Before and After: Art on the Wall

Transformation, evolution, metamorphosis, revolution.

Revelation.

Amazing changes all around me.

Before: A pastel of the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado, curling off the wall amidst a variety of other bits and pieces on the wall above my desk. Can you find it?

After: Framed and hung on the wall.

In the entry way to the house.

The pastel itself.

I was stymied three weeks ago with a technology issue that caused weird things to happen when I posted, which frustrated me, so I took a break. Shortly after, we traveled to my in-laws for the week of Thanksgiving, and their internet was down for most of the time, so I extended my break. The time has made me think about this blog– I think I was a bit overambitious starting again a couple of months ago, but I'm not ready to give up completely; after all, I kept thinking about this blog. And, ultimately, what is life but a constant set of tweaks and adjustments to reach a level of production and happiness, attempting to lead to success in whatever form I determine that success to be?

Sunday Made: Bottle Caps

This is not something I've made, but rather something I hope to make someday. Functional art/furniture made of re-purposed items that would normally be tossed in the trash is always exciting to me, and I thought these were particularly beautiful.

The snowboard bench was a useful item for sure, and the bottle cap base was unique and, honestly, quite pretty. The tire was less functional (they were playing a "toss the can" game at the local Next Big Idea Festival), but actually more beautiful. I can imagine it being in a yard or garden, as a planter or as seating around the fire pit. The makers said they had rammed the inside with all the unrecyclable plastics, such as cellophane and plastic wrap, they couldn't get rid of in a year, so the tire had some rigidity and potentially a longer life-span because of the stuffing. I, of course, was drawn to the maker's obvious understanding of minimizing waste (he mentioned that they try to get close to zero waste but are just unable to eliminate all plastic packaging). I also asked how long it took to save all the bottle caps and he replied that his younger brother was in college...

Which, as a side note, is rather annoying to me. Since when it is such common knowledge, such an ordinary expectation, that a person in college would be able to collect hundreds of beer bottle caps? Having done my fair share of drinking in college, I'm no exception, but years later, I'm questioning the expectation that for so many it is a time merely of "freedom", and not a serious addition to life experiences. But this isn't really something I'm interested in exploring is this blog, so I'll just admire the exceptional number of beer bottle caps on the lovely art/furniture. And add that we'll have to ask others to collect bottle caps for us for future art projects.

On Habits

I just read some insightful words that spoke to me, in one of the instances in which the words might not have meant as much yesterday or perhaps even tomorrow, but today, in the now, they are compelling.

-----------------

Have a powerful reason — when things get difficult, “because it sounds nice” or “to look good” aren’t going to cut it.

Start tiny, with a simple but unbreakable promise to yourself to do one small thing every single day.

Watch your urges, and learn not to act on childish whims.

Listen to your self-rationalizations, and don’t believe their lying ways.

Enjoy the habit, or you won’t stay with it longer than a week’s worth of sunrises.

-----------------

These words are from Leo Babouta, author of Zen Habits, a worthwhile blog I often find myself thinking about. They are from the post entitled "Self-Discipline in 5 Sentences" and while I sometimes find Babouta's writings a tad sanctimonious, so often the spirit behind the writing contains provocative truths. In this case, for me anyway, these 5 sentences are summing up what's lacking from my today as I bounce around, not really accomplishing anything, eating extra snacks, and generally feeling a malaise I'm finding hard to shake. And, it's totally because of a lack of self-discipline. Last night I stayed up later than I should have, watching the 3rd season of Dr. Who, then I slept in and didn't start out my day accomplishing anything for myself before the kids got up (a habit I cultivate with varying degrees of success, but one which is so fulfilling, the more I do it the more I want to continue), and I've been sleepy and unfocused all day.

Had I read these words yesterday, would I have thought to apply them? Or is it only in retrospect that they seem especially telling?

1. I did not have a "powerful" reason for staying up to watch a show on DVD. I could have stopped sooner and finished it some other day.
2. I broke the tiny promise to myself to get up early today, something I do most days- as in, I actually do get up before 6 am to accomplish things for myself, so doing it today wouldn't have been unusual.
3. Childish whims included staying up to watch a tv show, and today, I ate leftover Halloween candy, random snacks I found in the kitchen, and decided not to go for a run, more or less because "I didn't feel like it," not because I had any other reason.
4. My self-rationalizing self included silly lines like, "I deserve to stay up late sometimes, watching something I'm enjoying!" and "I feel fine (or actually, a bit sluggish). I can exercise tomorrow," and "A little sugar will help me feel better." Yeah, right.
5. Turns out, I enjoy many habits, and when I don't stick to them, I fell icky. Like today.

"Do better tomorrow" is too vague a promise, so instead I have several small promises, all of which, with self-discipline are absolutely accomplishable. Ha! Sanctimonious enough?

Triple Grasshoppers

Nature is so very fascinating! Here it is early November, and the grasshoppers who have survived the couple of freezes we've had are busy, busy, busy. Ahem.

I wonder if any of these three are having fun?

Before and After: Happy Birthday!

Transformation, evolution, metamorphosis, revolution.

Revelation.

Amazing changes all around me.

Before the candles were lit on my 37th Birthday cake.

After they were lit. At least there weren't actually 37 candles or it would have burst into flames!

On Sunday I celebrated my 37th birthday. It was a nice, relaxing day that I spent with my husband and kids. I thought about doing a Before and After with photos of me on the last day of my 36th year, and the first day of my 37th, with the point that there's not really much difference. Age is relative. However, the last day of my 36th year turned out to be tough and I was grumpy, and I didn't really want to commemorate it in a photo. And the first day of 37 was very nice, but I'm not sure documenting it via a photo would have actually enhanced it. The cake was enough to validate it as a tangible (chocolate) memory.

