Finally I finished this painting. It’s been in the works for a while – not because it takes long to paint, but because I had to walk away from it for a while because my energies were focused elsewhere. It was really nice to return to it and have it happen really easily. Like I was saying to my sister, painting rocks feels like a spiritual practice; it’s deeply calming and peaceful. I hope to do many more of these. As it is, it is only my second rock painting.
S
My day-time job is teaching art to kids at the local Boys and Girls Club. I’m blessed that my working life still involves creativity. It has surprised me over the years how inhibited some kids can be, I had assumed that the joy of childom was to be very uninhibited. Instead, I find the majority are worried about things turning out just right or perfect. So, I approach art in as non-judgmental a way as possible and encourage them to “not do as I do and think outside the box”. Naturally, however, they want to copy me. I used to make an example piece before class to show the kids, but things always ended in disappointment because the kids couldn’t exactly replicate it which was frustrating and it stunted their imagination. At one point I tried to dumb down my art, but that didn’t work for me and I felt like I wasn’t setting a good example. I’ve arrived at the point where I say to the kids “I am A LOT OLDER than you- I’m 31, imagine how good you’ll be in 20+ years!” That seems to appease them a little bit. Also describing the project and then doing it alongside them, effectively creating and discovering together seems to be the trick.
Each week this summer we have a theme and I ended up with some pretty neat artwork by the end of it. I thought I’d share. This is not anything I would usually think to do, but because it was with the kids, I discovered I was less inhibited and in trying to teach the kids open-mindedness and a “let’s see what happens” attitude, I ended up opening up a lot myself. I’ll show you some things I made during Pirate Week and then Super Hero Week:
This was a project where I showed the kids pictures of pirates and encouraged them to come up with a character all their own. I demonstrated by drawing along-side them. They liked this guy so much that they asked my not to color him but photocopy him instead so that they could have a coloring page. I obliged.
We worked with acrylic paint. I initially started painting this guy to demonstrate how a painting looks finished once all the white of the page is filled in (kids have a resistance to “taking their time” and “filling the page”. I ended up really liking this guy. The kids encouraged me to add a parrot.
The next week was Hero Week. The theme was essentially about local heroes like firemen, policewomen etc., but what was much more inspiring were super heroes with super powers, so we stretched the theme for the sake of art!
I kind of drew a blank on what to do. I often encourage the kids to draw what they like and know (rather than something so outlandishly difficult that they don’t know how to draw it and end up begging me to do it instead), so that’s what I ended up telling myself to do and came up with: Super Artist!
I taught the kids about cartoons and the various cells they could draw. We went over a few conventions and then we went at it. I encouraged everyone to come up with their own hero they could be proud of. The kids as a group agreed that a hero is someone (or thing) that helps and protects others. So I came up with an octopus that saves the little fishies. I also turned this into a coloring page because the kids begged me. I was impressed by the kids’ creativity on this one ( wish I’d had the foresight to bring my camera to work and take pics of their amazing work!).
This was a watercolor class dealing with wax resist, sharpie outline and then salt for added visual texture. This was my demo piece and I really like how it came out!
So, though I’ve considered the art I do in the studio and the art I do with the kids very different things, I realized after those two weeks that the separation is beginning to blur. The more I bring what I do to the table, the more the kids seem to be into it and respond to the lessons and the more fun I have!
I appreciate all my kid colleagues who helped me with this break-through moment!
S
What to do with 8 oz of Lavender oil and 2 cups of lavender buds?
I don’t know. I haven’t come close to using all that, but I can show you what I did do to use about 16 drops of that 8 ozs.
Important: Before beginning experiments, decant lavender oil into a dropper bottle; this will make life a lot easier.
Lavender Laboratory Experiment #1 : Lavender Relaxation & Refresher Spray
Shake and spritz liberally. But not too liberally if you need to get things done because it might put you to sleep.
Lavender Laboratory Experiment #2: Foot Scrub
What you need:
My jar was a small face-cream-sized jar, so I used a 1/4 cup sugar and filled the rest with olive oil and mixed it. You can use another oil like almond or grape for example, but a thick oil is nice for something as gnarly, dry and cracked as your feet very moisturizing for your deserving tootsies.
