Chicken enchiladas, what’s not to like? I mean, anything smothered in hot and gooey melted cheese has an advantage over all the other food groups. And I had all the ingredients in the house which was a definite plus considering my recent pledge to actually eat the food in my freezer.
But I also had a bag of mixed greens that was past perilously close to it’s toss-by date. I should just saute them up with some onions and mushrooms and call it a night with all the good nutrition boxes checked.
But I wanted enchiladas.
So I came up with a plan. Make enchiladas as a layered casserole–which I’ve done many times and it’s delicious. Only this time I’d add the greens. And I’d take lots of pictures and blog about what a great dinner I made.
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Look at that. Layers of corn tortillas, chicken, wilted greens, enchilada sauce and cheese. Ready for the oven. Oh, I think I’m in luvvvvvv….
And here it is all cooked and ready on the plate. Complete with salad.
Too bad it tasted like crap.
Oh well…next time, if there is a next time, I’ll use mild greens, like spinach. I’ll save the big boys, the collards, turnip and mustard, I’ll save them for the onions and mushrooms saute with a dash of balsamic. Where they belong.
To be honest this wasn’t the worst dinner I ever made. Far from it. That honor goes to Tuna. Eggplant. Casserole. Which should be against the law. And has been forever banned in our house.
Sometimes being creative isn’t necessarily a good thing.
I really intended to have some quality time in Studio Grande today. But first I had to get a massage. Because a girl’s got to be good to herself once in awhile, you know.
And then there was the barn that needed cleaning. And a truckload of hay to buy and unload.
And OMG, I haven’t exercised in days. So I had to do that too.
And check my email. Do you have any idea how crazy full my inbox was?
Next thing I knew it was time for the five o’clock news. Umm…where did the day go?
All was not lost. Studio Quat got her lovin’ and I put in some time (damn little) painting this evening. Wasn’t in the mood to finish the one I showed you in yesterday’s post. I ended up working on one of the smaller ones instead.
And I didn’t finish that one either. But I’ve got some photos to show the progress.
This is early in the process. Just getting some color down. Some marks.
More layers of stuff. Paint. Water crayon. Just having fun.
More! More! More!
Now it’s beginning to get interesting. Stencils and stamps are involved for texture.
More layers and more layers. Glazing made the water crayon run and mute the colors. Eventually I encouraged a feather. And that’s where I left it last night.
Tonight I wanted the feather to pop. But I wasn’t happy with the colors of either the feather and the background. So stamped into the paint to make things more interesting. Then I glazed over the background to pull it all together.
This is still most definitely a work in progress but it will be a few days before I can do the studio thing again. Day job, you know. I’m planning on finishing all three over the weekend.
Studio time today. YAY!!! Got to paint. Got to make ART!!!
Pause here for backflips. Handsprings. For jumping up and down and waving arms wildly.
I MADE ART TODAY! In between lumber yard runs for the new studio. In between other stuff that had to be done. I found the time. Squeezed it in. And it was lovely….
And it was different. Today I used acrylics, just because… I’m not sure what the ‘because’ was other than I wanted to play with layers and the drying time is faster than oils. And I can always add oils to acrylics later on, but not the other way around.
I worked on three pieces today. Two 10×10 clean, ripe, ready for my attention virgin canvases. The third one was 12×24 and been around the block with some charcoal. That’s the one I’m going to show you today. It’s the closest to being done of the three. Not finished yet, maybe tomorrow, but I want to show you the process.
Because it was so much fun. So liberating. Not a doodle but similar in the layers and layers of surface treatment. And relying on the random happenings of the surface to trigger the final design.
Now I’m going to let the pictures do the talking.
First I had to say goodbye to to da pony. I grabbed some acrylics and squeezed directly onto the canvas. I wasn’t concerned about color this early in the game. I just wanted coverage.
Which I got.
Many layers. More colors. Textures with stencils. I used the brayer, my fingers, water crayons. The trick here is to wait between layers for things to dry, otherwise you get mud. I still didn’t have a clue where this was heading.
