A Happy Thanksgiving

This year, Joe and I are celebrating Thanksgiving at home, just the two of us. I'd been thinking about what to do for dinner, not wanting to spend the day cooking a huge feast, but wanting to plan something nice. One day last week after seeing their ad, I asked Joe if a take-out turkey dinner from Delius appealed. It's one of our favorite local restaurants and I knew the meal would be terrific. Joe said, "Nah, let's just have pizza!" (This is always his suggestion, since it is his favorite food.) But pizza didn't sound very special to me, so a day later I mused out loud, "I think I'll try a new dish from that great slow cooker cookbook Roger gave us," and left it at that.

I'm a slow cooking enthusiast. Throw some stuff in the pot in the morning before work and come home at the end of the day to a house full of savory aromas and a ready meal. Also, slow cooking has resolved most of my kitchen disasters, the ones that began after I'd become a focused artist and all my creativity transferred from the kitchen to the studio. Even success with the basics alluded me after that. But slow cooking was different, so I started doing everything that way. A happy solution, I thought.

But Joe thought differently. "Everything tastes the same and it all ends up looking like mush," he said after his patience finally ran out. So, I went back to my old efforts until Roger gave me The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes by Judith Finlayson. It's terrific! Everything in it is really good!

Even so, after I voiced my idea about a slow cooker Thanksgiving meal, Joe suddenly saw the light about a to-go from Delius.

Yippee!!

Warming up in the oven as I write this, our meal from Delius will be the following:

Roasted red bell pepper and tomato soup

Turkey breast, stuffed with onions, pine nuts, herbs and pancetta

Roasted garlic mashed potatoes with gravy

Pine nut and sage stuffing

Spicy green bean salad

Homemade shallot bread

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!

Here is our lovely Delius feast, just before digging in. We are eating outside, since it is a beautiful day in the 80's here in Southern California.

Subtle Sophie waits for a few nibbles.

We are thankful today for this wonderful feast, for each other, for our family and friends, for art, for knowledge and the ability to learn, and for much more. I hope the coming year will bring a better world, peace and understanding.

May we all try to help rather than engage in political games. I will try my best.

How To Draw A Turkey

You will need a pencil, some crayons, a piece of paper and a hand. Actually, two hands - one for drawing around and one to do the drawing.

Place one hand on the paper palm down, fingers fanned out. Use the pencil to draw around the hand.

Add details, including wing, eye, beak, wattle and legs. Use the crayons to color in the turkey in any way you like. You don't have to stay within the lines if you don't want to. (Some of the greatest abstract artists haven't.)

Name your turkey if you want. I've named this turkey "Arthur." Hope you have a happy Thanksgiving holiday today!

(Thanks to www.thewoodenrobot.com for these examples.)

Another Furnace Update

Well, it is back to hot in So Cal now. Always unpredictable, in a sunny sort of way. No need for furnace heat now. Windows wide open.

Greetings from Arkansas

Joe and I are just now back from a week in Arkansas visiting my parents. It is the end of the fall season there, with many leaves on the ground around bare trees and cool temps. Still very beautiful. Here are some pics from our walk along the Ouachita River.

Furnace Update

We can't wait until December 1st to turn on the heater, like we'd hoped. I came home this evening to see Joe sitting at the computer wearing layers and with a blanket around him. And when I'd walked in, I'd noticed how cold the house was. "Hmmmm", I'd thought. "I need some woolens!" Even Sophie, with his heavy, long coat of fur, was trying to get under cover.

That's it.

Warm, now.

Rubber Band Drawings

Start with some objects that have interesting shapes. Here I've got a cork screw, a bottle opener, an eraser, a pastry cutter, and a wheelie thing that Joe brought back from the swap.

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Wrap the objects in multiple rubber bands of various sizes.

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Use a brayer to roll out some waterbased relief ink on the table top.

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Transfer ink with the brayer onto the wrapped objects and stamp into wet paper. The paper can be on the ready in a soaking tray or you can simply wet it at the table with a spray bottle of water.


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After you've finished stamping with the wrapped objects, you can add watercolor with a brush.

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Here is a finished rubberband drawing.

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I did seven drawings today, and added watercolor to some. I will wait until they dry and add more watercolor. I might add pencil or pastel. I might even wet them again and add more stamping. After I've finished these, I'll put them away for a few days and then pull them out for a review with a fresh and critical eye, to see if any make the cut. To be successful, the drawings must be transformed visually into compositions that are more than the sum of the parts.

Last Night's Beautiful Sky

I took this photo in Irvine, California just after 5 o'clock.