Purple Thistle, Pastel Painting

Finally!  I painted yesterday.  I took photos of this thistle about a week ago when I was on my walk.  Then Regina Burchett, my pastel painting buddy, painted a poppy in almost the same way I had planned for the thistle.  Interesting as it is almost the same color family, too.   Thanks Regina for the inspiration to paint.  I decided to just do it.  I am pleased with the result and will put it for sale in Jo's Notions.

Jo's Thistle, Pastel on Colourfix sanded paper, 9 x 9 inches

Does this mean I am back into painting?  I sure hope so.  Today was taking photos, blogging, putting it on the web, etc.

Gene also put up my rain gutter shelves in my studio.  I used them at the downtown gallery both times I had a studio there, but not here at home.  They are easy (for him) to put up and hold all kinds of goodies.  They look nice, too.  He put them behind the door for me.   Thank you, Gene!

I also made a gluten free chocolate cake with quinoa.  Quinoa is a very healthy grain.  You can find the recipe here on the 10 cent Diet blog. The photo there is prettier.  :) The cake came out very good.  Not too sweet and because gluten free things don't rise, it is more like a moist brownie.

Baseball Note and More - Happy Cinco de Mayo!

She's My Sister
Pastel on Pastelbord 16 x 20 inches

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

The Longhorn Baseball team has now won 21 games in a row! It has been fun. They played a small school, Prairie View A & M. Longhorns won 6 - 0, but not a big blowout like we thought it might be. Their pitcher, Benjamin Blackburn, went the whole game. Lots of pitches, over 120, I think. Wow. You can read about all the Longhorn baseball on Joanna's Longhorn Baseball Page.

After the game we stopped at Carl's Jrs to get a bite to eat. I ordered a burger without a bun for my gluten sensitive stomach. They wrapped the burger ingredients in a couple of big leaves of lettuce and put a paper wrapper around it so I could eat it like a burger! That was great. I usually have to eat it with a fork which looses the feel of hamburger. That was a nice surprise. It would also make a low carb burger, too. Very nice, plus it was a good hamburger.

Today I have a Chamber of Commerce luncheon to go to:

Sponsor: Aqua Water. Program: Family Crisis Center. Catered by: Schlotzsky's Deli and Cinnabon. Menu: A Sandwich Box Lunch (Original, Smoked Turkey or Angus Roast Beef & Cheese), chips, a pickle, hot sauce, a mint AND a Special, Introductory Bonus...A Cinnabon.

Not very gluten free, I guess Gene will get to try the Cinnabon!

After that I will be at the gallery. Gene is framing my new work today for the First Friday Bastrop this Friday from 6 - 8 p.m. My studio will be open with some refreshments. Stop by and visit and see the High School Photography students' photographs. The exhibit is very colorful and well done.

Food, Yummy

Joanna pointed me to a great blog. Recipes that are tried and photographed so you can have a look. It is a beautiful site (sight). The recipe Joanna pointed out was Mongolian Beef, but there are many that look great on the Crepes of Wrath blog. The recipe for March 18, Drunken Sausage and Pasta looks good, too.

With Quinoa pasta and La Choy Soy Sauce, I can make these gluten free.

Thank you, Joanna!

Jobs and Coffee a la Leslie

Leslie D'Allesandro Hawes, the fairy/faery lady, has been telling her hippie stories and lately it has been about obtaining a job. Leslie is the best colored pencil artist I know! She is a great writer as well. Go check it out, but be sure to come back and read about my life and coffee. Her post about looking for a job touched me and the first comment on that post leads to a wonderful blog about coffee, with sketches made with coffee. ........

Latte in Blue, 2
Pastel 5 x 7 inches

I painted this latte back in 2007 and wrote a little about how I started to drink lattes.

I started drinking coffee probably when I was about 10 years old or so back in the fifties. At that time, no one worried about children and caffeine. I never liked breakfast food. My Mom worked so she would leave and it was up to my sister, Barbara, to make sure I was ready for school. She would fry bacon and an egg and toast or make oatmeal. I don't do plain eggs (did you know that?), I don't particularly like cereal and I don't care for anything sweet for breakfast, so didn't think about pancakes or sweet rolls, etc. So, much to my sister's chagrin I would get me a cup of coffee with cream (real cream skimmed off the top of the milk) and sugar. I would have a piece of toast or two loaded with butter (real butter) and be very satisfied. Barbara also braided my hair and she would pull it so tight so it would stay for a couple of days that my eyes hurt. Ouch.

That went on until my Dad realized I was using the cream that was for butter and whipped cream, and instructed me that sheepherders (sorry, but he was a cattleman) were the only people that used cream in their coffee! If I wanted to be a cowboy, I was going to have to drink my coffee black like they did on cattle drives. Well, I was going to be a cowboy, so I never used cream in my coffee until we went to Bolivia in 1974.

I drank coffee all day when I was around the house or working. Before microwaves, I would just drink it cold if I forgot about it for a while. In Bolivia they made a thick dark coffee by pressing water through the grounds. The grounds had sugar already added. They would pour about 1/4 of a cup of the "syrup" into a cup and fill with hot water. Most then added 3 or so teaspoons of sugar on top of that. Not a favorite for me, especially for breakfast. I liked it after dinner, but a little stronger than the usual mixture. For breakfast they added hot milk instead of water. I began to like that, but it was not coffee to me, just a good drink, somewhat like cocoa. I didn't know that that was somewhat like latte, right? I do like strong coffee and have an espresso once in a while.

I imagine it was Sue Modrak, my Michigan painting buddy, that introduced me to drinking lattes. You can read about that in the link to the post about the painting above.

About five years ago, I found that I am gluten sensitive. I was anemic and it was suggested that I cut down on my caffeine. I have been drinking decaf coffee and Cokes since then. I had withdrawals from the caffeine of course, headaches and the works. I still have decaf for breakfast and usually the other half of my little pot after dinner. It is not the same...... The taste isn't bad, but I miss the caffeine.

Oh, but I did get to be a cowboy for a while. The best job I ever had. I worked for a month gathering cattle for the Wilsons. But that is another story...............

Peppers Art Gallery, Update

We are back home in Bastrop. It is so weird, it doesn't seem like we have been gone. There are changes, of course. The house has an abandoned feel, cleaning and airing needed! There is more new construction and businesses along the way. Who is moving into all these new homes and apartments? They have almost finished the overpass to 130 (toll road) between here and Austin. I stopped in at HEB for basic groceries and it is much the same. They had my gluten free crackers, Nut Thins, (These are so good anyone would like them ..nuts and rice base) and a new box of macaroni and cheese, well rice-roni and cheese, for me to try. It tasted OK, but looks strange. The pasta (can you call it pasta?) cooks up a little gray. (It didn't impress me enough to remember the brand.) Also HEB has great corn tortillas, called Home Style. I missed those.

We had stopped by Peppers Art Gallery in Magdalena, New Mexico, on October 15 and took down the remainder of my show. I left four new paintings and picked up a bunch. I now have 11 paintings there. Contact Peppers for purchase information.

Here is a view of all of them from my web page. You can visit my page to see the other seven in larger format.

The new ones are:

Windmill, Too
Soft Pastel, 10 x 16 inches
On masonite fixed with the new Colourfix medium.
More info and a story here.

Organ Mountain View

Plein Air
Soft Pastel, 9 x 11 inches, On Colourfix card

Aguirre Spring Park

Plein Air
Soft Pastel, 9 x 12 inches, On Colourfix card

Alamo
Soft Pastel, 8 x 10 inches, On R-tis-tx board
read more about this one here.