FRIED GREEN CHILES

Nope....this is not about painting fried green chiles, it's about cooking them!  No doubt, I'll get back to painting next time, but for now, let's head to the kitchen!

Because they can be fairly expensive, I usually buy the biggest can of green chiles I can find and then wrap them in Saran in portions sizes and then store in a freezer bag.  One of my 'portions' is used for chopping off chunks of chile when I want some to chop for a recipe.

To make the fried green chiles:

Drain the chiles and dry them on a paper towel.  Prepare a mixture of about half flour and half corn meal to which you've added salt, cumin & cayenne pepper to taste.

Open the chiles...don't worry if they tend to come apart on you...it happens...and place the cheese.  You can use whatever cheese you like.  I used this today to show you the amount of cheese needed.  For these 4 chiles, I only used 1 slice of cheese.  If you use too much, you will have an oooey-goooey mess in your skillet.

Fry in a medium hot skillet until they look like this...or maybe even a tad browner.

Serve with any Mexican food dish, grilled meat, a pot of beans, eggs...or by themselves.

FAILURE?

Lately, I've read on several artist's blogs of the struggles and frustrations they experience trying to gain expertise at their craft.  It is quite easy to become discouraged when over and over and over again, you fail to create on the canvas the vision you have in you mind.

Stapleton Kearn's writes:  "  Painting should get harder for you rather than easier.  The better you get at it, the harder it will be."

I have found that to be quite true.

Of course, as  you increase in skills, your expectations should also increase.

That said, I must also say that for me as my frustration level has increased over time, so has my joy.

I am more excited and enthralled by the process of applying paint to a canvas now than I have ever been before.

My intent has never been to become a master.  I want to get better, yes, and I work very hard to do that.  But most of all, I believe I am simply addicted to the joyful bliss that I feel when I paint.

If someone else is touched in some way, by any painting I've done, that is the icing on an already yummy cake!

Recently, a friend e-mailed me a photo of her lilacs in bloom last summer.  That picture stirred a wonderful memory from my childhood.

In our front yard was a magical lilac bush.  It was a really big one and the trunks grew in such a way that I was able to crawl right inside that bush and sit comfortably.  The scent of lilacs can to this day, send me straight into a state of happiness which I haven't words to describe.

Caren's picture set off such a strong memory that I just had to try to paint that lilac bush in front of our house in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

I put in the enormous, old cottonwood trees which grew in a line across the alley in back of our home.

I put in the little Blue Spruce tree.

I put in the lilac bush, right in front.

And, I put in our house. 

That part was a complete failure as I got the proportions of the house all wrong.

This was one of my 'quickie' paintings.  I don't think there's any way I can fix the problem, but I am considering giving it another try...this time, with a photo of our house to guide me.

Instead of being discouraged, I was just thrilled to be able to lose myself in those childhood memories.

Thank you, Caren!

So, even if a painting is a 'failure' it can also be a 'success.'

I guess it all depends on how you look at  it.

I choose to have gratitude for every moment I am blessed to be able to dance with my brush!

Dear friends, I wish for you to find whatever it is which fills you with mad, passionate, delirious JOY and I urge you to give yourself permission to do that very thing! 

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED

I have been working hard to improve my painting using the good instructions from Stapleton Kearn's blog.

http://stapletonkearns.blogspot.com/2011_12_01_archive.html

I am grateful to him for being so generous with his knowledge! I think I have made some progress.

Another thing I did, which was because of his urging his readers to do so, was to purchase three new brushes. For the most part, mine should have been thrown away long, long ago. They'd been danced to death!

And, I bought myself a couple of spanking new canvases. Lately, I've been painting over old bad paintings.

Now....about the painting that I am sharing with you today.

There was a wonderful time when my husband wasn't a long distance trucker and he was home every weekend. We'd get in the car and just take off. Gas was cheaper then. We wore that car out traveling the back roads of Southeastern Arizona. On one such trip, obviously in Autumn, we came across this beautiful spot.

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED

22 x 28

I miss those days of wandering the desert with my best traveling companion.  The many roads less traveled which we chose provided us with incredibly wonderful memories.  And it was during those travels when my husband first began to encourage me to try my hand at painting.

I'll be grateful to him forever for that.

Art School

"Well Crap!"

That is what I said to a (in my opinion) great artist in an e-mail to him.
I went on thusly:

“You have shown me just how much I do NOT know! That is a good thing, but as I just turned 67 today, it means I’d better paint....and learn....damn fast!

Thank you, for your generous and highly instructive blog. Even though it really makes me realize that I will never, EVER ‘catch up’ to those of you have studied and painted and learned for so many more years than I have.”

His reply to me:

”Thanks:
I guess. You can learn an awful lot about painting still. You can paint till you fall off your perch. Try that with basketball, or even golf. Good luck out there and I am glad I have been useful to you.”

