The work of Katherine Block, including art, web design and fire dancing!
Birds by Brianna Lane, very very delightful song, sad and lonely sounding but really good. Quite appropriate for my mood at the moment. My friend is escaping the cold Midwest and going south of the equator, past the international date line and far away to a warm island on the other side of the world with little more than her bike, a tent and some clothes. She was in a tizzy today getting everything set and I don’t blame her.
I need an adventure… I wish I was more brave like her…
This morning was time for a cooking experiment involving a recipe I found last week for Oven-Puffed Plum Pancake (with apple instead of plum because that’s what we had) Basically an apple dutch baby. The result was amazing! Check these babies out…
cooking experiment…a success.
Last week I went to the new Blick store in Edina and spent entirely too much on new painting supplies to celebrate my new free time. Since then, I’ve painted every night at least…practically all day when I can. I’m having so much fun experimenting and playing again, I don’t really care if it isn’t good, I’m just enjoying the journey. so here’s a sampling of what I’ve been doing, in various states of completion and goodness… sorry about the crappy light and camera…not much I can do about it. I would say that most of these aren’t done yet. but I was too excited not to post something and share what I’ve been working on. Feedback welcome!
Had to test out the apron today and see if it passed the test of keeping rogue food-stuffs off of me.
it succeeded, my shirt and pants were perfectly clean even after cake flour exploded and chocolate was going everywhere…mmm chocolate… check out these yummy little beauties!
Yellow Cake with chopped up cherries inside with chocolate frosting and a cherry on top!
Good ol' plain vanilla cupcakes with wonderful chocolate frosting!!! mmmm...
This is a really good recipe that begs for further exploration and elaborations…check it out, I love this woman’s blogging style and her photographs are just gorgeous! The Pioneer Woman has some truly amazing recipes.
One quick post for the night because I accomplished my mission and got the apron done. thought I’d show it off a bit!
Aaaaaaaaannnnnnnnddddddd It’s time for bed…I need to start getting more than 6 hours of sleep a night…I’m getting old. but hey, getting farther in season 2 of Lost and now know enough about making this apron that I can make another for my friend quickly before she starts traveling. I really hope she likes it!
So tonight I got the pocket made and attached to the right side of the front panel, cut out the back panel and attached the front to the back. All that’s left is to make the strap for the neck and the ties. Maybe throw a couple of buttons on for decoration and be done with the first one! I’m sure the second one will go faster, and I won’t bore you with process images, but I’ll show you what they both look like when they’re done! Maybe we’ll model them for you too.
Got my goal accomplished for tonight…albeit at 3am…(Hey, gimme a break, I was watching Lost Season 1, I was distracted) Got the front of the apron totally cut out and assembled. I think it looks pretty snazzy so far.
So that’s that, I’m quite pleased with it. The other one I make will be the reds and purples of the group. can’t wait to see how this looks when it’s done. I’ll have to cook more now though…you know, to justify having a crazy awesome apron…mmm cooking. I’m hungry…we’ll it’s been quite a while since dinner time so I guess that makes sense…I forget to eat when I focus on projects…*shrug* Morning will come soon enough.
Not sure if I’ll get to work on this more tomorrow or not, but that’s alright, after 8 hours of working on it tonight, I could use a break.
yes, I’ve been terrible about doing my Drawing of the Day challenge… >.< with any luck and motivation I’ll be getting on that soon.
Now however, I’m here to talk about a new project I picked up this afternoon while out and about with Debbie.
Really awesome apron with these really awesome fabrics!
Should be enough fabric for two aprons, so I’ll have one for me and one for my friend. Can’t wait to surprise her with it. I’ll try and remember to post some in process photos, shouldn’t take too long though.
New Years Eve day I got my hair cut. Now it’s fun, spunky and remarkably versatile! Today I decided to run out to Target and get some new headbands for it but when I got there I realized I didn’t want to drop $5+ on each pretty new one I got. Instead I bought a pack of three plain black ones for $3 and took them home to decorate with whatever I had around the studio… so for my “drawing of the day” I’m breaking the rules a little…but this was a really fun creative act that turned out to be quite rewarding. so :p
the three together
feather fascinator headband
detail of feather
lacy
magazine clippings
magazine detail
I did do a drawing yesterday and I’ll put that up later tonight when I get the chance. I promise :p
I hate the idea of making New Years Resolutions. The stat that I found said that 78% of people who make New Years Resolutions fail to follow through with them. The quarter that do, use tools like journaling their progress, asking their friends for support, rewarding milestones and focusing on all the benefits of achieving their goals. (Resource Link)
But regardless, the idea of making goals for the upcoming year is very appealing. A new year feels like a fresh start, the chance to make changes for the betterment of your life.
With that in mind, I have made goals for this year. And I’m asking any readers I have out there for help and support. Comments, ideas, recommendations and whatever else you feel like offering, heck, just showing me numbers on Google Analytics is enough to make me happy. :p
The First goal is to start doing a drawing a day. A concept made known to me by a lovely blogger named Daisy. I attempted this last year and made it about 30 days in before I let life get the better of me. I’m hoping that by making it slightly more official, making daily updates here and getting feedback from readers, I will start making art more a part of my daily life. Currently, I’m working on covering up a journal I wrote in a year or so ago, some therapy for covering up past demons. The journal itself is beautiful with a deep dark blue slip cover and heavy cold-pressed watercolor paper. It was a joy to write in but now I think I can make something more beautiful out of it.
See! Darn Purdy!
Some Extra Credit, pages I did about a month ago:
This is the one I did today:
The Second goal is to follow the concepts in the book I’m reading at the moment called “The Four Agreements” by don Miguel Ruiz (full book review to come when I finish it). I think Ruiz makes very valid points in this book, providing ways to destress and improve your own life, creating your own heaven. The four agreements you choose to make with yourself are:
Sounds so simple when it’s just those four ideas written on paper but already today I have felt myself stress out about things I took personally and I made assumptions that put someone in a negative light (I asked for clarity and my assumption was wrong, I felt silly, but was really glad I made the effort to get clarification.) If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend it.
Third big goal is to reconnect, get together with friends more often and build stronger friendships based on trust and good experiences. I lost touch with a lot of people over the course of the years I’ve been in college and it’s proven to be a great disservice to me.
And last but not least, the Fourth goal is to really start working on my career. I start my new job on Monday and it’s going to be amazing. The doors that it will open and the experience I will gain will be limitless. It’s time to put all that hard work done at MCAD to work and start building on it.
Life is good… very good. I’m blessed with a close family that’s helped me through a lot of hard times and a core group of friends that has stuck by me, I also met some amazing people last year that have welcomed me into their lives with so much joy. 2009 was a really hard year that taught me a lot about myself. I am determined to grow more this year and learn more about what I’m capable of achieving.
Happy New Year everyone! May 2010 bring you great happiness and success in all your endeavors!
