FRIDAY FOOD DILEMMA

I thought I had a food dilemma today until I looked up the word "dilemma". It seems not, since the word is defined as "a problem seemingly incapable of a satisfactory solution" or "a choice or a situation involving choice between equally unsatisfactory alternatives". This is not my problem at all. The choices are not "equally unsatisfactory" and neither am I "incapable of a satisfactory solution". So, I guess I will have to scour the dictionary for a better choice of word. In the mean time:

I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes a few years ago and have done all the necessary nutrition classes to learn how I am supposed to eat. I am keeping it at bay, so to speak, because I am not insulin dependent but I have always wanted to return to "before diabetes". Recently, a friend who also has this disease, told me of a book called "Reversing Diabetes" so I ordered it and have read the entire book now and am pondering if I can actually DO what it suggests to get my health back. I have recently lost over 19 lbs. so that has helped but I need to do more.

This diet (I hate to use that word but would rather use the word life-style or eating plan) requires me to become vegan; no meats (that easy to do), no eggs or cheese or milk (not so easy to do). But, I really want to give it a go because I figure "it is only food" (and we know what happens to it 'after') and I would like to have my health back. You can have everything in life but if you haven't got your health, nothing else matters does it?

I saw on "Blue Sky Dreaming" that she had a recipe for tofu. I think I may just have to give it a shot. It looked and sounded good. Like I said, I don't think that it is the meat replaced by soy that I will have a problem with. It is the yummy cheeses and eggs (even egg substitute isn't bad but not allowed on this plan). So, I will be searching out recipes in hopes of finding stuff that still makes me get excited about eating. I love salads and all those great veggies that we who live in California are so lucky to have. And, there are great Farmer's Markets close by. I just need a good nudge I guess. You would think that having a chronic disease would be nudge enough.

Have I told you that I'm a Taurus?? Being stubborn is one of our traits. BUT...that can work FOR me too, right? I can dig my heals in and be stubborn about treating myself to good healthy foods. See...I knew I just needed a good talking to!

QUOTE FROM MY STARBUCK'S COFFEE CUP TODAY:

The irony of commitment is that it's deeply liberating--in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head the the barrier to your life.

Anne Morriss

Like I've said before: when the student is ready the teacher appears. You never know where you find the answers you are looking for. Sometimes you just have to open your eyes. Hear that Teri???

TODAY'S INSPIRATION COMES FROM...

Leslie Avon Miller of Textures, Shapes and Color. She was kind enough to share a site that showed an online gallery of collage artists. There are over 100 artists being represented there.

I really found the collages interesting and there are three pages of collages that you can visit and purchase. And... the prices are great! I saw a couple of artists that I am aware of such as Mimi Shapiro and Joan Schulze. Both artists are well-known to me. I own a copy of Joan Schulze's book of quilts that she has made. Her quilts are much in the same vein as her collages. They are quite intricate and layered and she uses photographs that have been processed in some way (scanned to fabric perhaps?) and also uses photographs that she has taken on her many travels and teaching excursions as part of the quilts. I have been an admirer of Joan's art for quite some time. She has a studio space in San Francisco that has a great view of parts of the City by the Bay.



This is a collage that I made for my friend's daughter when she moved in to her new "rustic cottage" in Lafayette. Apparently, the place is in the woods (of the city) and she has had many visitors in the form of insects and birds since she moved in. She has had scorpions and spiders to name a few. So, I made this collage for her last year titled "Where the Wild Things Are".



It was a fun thing to make. It is mounted on heavy gray paper and has assorted fabrics, bug images, bee images, and vellum that have been sewn with thread using my antique Singer sewing machine. I incorporated words such as "Survive this" and a few other smaller things that are hidden and only visible when the viewer gets up close. I like to hide things that not everyone might find upon first inspection of the piece.



I really think that collages are some of my favorite things to make. It is fun to create a story using images from magazines, fabrics, and other items. I think the photo of this is not pure though. The reds seem much darker when you see it in person. Isn't it fun to see what scraps of "stuff" can come together to make? I always find the end of the process to be exciting; to be able to look at something sewn or mounted on paper and remember where it all started: a thought, a picture that sparked an idea, a photo of something that was important (or not).