Ever since I found his blog, I have been studiously attempting to apply things I am learning from him. Sometimes, I practice different concepts on the same canvas resulting in some pretty odd...in a completely uninteresting way...results.

In one way, it is quite disheartening to recognize how totally amateurish my paintings are.

In another way, it’s quite heartening to have gained enough knowledge and experience to realize that.

You can’t get better if you don’t know what you’re doing wrong. Right?

So...........

I’ll keep painting....and keep devouring his blog entries in my efforts to improve.

If you are an art appreciator, you might enjoy his blog, too, because he shares a lot of masterful paintings done by his favorite artists...and his own, of course. He shows and tells why those paintings are good and how the artist achieved the result. Great paintings are made by design...not by magic...and I’ve found it very interesting to read the details about the craftsmanship required to make a truly good painting.

And by the way, he’s humorous....sometimes scathingly so...and I enjoy that.

All that being said, know this. You probably won’t be seeing any paintings by me posted for a few days...or maybe a few weeks....or a few months....or maybe never again. (Not likely!)

I’m busy playing art school and am not even trying to make a painting decent enough to show anybody.

You can find his blog here.

http://stapletonkearns.blogspot.com

I am grateful to be learning new things.

WRESTLING ALLIGATORS

WHEW!!! 

I am tired!!!!

I can’t remember when…or if…it’s ever taken me so very long to finish one tiny painting. 

But, finally, I think it’s done!

And I’m worn out.

I thought  it was going to be an easy painting to do.

Ha!

To begin with, it’s a very special painting of and for a very special person.

You can read all about the trip to the Grand Canyon with grandson, Michael here. 

I didn’t take into account the fact that this is basically an aerial perspective…not a viewpoint I’m familiar with.

It needs to have an enormous sense of distance. 

It must ‘read’ Grand Canyon, in spite of the haziness which calls for very little detail in those far off buttes. 

And even though the figure out on that rock is tiny, it needed to be the very reason for the painting.

Since there really is a very small amount of detail, what in the heck took me so long, you might ask.

Well….’cause I forgot. 

I forgot to keep things simple. 

I forgot to remember that I was NOT trying to duplicate a reference photo. 

I forgot to sneak up on some very subtle value and color changes instead of going too far too fast with them.

I forgot to let my left brain lead the way and got way too right brained in the process.

By the time I got my head screwed on right again, I’d been at it for a very, VERY long time.  Once I accomplished that, things sure did go a lot faster!

I am grateful for that!

STANDING AMAZED

8 X 10

NOT WHAT I INTENDED

Recently, I got permission to paint from a photo posted by a friend on facebook.  Yesterday, I decided I was ready to take a break from a large, difficult painting I'm working on and have a go at the wintery night time scene instead.

I got out an 8 x 10 canvas panel on which I'd already begun something long ago.  It had an orange and crimson sky.  I mixed a dark, velvety, purple-ish blue with which I intended to paint the new sky.  Unfortunately, I made my mixture too wet and so the paint wasn't covering the old color well, at all.  Being my usual impatient self, I kept trying to put on more paint which just resulted in lifting off the just applied blue paint.  Good grief!!!  Will I ever learn?

Suddenly, I saw how absolutely gorgeous those oranges and crimsons were peeking through the deep purple sky and I laughed.

And I changed directions.  Instead of fighting my paints, I jumped right into the flow and let them take me merrily down the creative stream.

This is the result.

Maybe some day I will learn  to use those complimentary colors deliberately in an underpainting 'cause they create something magical.

I'm grateful for the fun I had doing this little painting.

MY BOX OF TOOLS

Before I start painting, I need to make sure all my necessary tools are at hand. I need a canvas, brushes and/or knives, water, a rag, a palate and of course, paint.

 

 

Without the proper tools, I wouldn’t get far,would I?

A painting doesn’t just ‘happen’ because I want it to even if I have a clear vision of how I want it to be. And if I wait until something goes wrong in the painting process to acquire a necessary tool....I just might find myself in some deep doo-doo.

Creating a good day requires the proper ‘tools’, too and a good day won’t just ‘happen’ either.

A clear vision of what we want is a good thing, indeed, but all the vision in the world won’t create anything all by itself.

So, it would seem that if I want to create myself a good day, perhaps the first thing I should do....before any other action is taken...(except maybe putting the coffee water on) is to check my tool box and make sure it’s got everything I need to create this good day.

I have learned that THE most necessary tool I have is an attitude of gratitude. Without that, I won’t get very far into making a good day.

I need, also, an expectation of good.

I need an open heart-free of resentment.

I need the ability to calm myself (learned from practicing meditation) whenever life throws a curve my way.

Every persons tool box won’t contain the same tools, but every person needs their own specific ways to ensure they face each day properly prepared.

And checking to make sure all our tools are ready, right at hand, first thing each day, just might eliminate some unwanted piles of deep doo-doo.

And that’s a good thing.

I am grateful for my box of tools.