Looking ahead: A year of Experimentation

I usually take the time between Christmas and New Years to think about my goals.  Usually, this involves writing up what I accomplished and then thinking ahead.  This year, I've ended up doing them in the reverse order mostly because I went into my studio in my head during my massage on Monday.   And I've decided 2020 is going to be a year of experimentation.

My big accomplishment in 2019 was making significant progress in healing both the eye problem and the Chronic Fatigue.  But, both problems are still there and will take time to fully heal.  So, I'm going to play in my studio and see how the healing goes before setting any art goals.

What kind of experiments am I going to do?  I'm going to focus on color.  And different ways to simplify my process.

So first is more marbling.  I love the swirls of color with marbling and I've started working with shaving cream as the layer to hold the color.  This is simpler and  faster than traditional marbling but doesn't easily do the tight geometric patterns that traditional marbling is known for.  I want to explore what patterns I can make best with this approach.

I like the swirly patterning and the intense colors so I'll start with that and explore variations.

Second, I'll be learning GIMP and trying to do digital collage.  This approach is better with the time limits I have due to the CFS.  My ancient CS3 version of Photoshop is not supported on Windows 10 so I took the forced move to W10 as an opportunity to both get a touchscreen laptop for digital art purposes and to move to GIMP.  I'll be using The Gimp Bible to learn the UI and the differences from Photoshop then work on expanding my skills in using these tools for artmaking.

Third, the lovely Inktense pencils/bars from Derwent.  I've used them before to embellish pieces but now I'm going straight for the coloring on fabric.  I can do this sitting down so I get more time to work for the same energy expended.  I'll be looking to combine it with my silkscreens as I tend toward images with lots of lines rather than blocks of color.  I think that should work well with the pencils.

Jeff got me the big box of art bars for Christmas and I'm looking forward to trying them out.

And my fourth area of experimentation will be things I can do while watching tv.  Jeff likes to relax after dinner by watching a movie or a tv show and I'm not as much of a video fan as he is but this is a great time for some small handwork.  Right now, I'm trying out hand stitching and I'm also investigating knitting with wire. 

I'll blog about all of these regularly over the next year and hope my healing progresses while I play and have art fun.  Wishing you a healthy, happy, creative year too!

Fast and easy dinners for those crunch times

This last month has been terrible.  I had a massive CFS flare after our vacation followed by this coughing cold thing that is now going into 3 weeks.  However, we're still eating healthy home cooked meals most days thanks to my changing my expectations on dinner.

First off, I now rely on frozen organic vegetables to go with the main course.  Since I'm eating keto-ish, dinner is protein and produce.  The frozen veggies make this super simple.  We rotate Trader Joe's Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and asparagus with some occasional sauteed mushrooms when my energy is up at dinner time.

Second, I'm allergic to chicken and chicken eggs along with wheat and tomato so we generally eat beef, pork, seafood and duck eggs for protein.  You can of course use chicken instead for any of the other meats if that's what your family likes.

Third, I've started using recipes that I can make earlier in the day before my daily energy falters.  And everything is kept super simple because standing is harder than sitting when CFS is clobbering me.

So, what's for dinner?  Basic meal when I feel totally blah is crockpot bbq pork/beef.  Pour bbq sauce into the crockpot, put the chunk of meat in, and slather with a spice mix.   This time, I used a bbq sauce with minimal tomato and Penzey's sate spices.  I do this around lunchtime and then only have to cut the meat and nuke the vegs for a healthy dinner.

We buy at least 2 pound roasts for this so we have leftovers.  

The other favorite meal right now is salmon a la pesto.  Because we're in the PNW, salmon is common and getting wild caught is easy.  This can be done with any other fish of course.  Line a baking pan with foil, put the fish on the foil.  Slather with pesto (we buy ours at Costco) and cover with sliced olives.  Or if you have enough energy, chop up some kalamata olives for even more of that Mediterranean flavor.  Seal the foil up so you have the little packet to steam the fish.  Use a second piece of foil if needed.  (google cooking in parchment paper for more about this fast and easy technique)  This can go in the fridge for hours if you're not sure you will have the energy at dinnertime.  Cook in a 400 F oven for 20-25 minutes.  Comes out moist and delicious.  And decrease cooking time if you're using a thinner fish fillet.

We buy a quarter of a cow each year which means lots of ground beef just waiting in the freezer.  What do I make?  Tacos, of course.  The carb eaters get actual tacos, and I get taco salad.  I use a spice blend I got from googling, see recipe here, and after some adjustments for our personal taste, we now buy the ingredients in bulk at the local coop (the most frugal way to buy spices in my experience) and keep a jar full on the counter.  Crumble the beef in a skillet, I use cast iron, add spices and brown.  On iffy days I do this earlier in the day and then pull it out at dinner time along with all the taco fixings.  Then everyone makes their own.

So when life is hectic, this is one of the ways I simplify so we can still have tasty, healthy, fast dinners.