Note that lavender buds are optional…they can look a little bit like mouse turds on the floor of your tub after a good foot scrubbing…so if you’re not easily spooked (meaning you don’t have a tendency to jump into the air landing on the most elevated surface available while screaming “mouse! mouse!”), it’s easy enough to wash down the drain and adds a nice touch to the scrub, otherwise just leave it out.
Lavender Laboratory Experiment #3: Lavender Salt
Note: If you have a sea salt mill, combine coarse sea salt and lavender buds in the mill for a more fragrant salt.
Aye, aye captain, but what to do with lavender salt?
It’s amazing combined with lemon and butter(or olive oil) as a rub for chicken destined for the grill…or so I’ve been told and plan on trying.
Or perhaps on buttered popcorn…yum!
Here’s what I did do:
Pan fried asparagus with butter and lavender salt.
Need I say more?
…okay, just a little more:
As you can see, my experiments are none too scientific as I didn’t provide any measurements ( okay, I did mention a ‘quarter cup’ once and ‘a pinch’ more than that…but how big are your fingers compared to mine? See what I mean?),which is to say, experiment for yourself and see because how am I supposed to know how much scent or flavour you like? Have fun and let me know how your experiments turn out. Got any amazing lavender recipes or home-made cosmetic ideas? Please share!
S
My friend and I recently went to the Lavender Festival in Sonoma
The entrance fee was a mere $5 dollars and well worth it. Vendors were set up all around a lavender field full of the Grosso and Provence varieties.
I sound like I know what I’m talking about but that’s only because they also had on-going seminars about lavender and what was growing in that particular field. 
Both my friend and I were rather excited and frolicked through the place gaily for several hours. There was food, wine, stuff to buy, wreath making, photo ops and an outdoor spa demonstrating some of the products.
In the end we came away with some pretty neat stuff. We wanted to buy the whole place, but in an attempt to be conservative ended up with a 16 oz bottle of lavender oil and a bag of edible lavender to split and from which we could make all the other products on display there ( or so we hoped in our inspired state).
Did I end up using any of my portion of lavender oil (all 8 oz of it)? That my friends is for another post. For now, just enjoy the lovely view of lavender! Get yourself to a lavender festival if you get the chance- a great way to spend a few hours ( and a few bucks)!
S
If you read this blog it’s a) because you know me or b) because you actually like what I post. To both groups I say thank you. It’s not easy taking on a blog this unfocused. Most successful blogs I read are on one topic and one topic only. I admire those who can do it. I, however, am an all-over the place girl. My creative energies go in way too many directions to count. This blog is a way of trying to find a common tie…haven’t found it yet, except that it comes from me. I’m a “Renaissance Girl” someone told me. I like that.It explains why try as I might, I am unable to channel my energies into one thing. And, you know what? I’m okay with that.
So, thank you to those who embrace the chaos and tune in to whatever I’m up to this time! You are much appreciated (and probably a Renaissance Guy or Gal yourself!)
I leave you with a few recent pics…just because.
S
I practice Bikram Yoga.
Before you dis it, hear me out. I know there’s a lot of slap talk about it because of Bikram himself who has made a pretty penny from T M-ing his sequence of postures. I don’t care about all that. What I care about is whether it works for me and it does.
Before Bikram Yoga, I could not stick to any form of exercise, nor could I stick with a yoga practice. Holding my leg in the air for five minutes and deep breathing just didn’t cut it. For some sick reason, I love being in a room that’s over 100 degrees farenheit, sweating my life away as I hold various nutty/frustrating postures. The fact that my brain is often yelling “Let’s get the FUDGE out of here! I’m dying” is one of the challenges I embrace. Yeah, the postures never vary (except when an instructor is feeling particularly motivated and makes us hold a posture WAY longer than the standard minute) but that’s what’s good about it. You work and work at a posture until you think you know it, and then it deepens and gets better and better beyond that.
Anyway, this is not a rant about why Bikram yoga is good. Like selecting wine, if you like it then it’s good for you.
No, I want to vent about my session today which started out all fine and dandy. The heat was blowing, I was lying on my mat in Savasana waiting for the class to start when a none too lovely aroma filled the air…something like rotting cabbage.
