The Artist's Way

In my opinion, one of the secrets to being ageless is to continue learning. I use the term ageless, because it feels to me as a more realistic approach to trying to feel "young".  Since time is man made, my age doesn't mean anything (except in the morning when I wake up and feel stiff and it takes awhile to get moving).  In recent conversation with a friend, we both agreed that we have so many things that we want to learn, to do, or to try we will never be bored, just may run out of time.

With these thoughts in mind, at the beginning of this year I started a journey of deeper self discovery. I made a commitment to myself to take a class pursuing higher creativity. It is based on the book the Artist's Way, A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron. I say it was a commitment because it is a 12 week course with a meeting each week, a book to read and tasks to preform. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to get out of it, but I was very curious. I found a class being held locally and facilitated by an acquaintance, so I thought "just do it". I'm glad I did and would recommend it for anyone regardless of age. The weekly meetings were enjoyable, the reading very thought provoking, the tasks were achievable or I just selected not to do them, but what I learned was life changing.

What can be taken from this class is surely different for each student. Basically what it does is put you in touch with the power of your internal creativity. It makes you be aware of your own destructive behaviors, helps you remove negative thoughts you have about yourself and teaches you to nurture yourself.  It is very interesting what you discover by just doing 2 of the class commitments which are morning pages and artist's dates.

Morning Pages--each morning you write 3 long-hand written pages of whatever comes into your mind (likes, dislikes, dreams, regrets). It becomes a form of meditation and clarifies your thoughts.
Artist's Date--once a week you do something by yourself. You receive answers in the solitude and learn that it is okay to be kind to oneself.

We are all creative, it is a life force that we all have the ability to experience. So while this class did not remove any wrinkles, it is helping me be ageless by being more confident and encouraging me to express my own style. I want to live "artfully" and try to do so everyday. More about that in future posts.

In the meantime, check out these wonderful women:

www.advancedstyle.blogspot.com

I Did It!!

I had set a goal for my self to move my studio into my new space within a 2 week period. After a lot of work and help from my hubby, my goal has been achieved.
 I enjoy designing and decorating. In my last post I was considering painting my tile floor. The job turned out to be not as daunting as I thought. Sanding, priming and painting took a little over 2 days. The hard part was waiting 72hrs before walking on it. For the most part, I am very pleased with the results. I can see that the floor will not take much abuse. I already have a few scratches, but it is what it is and sure looks a lot better then before we started this project.
 I enjoy a space that nurtures my creativity. Having favorite things around me in jars and objects on shelves, inspires me. I do like organization. Not being able to find something when I need it drives me crazy.   Anyone care to share some organization tips?
  Now some photos of the finished product. Let me know what you think.
I have get busy making something!

OMG it has been awhile!

     I know, I disappeared for awhile, and I apologize. It has been a crazy year, which I will go into more detail in following posts, but I'm not going to bla bla bla on this blog. Time to focus and move forward!
     The palace space is moving. I'm not going very far, just from a small bedroom to a semi-outdoor space in the center of the house which will now be my studio. With one end open to our backyard, I will get to make my magic with an inspirational view of the water. Why didn't I think of using this space before? One afternoon my friend Sheila came over to join me in a messy project. It was a beautiful day so we worked in this space so we could spread out. After she left, I thought what fun (I think this often after spending time with her), why don't I just move out here? And so it started!  I have a goal. I want to be in this space in 2 weeks! Nothing like setting goals to get me moving.
     After scrapping off as much of the old paint from the cement walls that I could, I primed the walls and painted it an off white. My hubby told me it was going to be really bright, and it is, so I calmed it down with a very light blue ceiling. That technique is used a lot down here in Key West on the ceiling of porches. I think it has something to do with mosquitoes thinking it is the sky. You get to know a lot of little tidbits like this while taking tourist friends on local tours. Back to the painting...after several trips to Home Depot for supplies, several coats of paint and a slight mishap of a can hitting me in the head and twisting my glasses, it looks pretty good!
    The next step is dealing with the ugly floor. It's part gross red tile and part cement. My brilliant idea is to etch the cement to match the tile squares and then paint it all one color. The Home Depot guy is shaking his head at me, my hubby is shaking his head at me, and I am paying no attention to either one of them. My thought is that it has to look better than ugly red tile and after I bring in all my stuff, how is going to look at the floor?
    I'll post photos of my progress and let you decide if I made a good choice.

Menu Monday (7) Baked Manicotti

This past Saturday we had a meeting of our Cayo Hueso dinner club at our home. It's a monthly get together of eating and drinking and good conversation with friends. I arranged an Italian team of baked manicotti, chicken marsala, green beans with mint and garlic and lots of red wine of course! Our friends always include the apps etc to round out the meal. The chicken recipe and marinara sauce used to top the manicotti have been on previous posts.

