Today Is The End

Today is the official end of ICAD

(Index Card A Day).

Tammy started this challenge in 2011 and I've participated every year.
Some years more successfully than others.

The ICAD challenge is about doing a tiny creative project each day for 61 days (June-July). It's not an art challenge and you definitely do NOT need to be an artist to participate. Instead, it's a creative challenge. 
The project must be done on an index card.
Tammy provides prompts for each day.
Participants can follow the prompts or go their own way.
A friend of mine used the prompts and wrote a haiku each day.
I went my own way trying to do more collage.

This year I'll be playing catch up.
I've made 40 cards so far.
I hurt my hand (wrist and thumb) several weeks ago.
That slowed me down.

Here are a few of the Index Cards (all 3x5) I've made this year:

I've had people ask what I do with the cards.
Some of my favorites I have framed and they are scattered around the house.
I scan all of the cards as I finish so that I will always have a record of them.
Some have flown off to new homes because someone has done a lot of begging! 
Many just continue to live in a decorated box I have.
Looking over six years worth of cards I can can say my "art" abilities have come a long way!

Wishing YOU well and much joy!

Mosaic Monday

Ladies Who Lunch!

I have a good friend I like to lunch with.

We try to pick places for lunch that we normally don't visit

and we try to make it an adventure.

This time we took advantage of Houston Restaurant Weeks.
Houston Restaurant Weeks runs the month of August 
and benefits the Houston Food Bank.
Restaurants have special menus to pick from 
and a donation from each meal is made to the food bank.
It's a win win.
Good food, a chance to go to a "new" restaurant and try out the food.
We went to Bistro Menil.

I had the roasted tomato and artichoke quiche 
with the Menil salad followed by a lemon tart.
Yum!


Then we went across the street to the Menil museum to see the 
Outsider Art (self-taught artists) exhibit
as Essential as Dreams.
I'm only sharing three objects from three different artists.
 Twelve artists were featured in the exhibit.






On the left is Thornton Dial's Tiger On The Run
and on the right is one of Oscar Hardwiger's architectural structures --
this one of the Miraculous Staircase of the Loretto Chapel made when he was 80.





This is Spirit Codex by Solange Knopf.

The Menil has a wonderful bookstore that we did not visit.
There is a catalog for the exhibition and in my younger days
I would have loved a copy.
But I am now getting rid of all my old art catalogs.
It's hard, but better I do the work than leaving it to someone else.

I now wonder if there were postcards for the exhibit.
After all, postcards take up less space!







After lunch and the exhibit we made one more stop at Michaels.
We both wanted to check out the yarn.
Believe it or not, I didn't buy any.
I did look and I did touch but I kept telling myself I had enough yarn at home
and enough projects to finish.
I did make a wish list! 


Wishing YOU well and much joy!

Mosaic Monday

Index Card A Day

It's almost that time again.

Time to get out the index cards and participate

in the index card a day (ICAD) challenge over at Daisy Yellow.

The action starts on June 1.

Why don't you join us?

You can find more information here.

Here are a few ICADs that I made last year:









Come play with us!

Wishing YOU well and much joy!

Life By The Cup

Did you labor over the Labor Day weekend?
I did not.

The kitties and I had a quiet weekend doing quiet things.

I finished my first watercolor pear.
This was done on left over paper from another project.
There is a horse lightly sketched on the other side.
Probably a leftover from Chinese New Year.
Recycle!

Since I'm becoming quite proficient in drawing pears, there will be more in my future --
this time on "real" watercolor paper!


**

It is September ... the first of the "BER" months.
That means fall is just around the corner and temps below 95 for me!
This is one of my favorite teacups.
It is a Bentley teacup and came with a selection of Bentley teas.

***

Over the weekend I finished LIFE BY THE CUP.
I'll let you read my review.
After reading the book, I couldn't decide which tea I wanted to try
(other than Coconut Chai).
They all sounded so delicious so I bought two sampler packs.
(As if I needed more tea.)