I added more paint. Sprayed with water. Let it drip. This wasn’t the first spray of the day. When this dried I saw some images. So I painted around them. It’s still not finished but this is where it’s at now.
And no, those are not blue afros. Or maybe they are. Come back tomorrow and maybe we’ll both know.
A few days ago I posted about my day job. Three days a week I teach mixed media at an art center for developmentally disabled adults. Been working there nearly fifteen years and it’s an amazingly rewarding job. If you didn’t read that post please take a few minutes to read it now because what I have to say will make more sense if you do. Here’s the link.
Go ahead. I’ll wait. Matter of fact, I’m going to put the tea kettle on.
Back? All caught up? Good. Because now I’ve got a video to share. Please, please PLEASE watch it. It’s less than ten minutes and I guarantee it will challenged any preconceived ideas you have about autism.
Watching this video I saw my client. The gestures, the behaviors, the ability to use technology despite her outward demeanor. I wish you could see her eyes, the light in them when we connect. There’s intelligence there. She KNOWS…
She made this painting on a day when I could get her to paint…there aren’t too many of those. She copied the poem from a book. I’m going to quote it as best I can and hopefully give the author’s name correctly. If anyone recognizes it and can correct me, please do.
“…My mind is like a big yellow bird/the bird is trapped in a world of people/and he dreams of leaving to another world…” Oscar Hanah (?)
She picked the poem herself. She KNOWS…just as I know there’s an iPad angel out there somewhere.
If you have the time, I have one more video for you. A 60 Minutes segment Apps for Autism.
And here’s a link to Carly Fleishman’s blog, the girl from the video at the top of the post. She’s come a long way for a girl who doesn’t talk. A long way….
Before you go, would you do me a favor, please. Help me scatter those iPad seeds out into the universe. Like this post on FaceBook. Retweet it. Share it on your wall. So maybe some day the yellow bird can fly freely into THIS world.
Brown things. The code name Mr. Spouse and I used for chocolate when the kids were young. Peppermint patties, our favorite. Consumed only when the kids were safely in bed. Three each. Because everyone knows four is the gateway number to binging on even simpler carbs. Like Gummies. Or Blow Pops.
We kept the Yorks in the freezer, way in the back. In an empty Garden Burger box. Under lots of other boxes unappealing to children, like spinach. And green beans. FirstBorn found them eventually. And it wasn’t by accident. When it came to candy that kid had the instincts of a drug sniffing dog.
But that was years ago. The kids are grown now. The Yorks are still in the freezer but are in plain sight. Which is good because A: we like them frozen and B: neither one of us can see worth a damn anymore. We know they’re in the top drawer, left front. Can find them by feel if we have to.
It’s been a while since I’ve indulged in brown things but I decided I wanted some tonight. I opened the freezer door and AHA!!! The lights came on, the music blared forth and I was struck upside the head by the spirit of Holy Crap! There’s a LOT of food in here. And all it’s doing is serving as a backdrop for peppermints. Because we don’t eat it. I just buy it, toss it in and hope to God we don’t have a power outage, in which case I throw it out.
Which is always nice because then, after I whine about how much food was wasted, I can start all over with a clean slate. This girl knows how to have a good time.
This is the top drawer. Yorks to the lower left. Always are. In case you ever break into my house looking for candy.
And this is the bottom. Look at all that food! I don’t even know what’s in there. Why, why WHY do I go to the grocery store every other day???
I am headed down the path to freezer burn. So I came up with a plan…. WE WILL EAT THIS FOOD. Imagine that! We’ll excavate the freezer one layer at a time until we hit bottom. We will save money and only shop for perishables like milk. Salad greens. Smoothie greens. Potato Chips.
I will not bore you with the daily details, unless I unearth something…interesting. Like the hamster that went MIA a few years ago. Or a really clever recipe for edamame. Which I haven’t eaten in years but occasionally feel compelled to buy. Probably to feed the hamster.
But I may say something about it while blogging about mixed media techniques. Like how the gesso reminds me of the bag of green beans I ate all by myself. Or something like that.
Feel free to hold me accountable to this. Feel free to join me in person or in spirit.
