Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Downstairs Upstairs and Two Jacks

Went downstairs today and made a Jack-in-the-Box.
 
 
 
 Then I went upstairs and created a pumpkin-head.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jack-in-the-box and Jack-O-Lantern

Thursday, October 4, 2012

creative in other ways

 
I'm feeling a little "saturated" today. I should be working in my studio, getting work done for my last show of the season. (Rochester Museum & Science Center Holiday Bazaar) But I wasn't feeling "it" this morning. I've been working on these little date magnets for my Advent calendars for the last 4 days now and I'm getting a little burned out. Or saturated.
 
 
So I went out to mow the lawn. Then I broke the mower.
Now what??
On my way back into the house to figure out what to do next, I passed my wagon full of ripening tomatoes plucked from the garden just before the last frost and suddenly knew what I was going to do next!
I would cook up the ripe tomatoes, along with some peppers, including some habeneros I bought last weekend at the farmer's market and then freeze it to use as a chili or soup base. And just like my artwork, this idea evolved.

It tasted wonderful and had quite a spicy kick to it! I only used 1 habenero, but I also used some fresh jalepenos and a tiny hungarian pepper from the garden. I decided instead, to make some black bean dip.
 
After simmering the tomatoes in olive oil with onions and fresh garlic, I added sea salt, some pickled jalepeno juice, and (yes) cinnamon and sugar. Added to that, 3 cans of black beans.
 

 
This delicious concoction is now simmering to perfection and I feel as if I created something today ~in my kitchen, if not in my studio.
 
Now I need to go get some tortilla chips!