Life by the Cup: Ingredients for a Purpose-filled Life of Bottomless Happiness and Limitless Success by Zhena Muzyka
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Put a book about tea in front of me and I have to read it! LIFE BY THE CUP is Zhena Muzyka's story about heartache, hard work, a vision, success and tea. It is also a "how to" book filled with suggestions on ways to find happiness and success. I was less interested in the how to sections of each short chapter and simply captivated by the stories Zhena told about her life and her marvelous teas. Her stories would make a lovely movie. Using fair trade organic teas and her own essential oils, aromatherapy and herbal teachings from her Gypsy grandmother, Zhena builds a successful business: Zhena's Gypsy Teas .. a thriving, purpose-driven, fair-trade, multimillion-dollar brand. I'm a big tea drinker and had never heard of Zhena's teas until I saw them at World Market. Now I'm a big fan and after reading the book have a whole list of teas I want to try with Coconut Chai on top!

View all my reviews

Afternoon Tea by Edward Cucuel (1875-1954)

Wishing YOU well, much joy and a wonderful cup of tea!

I'm joining the following tea parties.

Thank you to the hosts of:

Tea Time Tuesday

Teacup Tuesday

Friends Sharing Tea

Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Share Your Cup Thursday

At The Tea Garden

I've been collecting Portmeirion for years.
I pick up a piece here and there -- always on sale.
I have bowls from the botanical and from the garden bird series.
I use them for everything: soup, cereal, fruit, yogurt, pasta.

On my last trip to Tuesday Morning,
 I found these lovely mugs and two bread and butter plates. 

I'm going to brew a large pot of Assam making it extra strong.
I'm going to ice it later.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Iced Assam.
It is summer after all!

Maybe I'll have a slice of blueberry bread, too.
*

Garrison Keillor shared poetry by Margaret Hasse in his Writer's Almanac.

I bought EARTH'S APPETITE, a small collection of her poems and they are wonderful.

Here's an example.

AT THE TEA GARDEN

by Margaret Hasse

My friend and I mull over the teas
displayed in square jars
with beveled glass labeled by type.
Each name seems part of a haiku:
"After the Snow Sprouting." "Moon Palace."
"Mist Over the Gorges."
I'm drawn to green teas
with unoxidized leaves that don't wither,
hold their grassy fragrance
like willow under snow in winter.

The proprietor offers real china for the Chinese tea.
Animal bones, fine ground, give whiteness,
translucency and strength
to the porcelain that appears delicate,
resists chipping.
The rim of the cup is warm and thin.

My friend's lips are plush: her lovely
mouth opens to give advice I ask for.
We talk about memory of threshold events,
like a first kiss or a poem published.
She can't remember...

I tell her about my brother-in-law's
chemotherapy—his third bout of cancer.
He wants his family to put a pinch
of his ashes in things he liked:
his banjo, the top drawer of his desk, the garden.

I wouldn't mind becoming part
of a set of bone china that serves tea
in a cozy teahouse smelling of incense,
cinnamon, musk, and carved teak.
I'd like to be brought to a small table,
sit between friends' quiet words,
held in hands so close that breath
on the surface of warm drink
makes mist rise over their faces.

"At the Tea Garden" by Margaret Hasse, from Earth's Appetite. © Nodin Press, 2013. 

Tea Party with Lois by Wilson Henry Irvine, 1920

Wishing YOU well, much joy and a wonderful cup of tea!

I'm joining the following tea parties.

Thank you to the hosts of:

Tea Time Tuesday

Teacup Tuesday

Friends Sharing Tea

Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Share Your Cup Thursday

Teatime Treat

Isn't it lovely?
The Aynsley teapot was a gift.
I found the sugar and creamer in a thrift shop.
They are marked Aynsley Pembroke reproduction of an 18th century design.

I paired the tea set with my favorite Aynsley teacup.
I love the aqua shade and the beautiful interior design.

Aynsley sure knows how to make teatime a treat!

Speaking of a teatime treat.
Here's an oil painting by John Charlton done around 1883.
It's title is Teatime Treat.
Looks like my house when three kitties realize there is food around! 

Wishing YOU well, much joy and a wonderful cup of tea!

I'm joining the following tea parties.

Thank you to the hosts of:

Tea Time Tuesday

Teacup Tuesday

Friends Sharing Tea

Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Share Your Cup Thursday

Cat and Mouse

The kitty and the mouse came out to play on my tea mug!

Isn't it cute?

I found it at the Victorian Trading Company.

