worth sometimes…at Karen Phipps' blog – A Visual Journey – she writes that the degree to which we react to a rejection depends on how much hope we had built up in being accepted…

I am learning to deal with these rejections and I’m sure that the more I keep plugging myself, the better I will get…at many things…at handling the rejections, at promoting myself, at learning which things I should be pursuing and which I should leave…and all the while improving my art…

Art has always been, foremost, a therapy for me…it was into creative activity that I originally retreated to take my mind off life and its difficulties and this led to painting and that led, eventually, to wanting to show my paintings (the house does tend to get full!)…and so, like Karen says at the end of her post about rejection…there is space within the turmoil we are feeling where we can go and create…

And so, on that note...I will be posting some pictures, soon, of the latest WetCanvas project that I have joined!

Montreal…a mini vacation...

After Cariño finished his exams in April, he had a couple weeks free before his co-op job was to start (an all too typical government foul-up has since postponed his start…but what can you do???)…it had been a long time since we had been to Montreal to visit some of Cariño’s family…a brother (Tonio) and his partner (Marie-Claire) as well as a sister (Margot) live there…also a few nephews, but we didn’t see them this trip… another sister-in-law, Danielle came with us from Ottawa…we all stayed at Tonio and Marie-Claire’s…Margot came over one night for dinner…and an old friend of mine from my Photographic Arts school days at Ryerson came for an evening as well…

There was much delicious food eaten, lots of talking and laughing…as well as a good amount of wine sipped…we spent most of our visit in Tonio and Marie-Claire’s kitchen…either sitting around the table eating and drinking or standing around the island all helping to prepare the food…

A group shot of everyone...this was the night that my friend, Solonge, came over for dinner...we had had paella the night before with Margot and it was so good that we decided to do it again with Solonge...it was so delicious...














They live in a really neat place…they have converted the upstairs of a shop, which used to be offices, into their home…large, airy living room…huge kitchen…downstairs is a big workshop…all kinds of wonderful tools…Tonio does special effects for the movie industry…one of these days we will stay long enough and leave the kitchen for enough time for him to teach me to work with metal…welding and cutting and soldering…

Marie-Claire has a way with plants...and her orchids are all blooming their hearts out...




















































We did manage 2 outings…one afternoon Cariño and I took the bus to an area of the city that is just one gallery after another…and the next afternoon, we all headed down to wander around Old Montreal which is also full of galleries…it was eye candy heaven!

The first area we went to is called Le Quartier du Musée...we spent most of our time on Crescent Street...


















There were all kinds of galleries...I especially liked the Canadian Guild of Crafts...there were also some galleries dedicated just to glass...what amazing glass sculptures we saw! I also like reflection photos...here is a glass sculpture...that was taller than me...in a window of reflections...


















These 2 hearts outside of the Museum of Fine Arts on Sherbrooke Street, I am sure, are done by the same artist as the woman's body and heart at the National Art Gallery of Canada in Ottawa...and, you know, a quick look at the site doesn't tell me who that is...nor can I find the name of the sculptor on the Museum of Fine Arts site...will have to look into this...
















Cariño and I stopped for a coffee at Nespresso...good coffee...but the most expensive coffee we have ever had! This was the flower that was on our table...we had to ask if it was real...which it was...but the waiter didn't know what kind it was...neither do i...


















The streets in the Old Montreal section of the city have such a different feel to them...old European...you can almost forget that you are in Canada...this area is filled with galleries, street artists and vendors and restaurants...
















































Another thing about a lot of the buildings in this area are the layers of old printing that are on the buildings...layers upon layers of old advertisements and names of businesses long gone...from a time before plastic signs and neon...all mingling together as they all get worn off by time and weather...this building shows it well...















We got home Friday evening...dropping Danielle off first at her place in Ottawa and then heading up to Oma's to pick up the puppies...Oma had been babysitting them for us and she made us dinner too! The puppies were very happy to see us again...but tired from their holiday at the lake...

Finished!!!

Well...I lived with it for a bit, but it wasn't very long at all before I knew I wasn't finished...

I liked the idea of leaving some sky...I thought it might add some depth to the painting...but I obviously hadn't managed to do it in an acceptable way...maybe this is something I should play with on smaller pieces of paper instead of large canvases using a ton of paint!

I found that my eye kept darting up to the sky bits...and they weren't meant to be to main point of focus...so I filled them in with more leaves and am happy now...for me, my eye wanders around the painting and keeps going back to the blue band in the lower middle...much better than constantly having my eyes jerked to the top of the canvas...

Cariño and I had a lovely escape last week...a few days spent with family in Montreal...lots of delicious food...good times spent sitting around the table eating and sipping wine...gallery wandering in 2 districts of the city...visiting an old friend...it was wonderful...will post some pictures soon...

Meditation Garden finished…maybe…more process shots…and play…

I think I have may have finished the big Meditation Garden…I have to let it dry and see how I like the sky…I think I like it…but it is still shiny because it is wet and a bit distracting…it will flatten out and dull down as it dries and then I will know whether or not I am finished…actually, the more I look at it the more I am worried that the eye gets drawn right to the blue sky spots...and that isn't the point of focus...or at least it shouldn't be the main one...I might have to get rid of the sky...


















I took pictures along the way as I painted the leatherback turtle postcard…I am only so-so about the actual turtle…but I really like the sand…and the foamy water is ok…I did learn some things along the way and used something I had never used before...masking fluid...I have a masking fluid pen - which was great for drawing the outline of the turtle and then I used a paint brush to fill in the shape with masking fluid...














Once the turtle was masked with the masking fluid and where the water was going to be was taped off, I used a toothbrush to splatter different sandy colours of watercolour paint...I had 2 styrofoam trays with light biege paint and to one I added reddish and darker brown tones and to the other I added black...I think there are about 9 different colours splattered on to make the sand...














Then I rubbed off the masking fluid...it really worked...what amazing stuff...














And took of the tape...













I used both coloured pencils and watercolour pencils for the turtle...and white acrylic and grey pencil for the lines on its back and feet...













Blended the watercolour pencils with water...













I used the other side of the tape mask to cover the painted side of the card and then painted the blue water with watercolour paint...













Removed the tape mask...













I used an old, stiff brush and white acrylic to stipple foam onto the water...













Tonight I had planned to gesso some large canvases, but first I just wanted to play a little...so I let loose squeezing lots of acrylic colours out of tubes...I had picked up some nozzles that screw onto the end of a tube of paint...I was used a small canvas (8"x8") for this...


















Once I had lots of paint on it, I used a small screw driver (it was the first sort of pointed instrument I put my hand on) and started 'drawing' in the paint...drawing spirals and circles...