Do you call your marinara, tomato sauce, or gravy? I call it sauce, but that's my choice since that was what it was called in our home growing up.To me gravy is brown, white or au jus, sorry, I digress, back to my manicotti which is to die for, worth the calories and melt in your mouth.  Making your own shells makes all the difference, is not hard and makes you look like a genius! It's like making a crepe with a cheese filling. I made the shells and filling the day before, then rolled and baked them before my guests arrived. This is my Mom's recipe, a family secret, but I will share it with you (o:


BAKED MANICOTTI (SERVES 8 TO 10)

shells:
5 eggs
1 1/4 cups unsifted all purpose flour
1/4 teasp salt

filling:
 combine all ingredients:
2lbs ricotta cheese
1pkg (8oz) mozzarella (diced or shreaded)
1/3 cup parmesean cheese
1 tblsp chopped parsley]1 teasp salt
1/4 teasp pepper
2 eggs.

Make shells: in a bowl combine all shell ingredients with 1/1/4 cups water and mix with a portable mixer until smooth.  Melt 1 teasp butter in 7" skillet ( I use a Teflon type pan and just use butter for the 1st pour). Pour 2 tblsp (or more) batter rotating pan quickly to spread batter evenly over the bottom of the pan.. Cook over medium heat until the top is dry but bottom is not brown, Cool on wire rack and then stack with waxed paper in between each shell until you are ready to bake.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
 Cover the bottom of your baking dish with a small amount of  sauce. Place 1/4 cup filling in each shell and roll up. Place shells seam side down in a single layer and top with sauce and parmesean cheese and bake till bubbly.

Enjoy!!

TSKW

TSKW stands for The Studios of Key West. This non profit organization is a wonderful venue for artist to join together as a community to share artistic ideas and expertise. Welcoming artists from all over the world, TSKW provides them a  place to reside for a month and share their work with the community of Key West. The artists reciprocate by giving workshops in their field giving others the opportunity to experiment in different medias.

I have been volunteering at the Studios for about 18 months now. When we moved back to Key West after spending time in Jackson Hole, Wyo and the Outer Banks of NC. I wanted to become move involved in the art community. Joining TSKW had done this for me. I have embraced my surroundings and I am learning to push my self boundaries to create what I feel is inside me. It is my time now. I may feel like a 30 year old on the inside, but in reality I am that quirky older ( I prefer ageless!) woman  that realizes that time is not to waste. With this in mind, I am learning new art techniques, experimenting with my own ideas, breaking some art rules and having fun along the way.

This evening I was part of TSKW show Voluntary Acts. Artwork created by the volunteers of the Studios is being celebrated in the 2nd floor gallery. I am happy to have my work displayed in this venue. The highlight of the evening for me was when a woman approached me to tell me she was looking for me because she really enjoyed my work and wanted to meet me. Thank you, thank you.

Funky Friday (6) Journaling

  I like the idea of journaling, just with a twist. Several years ago while searching on the internet, I came across an artist that journaled on clothing. I was imediately hooked and wanted to try it for myself. I started with a pair of worn demin jeans that I altered into a skirt (the legs into a small bag).  I now keep my thoughts and special memories on jackets, purses and vests.

  If you want to see where my inspiration came from, check out  www.voodooandzen.com 

Menu Monday (6) Monday Surprise

It was a busy day, worked in my studio (more about that later), had my car repaired, household everyday stuff, then dinner. It was 6:30pm, tired and hungry, what's for dinner. I have to say some of my best meals were concocked from whatever was on hand with no recipe to follow. This evening was one of those meals. Checking out the fridge and pantry, I had 3 chicken cutlets, a selection of potatoes, some grape tomatoes and several bags of frozen veggies in the freezer. This is what I came up with. You can put a name to it!

3 chicken cutlets
1/2 onion copped
1 bag frozen green beans
1/4 cup of dry Vermouth
olive oil
butter
crushed red pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 box grape tomatoes cut in 1/2 pieces

In a frypan drizzled with olive oil, heat until hot
saute onion till tender
add chicken seasoned with salt and pepper & hot peppers
cook over medium heat, sprinkle with hot pepper & deglaze pan with Vermouth
  ( I had dry Vermouth on hand for my special occasion dirty martinis,
 but any dry white wine would work)
cook chicken slowly turning in pan until cooked through

In the meantime cook frozen green beans
and baking potatoes, first in microwave then crisped in toaster oven.

When chicken was cooked completed, I removed it to a dish. I then added the green beans to
the pan stirrng to coat with pan juices and a pat of butter and seasoned to taste. Gently stir in the cut grape tomatoes to heat thru.

To plate, I seasoned the baked potato, added a couple of spoonfuls of the green beans and tomatoes and topped with sliced chicken.

Enjoy!

This was an easy dish, a great combo of what I had on hand.

I wanted to post a photo, but I am having camera issues! Come up with a name for this if you would like. If I was feeling a little more creative, I would have used fresh green beans!












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