Mug, saucer, lid and strainer.

It is stoneware and keeps tea nice and warm.

Fun to brew more than one cup, too.

Purrfect for lazy days in the heat and humidity and curling up with a book!

I've spent the last two months taking a blogging break -- sort of.

I made one post a week of the little pieces of art I was making on Index Cards.

That challenge is over and I'm going to slip slowly back into blogging.

It will be nice to catch up with everyone.

Here's a litte bit of tea art by Mary Cassatt.

It is called The Tea Cup and was painted around 1880.

I wonder who she is visiting.

That's way too many clothes for this heat and humidity!

A big thank you to our tea party hosts:

Tea Time Tuesday

Teacup Tuesday

Friends Sharing Tea

Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Share Your Cup Thursday

May you be filled with loving-kindness.

May you be well.

May you be peaceful and at ease.

May you be happy.

Art Is

"Art is the essence of life.

Our words and our actions should be filled with art.

The substance of art is complete awareness."

~Thich Nhat Hanh

Happiness

According to Emma Bridgewater

Happiness is a Bunny Rabbit

and I have to agree.

The Teddy Bear is all dressed up in his bunny costume ready for tea and scones.

The orange cranberry scone is from Trader Joe's.

TJs makes my favorite scone better than I do. 

The mug of the month for April is Emma Bridgewater's 

Happiness is a Bunny Rabbit.

This is a child size mug that I fell in love with.

The mug and scone are on a bunny plate I found at Pier One several years ago. 

The tea is TAZO Awake -- I'm running slowly today and needed an extra wake up call!

This is Tea Garden by Frederick Childe Hassam (October 17, 1859 - August 27, 1935.

He was a prolific American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes.

He produced over 3,000 paintings, watercolors, etchings, and lithographs over the course of his career, and was in influential American artist of the early 20th century.

Wishing YOU well and much joy!

A big thank you to our tea party hosts:

Tea Time Tuesday

Teacup Tuesday

Friends Sharing Tea

Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Spring is here!

This is "The Hour of Tea" by American artist, Frederick Frieseke (1874-1939).

I've been sharing art work like this on my FaceBook page and thought I should be

sharing them here on tea day, too.

Frieseke was a prominent American Impressionist painter. 

Born in Owosso, Michigan, he later studied at the Art Institute of Chicago,

the Art Students League in New York City and later in Paris.

Frieseke's art has been described as "Decorative Impressionism".

He often painted women in lush, colorful surroundings like his garden which was tended by his wife.

Daffodils have arrived and for me that means Spring is really here.

I'm drinking Earl Grey in a Blue Willow cup and saucer by Churchill.

Wishing YOU well, much joy and a wonderful cup of tea.

A big thank you to our tea party hosts:

Tea Time Tuesday

Teacup Tuesday

Friends Sharing Tea

Tuesday Cuppa Tea

A Treat Each Year

I love hand made objects. They have a certain spirit to them.

Each year I go to the student art sale at the Glassell school.

Each year it is my goal to come home with one tea cup.

Sometimes I come  home with a little something extra.

This year I came home with the kitty print.

His name is Emeril!

I thought he looks a lot like my Teddy.

The  tea pot came from Glassell, but not this year.

This is the new tea cup.

It is hand thrown porcelain and is very thin.

I have criteria for the perfect tea cup.

It must be pleasing to my eye.

It must feel good.

It must feel good in my hands.

And, IT must have a good feel.

You know ... the spirit of the cup .. the feeling of the artist and the clay.

Really.

It's there! 

Some years I've picked up a cup and put it right back down.

Not this year. 

I knew immediately ... before I touched it ... that it was the one.

It called to me and I brought it home.

Just like the kitty print.

He called and I listened!

Thanks to our tea party hostesses.

These are just a few of the tea parties in the Land of Blog.

Teapot and Tea Things Tuesday

Tea Time Tuesday

Teacup Tuesday

Tea Party Tuesday

Tuesday Tea For Two

Wishing YOU well and a wonderful cup of tea.

***

Don't forget.

Next week I will draw the winner for my Blogoversary give-a-way!