Some yogi or yogini nearby was letting off stink bombs. Now, I know that we all have gas, and yes, sometimes we can’t control it…but this wasn’t the first time. And it wasn’t like it was just once…no, it was peppered throughout the entirety of my 90 minute class…usually in the toughest posture requiring deep breathing – the exertion being the reason for said stink bombs. Talk about a test to see how inward one can go. How can one deep breath with that kind of gas floating in 110 degree air? Seriously, I didn’t know whether to breath or gag. Not to mention, in the silent room, it was hard to not blurt out, “Seriously?!?” The gas was so enveloping I felt like others might think it was me. Talk about leaving pride and ego at the door.
To Stinky-McStinkfarm- please, please,please release your gases in the bathroom before the start of class…or adjust your diet, I detected too much asparagus and or vegetal matter. Not all of us are cut out for vegetarianism.
Gack! Too much info. Sorry. Just needed to vent…
would have loved an actual vent this morning…
S
No credit to myself, the garden is looking pretty swell.
It’s my hubby who goes out every morning and waters the place. He also fought a valiant battle with earwigs and won. It took a bit to come up with a strategy, but once implemented the earwig populations was decimated. Our beer traps were not working so well- it caught snails and slugs but they weren’t the main issue. No, my hubby launched his attack at night, headlamp beaming on the hopelessly exposed earwigs who had unwittingly emerged from their day time hiding places to manger (pronounced “monjay” en Francais) on our romaine. The strategy? Flick as many possible into a bowl of soapy water. The survivors who missed the dip: death by rock. I myself was not out there. I was lying in bed, trying to sleep over the din of rock hitting its target- Crack! Crack! Crack! It must have been satisfying because he was out there for quite some time. He proudly showed me the shriveled and mashed carcasses the next morning.
I won’t show you shots of the massacre lest it unsettle you. But here’s a lovely escargot, another garden terror. Our method of snail removal is to toss them over our fence into the back field. This guy is blissfully unaware of his upcoming aerial flight.
Our spring onions have been way over grown since fall. We decided to keep them in to see what would happen. After all, isn’t this just one grand experiment?
Last month they started flowering, and now check out the seeds:
Unsure of how to harvest, but unwilling to resort to google, I simply picked up a bowl and started massaging the heads until the seeds fell, en mass, into the dish.
My sister had taught me a nifty trick with morning-glory seeds: to separate seeds from the husks, simply blow. Seeds are heavier and will remain in the dish. So I figured, maybe it’s the same deal with these seeds. Thankfully, I was right and didn’t end up with an empty dish.
So now we’ve got seeds galore. Not sure what to do with them as it’s a little late, perhaps, to be sprouting them for this year. But I feel like such a pioneer when I gather seeds instead of buying them at the store. I feel like, “wow, I am da shit, I keep a self-sustaining garden”. The next step would be to actually label the seeds I harvest as it makes for some awful guess-work when the next season comes around. So, yeah, I’m a pioneer but not a very organized one…
The elephant garlic that started to magically grow this year, having skipped the previous year when it was actually planted, had started to grow flowers on top. We caved and googled ” when to harvest elephant garlic” and learned that we were really late. For some reason we thought we had to wait until the stalk shriveled and dried. Not so, you’re supposed to wait until the bottom leaves brown but the rest is still green. Then stop watering for a few days to allow it to begin to dry and then pull it from the ground. So we scampered out to the garden ( as if a few extra seconds would make us any less late in harvesting the things) and we gingerly pulled them out and found:
Note the little garlics hanging off the roots. No idea what that is exactly- must be its way of propagating itself. I imagine if left in the soil we’d have a whole planter box full of elephant garlic come next spring.
They cleaned up nice. Hopefully they will “set”, that is, dry nicely. Maybe we don’t even have to really worry about that since we only have two and I plan on consuming those bad guys quite soon.
Our green beans are growing..or should I say green bean singular. I think I will need to buy a miniature frying pan, because at this rate, that’s what I’ll be serving up, one green bean at a time. I can’t imagine that we will ever have a handful all at once…but you never know.
I leave you with a few more shots of the garden and its bounty!
S
Hellooo!
So, way back when, I started a little propagation experiment with some cast off succulent leaves I found at the local nursery.
Check out my April post title “Never Go Near A Garden Center a.k.a. Human Magnet” to see where it all began.