Leslie gives her own reasons for making art: curiosity, reverence, time, energy, resources, attention, love, respect, connections, looking at things everywhere! It sounds as if we all feel the same way about why we do what we do. I agree with all of you and that is probably why I felt the need to read and follow other people's blogs. For me, even though I don't know any of you, it is the connection that I feel. I don't have to know you to know that all of you feel the same way that I do and that is what makes me feel bonded in some way. Thanks for the inspiration Leslie. Keep up the good work.u, it is the connections that I feel. I don't have to know you to know that you all feel the same way that I do and that is what makes me feel bonded in some way. Thanks for the inspiration Leslie. Keep up the good work!

GARDEN SHED

This is a woodblock print that I did of a garden shed. I watercolored the printed image after the ink had dried. I enjoy carving into wood and have also taken wood carving classes. I enjoy making folk art items mostly because you can make mistakes and there is no real way to tell that they are "mistakes". With folk art, rustic or primitive is the "right" way to do things. I think that is what appeals to me about it. The ability to make it my way.

It seems that wood has been on my mind lately since we have been cutting up a few oak trees that split and had to be taken down in front of our house. We are almost done, fortunately, because it is really hard work. We almost have all our firewood for next year already in the woodshed. So, we won't have to work in the stifling hot weather of the summer. That is a really good thing.

Wood is a wonderful medium. I love how resilient it is. There are so many kinds of wood and each has a plus or a minus, depending on what you decide to use it for. Take pine for instance. Pine is great for framing a wall or even using as siding but it has too much pitch to actually use inside a fireplace or a wood stove. Madrone is a beautiful red wood and very hard. We use it inside our wood stove because it burns really hot but it is not a good wood to carve things out of. For carving I like to use bass wood because it is so soft and easy to carve. You can get great details in bass wood. We have redwood on the inside of our house on the walls in the living room. It is kind of dark (which is the negative part) but it is rot and insect resistant (which is the positive side). When I do my woodblock prints I like to use birch plywood. It is soft and easy to carve into and it is light weight also. The grain is tight so it prints on the press easily and sometimes I don't even use a press. I was taught by my Professor in college to "do the mashed potatoes!". Do any of you remember that dance? Well, you just twist and turn and stomp around until the image is printed on the paper. I put mats down to help with the process. I also like to just use a barren and a lot of hard pressing with my hands. I use circular motions and it takes a long time to get the ink to transfer to the paper but there is nothing like a hand-printed woodblock print. Nothing!!

So, this print of the garden shed is hanging on my wall (painted WOOD wall to be exact) and it is something that really speaks to me. I love all the flowers that I carved into it, the vines crawling up the building, the stones leading into the red door, and the trees that break the barrier into the border of the print. It gives the piece some tension and I like to show a bit of tension in my work. I often do something a bit quirky on the margins or at the bottom or top of a piece. There is a lot of thought that goes into the format of a piece no matter what medium I am using.

Making pieces of art takes lot of thought. I would think that most of the time spent on a piece is contemplating the layout, the color choices, the format, the medium, what kind of paper to use, what image to incorporate, etc. I think the actual process usually comes easy once the thought process is clear. The piece usually just flows once all the hard thinking is done. At least that is me. I ponder my art for quite some time. I enjoy the process and I even enjoy the failures. One time (because you have to carve woodblocks in reverse) I carved an entire block and then printed it only to realize that the image I wanted was in reverse. It didn't look bad that way and if I wasn't trying to represent a specific place it wouldn't have even mattered. But, it was for a friend who owns a nursery and flower garden and she would know that everything was reversed. So, back to the drawing (carving) table I had to go. I still have not finished that piece. Sometimes the mistake puts me on hold until I am ready to fix it and start over again.

It is a learning process that's for sure. But, for every mistake I make I probably learn two new things that I can apply later on. And, for me that is what keeps me coming back to it. I love to learn new things. I even went back to college and received my BA in Art late in life. I was 52 when I walked the stage with all the 20 year-olds! And, it didn't bother me at all! I was so proud of myself to accomplish something that I wanted just for me. Some day I am returning to get my Masters Degree. I will never be too old to learn.