I Promised

I promised, a few posts back, to share my recipe for split pea soup and I'm going to do that. First, I'm going to share a link to one of my favorite blogs. I've mentioned Geninne's Art blog before. I love her birds. Her watercolors make me smile. She has done several videos showing her process and this is the last one where she adds the white ink. Talk about a steady hand. Check it out!


Here's the recipe for Split Pea Soup. It comes from my favorite cookbook: Campbell’s Great American Cookbook: A Culinary treasury of more than 500 best-loved recipes from Colonial times to the present. (Copyright 1984) You would think, because it was published by Campbell's soup that it would be recipe after recipe opening a soup can. Nope! It was Campbell's attempt to define American cooking. It really is a wonderful book and if you can find it, get it. It is, if nothing else, fun reading. I'm not sure why the soup was so good last time, except (forgive me my vegan/vegetarian friends), I used smoked ham hocks. OH MY! We are now looking forward to the weekend when it is supposed to get cool again (highs in the 70's instead of 90's) and another pot of split pea soup will be in order! Straight from the cookbook:

Old Fashioned Pea Soup

American Indians knew how to grow and dry beans, but Europeans brought peas and lentils to this country.Colonial pea soup had meat and vegetables added to it daily, changing its character from day to day. The “Pease Porridge” really might have been served hot, cold or “in the pot, nine days old.”

Begin: Day Ahead Makes 6 Servings

1 package (16 ounces) dry green or yellow peas
1 ham bone with meat
2 medium onions, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

1. Soak peas in 8 cups water overnight, drain.
2. About 2 hours before serving: in 5-quart Dutch oven over high heat, heat 6 cups water, peas and remaining ingredients to boiling. Reduce heat to low. Cover; simmer 1 1/2 hours or until peas are tender.
3. Remove bone; cool until easy to handle. Cut meat from bone; discard bone. Cut meat into bite-sized pieces; return to soup. Heat. Yields 8 cups.

SPLIT PEA SOUP: Prepare as above but substitute 1 package (16 ounces) dry green or yellow split peas for whole peas and add 1 cup chopped celery, 1 cup sliced carrots, 2 tablespoons chopped parsley, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg and 1 bay leaf. Discard bay leaf before serving.

LENTIL SOUP: Prepare as above but substitute 1 package (16 ounces) dry lentil for peas, and do not soak lentils in water. Add 1 cup diced celery, 1 cup diced carrots; 1 large clove garlic, minced; 1/4 cup tomato paste, 2 tablespoons wine vinegar, 1 bay leaf and increase water to 7 cups. Discard bay leaf before serving.

TIP: Soak peas the quick way: Add peas to boiling water, allowing 4 cups water for each cup dry peas. Over high heat, heat to boiling, boil 2 minutes, Remove from heat. Cover, let stand 1 hour. Drain and prepare as above. (For some reason, I don't think my soup tastes as good when I take the shortcut. May just be my imagination!)

Potpourri

It's Friday so it must be Potpourri Time.
I'm starting off with another journal page that I've done
following the process in the Visual Journalism 101 class I'm taking.
I do love the gesso resist.

I've added collage elements to both sides of the page.
Next step is to doodle and journal --
the two hardest parts for me.
I like what I've done so far.

For some reason I haven't been in the paint mood.
I'd rather be knitting or doing cross-stitch.
I've also noticed that my fingers are itching to work with fabric.
Maybe I should listen to my fingers???

I did get some reading done this last week.

I bought Summer on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber at Sam's Club and took it with me to my dental appointment the same day. I read while waiting to have my teeth cleaned. When I got home, I read until I finished the book. This is the latest in Macomber's Blossom Street series. Quoting from the book flap, " Knitting is a lot like life ... dropped stitches and all!"
"Knitting and life. They're both about beginnings - and endings. That's why it makes sense for Lydia Goetz, owner of A Good Yarn on Seattle's Blossom Street, to offer a class called Knit to Quit. It's for people who want to quit something -- or someone! -- and start a new phase of their lives."

I enjoy the setting of a yarn store, although Macomber really doesn't spend much time there. These are nice, cozy romances. The good guys and gals come out winners and the bad guys and gals fade off into the sunset. Some nice, quiet brain candy. And, did I mention, Macomber always includes a knitting pattern?!