This is mostly a success story, but as with all good stories there is also a little bit of bad, so let me get that out of the way:
Back in April when I got some new succulents I bought one that was called Bear Paws. Loved them. Planted them right alongside the other one I’d purchased. I kept them indoors out of the frost, coddled them, kept them in filtered light and spritzed lightly with water. It did great for several months, and then inexplicably, the paws started to drop off. At first I thought it was because the curtain had snagged one and amputated a paw…but over several days they all started to droop and one by one they fell off. Needless to say, another one bites the dust. I don’t even have a picture to show you because it all happened so quickly there is literally nothing left to show.
On a happy note, even though it’s neighbor died a horrible and inexplicable death, this succulent is thriving and starting to form a flower!
But oh how I loved that Bear Claw. I will have to give it a go one more time. I will not be defeated!
Now on to the success story! Remember the cast off leaves and the bed of Perlite and the beginning of growth? Check this out!
This is what I’d been waiting for, the original leaf is now shriveled and discolored which means the new plant forming at its base has used up all the leaves good stuff and needs to be planted. Glad to oblige!
Check out that root action!
I just so happened to have the perfect little planter: a retro, made in Japan, cute as can be, ceramic girl with puppy planter:
Et voila! If I can do it, you can too! All it required was patience waiting for the little bugger to start doing something. It’s really quite enjoyable to watch the process inch along.
So get busy, start scouring for those poor abandoned succulent leaves at your local garden center!
S
Daddy.
Dad.
Father.
It took me years to realize that much of what I did, the decisions I made, were because I wanted dad to be proud of me.
This surprised me when the realization struck. For most of my childhood dad was more of a background figure. He supported mom in her child rearing ideas and he was at work a lot trying to put my sister and I through Waldorf school.
In many ways he was a mystery to me. Our communication was something that developed a lot slower and grew as I got older.
I now I see that I am so very much like him in many ways.
It’s amazing how that happens. Somehow it’s in the DNA.
I’m so amazed by my dad. He’s shown me through the various stages of his life, through health and then sickness and back, how very strong he is. He’s shown me that it’s never too late to pick up a guitar and learn it, sing in public, start something new and creative, find spirituality, and open your heart.
I’ve been blessed to have a father who has always been here for us, our rock whether he knew himself to be that or not.
I love you dad.
S
I hate paperwork.
And yet, the winding path of my life has led me to a point where paperwork is the order of the day.
It started small, as all things do.
In the very beginning it was just a small thing: a social security number( rather a Social Insurance Number since I started out my paper filled life in Canada) so I could get my first job…then income taxes. Once in, the ball kept rolling. Then it was license and then travel visas…then I went and fell in love with a California boy and whoops, here we are married (marriage license, more paperwork) and in the process of becoming a landed immigrant -mondo paperwork!!
Currently we are looking for a home and went almost to the end of a purchase in which paperwork for the loan and purchase, appraisals, insurance was ..monumental…(sigh)
And now… I’m trying to truly launch my artist’s career becoming legit by getting a business license and seller’s permit…and boy oh boy am I in for it! I attended a free small business seminar and simply put, had my mind blown by how regulated and fraught with paperwork going into business is. I am at the point where I could freeze out of sheer overwhelmed-ness (I know, not a word) or slowly begin to slog forward, as I have with immigration and with house buying etc. It’s helpful when you have a partner to slog along with you (lots of paperwork lingo is confusing, so it’s good to have a second opinion!).
But isn’t there more to life than paperwork? How did it all come to this? When did papers begin to rule our lives? I know it’s necessary, without regulation we could devolve into chaos. We want freedom but we don’t really want freedom, to go back to the days of yore when we had to defend the homestead shot-gun in hand. Were there building permits? Heck no! Building inspectors? Heckity heck no…but there were taxes, always the taxes.
My utopian dream would be a world in which no paperwork need be filed. No, scratch that…I’d be content with a career that was so successful I could pay someone else to do the paperwork.
The fear is that there will be so much of the paper stuff that there won’t be nearly enough time for the art stuff. I know I am just riling away at the injustice of it all whilst everyone reading this is just thinking ” that is just the way of the world, suck it up girl!”
And that’s what I am going to do.
I am grateful that our paperwork and checks and balances keep us from a situation where we have to bribe our bureaucrats and officers etc…..at least…not for such little things as business licenses…..
I’m probably revealing how very little I know.
What I know is art, and I’m going to try to keep that my focus.
Deep breathe. Paperwork will be taken care of one step at a time. Keep creating.
S
sharolyntownsend 