The Art Thief by Noah Charney is a book that Mr. Dragon found, read, and then passed it on to me saying "I think you'd enjoy this one. I did." Can't beat a recommendation like that! In The Art Thief, three thefts are simultaneously investigated in three cities, but these apparently isolated crimes have much more in common than anyone imagines. A dizzying array of forgeries, overpaintings, and double-crosses unfolds as the story races through auction houses, museums, and private galleries. My favorite character is a minor one in the novel, Professor Barrow. I’d love to take an art history course from him. I'm going to "borrow" some of his comments on my next tour!

Some people say a really good author writes about what they know. Charney certainly knows all about art and art theft. He is the founding director of the Association of Research into Crimes Against Art (ARCA), the first international think tank on art crime. He holds degrees in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art and Cambridge University, and he divides his time between New Haven, Connecticut; Cambridge, England; and Rome, Italy. The Art Thief is his first novel.

Dick's Art

The real artist in the family is Mr. Dragon. Here are three of the projects he worked on last semester. I thought I should post them before the new semester starts. He also did some wonderful pen/ink sketches and for some reason I can't find the photos. I'll have to keep looking and, if all else fails, take more pictures!

This was a study on texture. The green and yellow squares are a real *scrubby* -- the green the scrub part of the two-sided sponge and the yellow the sponge. The photo part was a picture of shredded carrots that was later changed to a very red rose. (Needed more color!)

You just knew baseball would eventually make an appearance in his art! Look carefully and you'll see two different sizes of baseball players with a bat. Sort of tessallated baseball players. This one is on the list for framing!

This is definitely headed for framing. Self-portrait in black and white a la Chuck Close. I can't tell you how much time this took.
Good thing he is retired! Painting the bristol paper 9 values between white and black (a favorite theme of the instructor). Cutting them out, Pasting them on.

WOW

Creativity

Creativity. So what is it? The dictionary says:

• Creativity - creative ability; artistic or intellectual inventiveness

So what is creative? Back to the dictionary and:

1. Creating or able to create
2. Having or showing imagination and artistic or intellectual inventiveness
3. Stimulating the imagination and inventive powers
   

Why the sudden interest in creativity? The July/August 2008 issue of UTNE READER had a series of articles on The Future of Creativity in our schools, our businesses, and our lives. Frankly, it was a little frightening. It seems to be one of those use it or lose it things. One of the articles suggested that we are robbing our kids of their birthright: the access to free, unstructured play of their own making. Remember playing with an old cardboard box and in your imagination making it into anything we wanted: castle, fort, car, plane, cave? Some kids, when you tell them to go play look at you and say "what should I play."

It got me to thinking about being crafty and if that counts as creative. Then I thought about just having fun! Why stop playing when you become an adult? Why not continue to play? Learn to play a new instrument. Learn a new craft. Finger paint!

I spend time looking at blogs featuring mixed-media artists/crafts people. I decided I wanted to try and here's my first collage. This is what I collected all laid out on watercolor paper. The little girl in the picture is me. Lots of clip art butterflies. An information sheet on butterflies printed out on ledger paper.


Here's the finished project. I call it Too Cute I. I have more pictures of this little girl doing things she loved. I think there are several more Too Cutes to come!

Too Cute I

Dick's Homework

I've had several people ask how Dick's drawing class is going and would I please post some of his artwork. Your wish, etc! I picked his last two homework assignments.


The shirt was homework due last Monday. In class they studied and sketched the 9 values from white to black and the assignment was to draw a white shirt with all of the values. I think he did a great job.

I think this charcoal piece is really cool. It was fun to watch it being "born". It is his homework assignment due tomorrow. After one class in charcoal he said he really didn't like it and must have gotten into a lot of trouble with his mother when he was a kid and was having flashbacks about getting dirty. Working with charcoal is a real mess and he didn't enjoy it much. He had to cover the page with charcoal (accomplished outside with extra charcoal washed into the grass) and then work the charcoal off with a special eraser (it gets kneaded and wadded up like clay). The wash room was covered with drop cloth to catch any stray charcoal and Dick did his Johnny Cash impression dressing all in black. Tomorrow the class is working with ink and Johnny Cash will be attending class again.

Someone should have told us we should have stock in Texas Art Supply. Amazing how many erasers he went through for this charcoal project!