My husband and daughter made a Chocolate Eclipse cake from Mollie Katzen's Still Life with Menu Cookbook. I had just bought the book at a used book store the day before, so the first recipe from it was a definite success. Katzen's description: "It is a soft, moist chocolate cake with a built-in pudding-like fudge sauce that ends up underneath." My description: "MMMmmmm. I can't talk right now; I'm putting more cake in my mouth. MMmmmm." What a delicious happy birthday!

Sunday Made: Memories

On weekends, we try very hard to stick to two tenets that are core values to us: A Family Hike (or other family activity) and Unplugged Sunday. Last Sunday we hiked at Tsankawi, which is part of Bandelier National Monument. We are so fortunate to have a place like this in our backyard! Tsankawi is a unique loop hike with ancient Puebloan ruins, ladders, trails running through the ash/tuff (hey, look at that! The photo for tuff in the Wikipedia article is from Bandelier!), caves with ancient charcoal-blackened ceilings, and even ancient steps where the native dwellers climbed 700 years ago. The kids love it every time we go, and frankly, so do my husband and I.

Looking West toward the Jemez Mountains.

Looking East toward the Sangre de Cristos,

 enshrouded in the dark clouds so they aren't visible today.

Tuff is very susceptible to erosion, so even just a few decades of

 modern shoes have worn deep and distinct paths.

Ladder to the sky (or to the next part of the trail, anyway).

The mesa top on which the pueblo ruins can be found.

What a gorgeous day!

Last Harvest

While we harvested the garden several weeks ago, before a freeze was forecast, the kale kept growing and I cut the last stalks of that just a day ago. By the time the middle of October rolls around, we're a bit tired of maintaining the garden and look forward to taking a break for a few months in the winter. Then the cycle starts again in early spring– too early for planting yet– when we start dreaming of the upcoming gardening season and can't wait to get started. Thank goodness for a fallow season so we can gather our energy for the summer garden!

The evening of the first possible light freeze, I decided to go out and pick vegetables rather than cover everything. We've gotten better and better at getting as much ripeness out of the plants, from defoliating tomatoes in September, to letting green beans and peppers begin to dry on the vine two weeks before the average frost date, encouraging the last young beans to finish ripening. The weather was deliciously crisp that evening, and everything still looked green, though there were signs of frost all over the next morning.

The dog is a great companion in the garden and loves fresh-pick vegetables. He follows me around whenever I'm harvesting so he can eat under-ripe tomatoes, over-ripe tomatoes, and tough green beans and sugar peas. He even relishes fresh picked tomato horn worms!

I filled the dining room table with all that I had picked that evening and the previous few days: mint, sugar pumpkins, butternut squash, jack-be-littles, lemon balm, chard, green tomatoes, red tomatoes, eggplant, green beans and kale. We dehydrated and froze and ate like mad for the next week. YUM!

Nature is a Painter

The autumn foliage this time of year is absolutely phenomenal, a sentiment I've expressed several times in the last few weeks. In the Jemez mountains, the aspens are absolutely gorgeous. Nature is truly expressing Herself, and She is and Artist.

Before and After: Tooth

Transformation, evolution, metamorphosis, revolution.

Revelation.

Amazing changes all around me.

Part of what is so amazing to me about losing teeth is the inevitable March of Time. My little boy– so recently a toothless baby, it seems– grew a mouthful of teeth, and he's now losing them again. And also growing a whole new set! He told me he wanted to be a shark, so he could keep losing and growing teeth all the time. I told him I was pretty sure the Tooth Fairy couldn't afford to pay for a shark's lost teeth because there were so many of them. He then told me he was planning to lose more of his own teeth soon anyway because he's saving up for some Legos!


Another fascinating aspect of the March of Time is how the Little Sister feels like she's so far behind the curve. She wants SO badly to be doing everything that her big brother is doing, and is really competitive about many things. Her little heart is gets broken when she's told she's not old enough yet.

Losing teeth is no exception. After Rhys's photo shoot for this post, she announced, "Now it's my turn!" and showed me her pretty little pearlies.

And then, since Rhys had two photos, she needed to have two photos to show off all her teeth.

She'll lose them eventually, and I'm not ready for her to grow up too fast– but I know she feels cheated by having been born almost 3 years after her big brother. It can be so hard being a younger sibling!

Sunday Made: Mustard

Good morning! I am a little jittery this morning, due to my copious coffee consumption. I, rather idiotically, forgot about Daylight Savings, and got up extra early this morning. I had time to make  more coffee, after I had finished off the first few cups...

I wanted to share something I made from scratch a couple of weeks of ago, and now that we've had a chance to taste and use it, I'm very happy with it. Mustard!

The recipe makes about a pint, and is good in the fridge for 6 months, which should work out for us pretty well. It tastes great, and was super easy to make. Plus, it fits with our long-term goals to make more of the things we usually buy, especially things that are packaged in plastic (and yes, you can buy mustard in glass, but still can't recycle the lid, and I already have a massive backlog of glass jars waiting for reuse. Like the one I put this mustard in!). I bought the mustard seed from Mountain Rose Herbs, and thus I acquired two heavy duty plastic bags (two types of seed: brown and yellow). However, I should be able to make 3 batches, or 18 months worth of mustard, with those two bags, which is not Zero Waste, but at least attempts to use less plastic. We reuse the Mountain Rose Herbs bags, usually to store dehydrated food, because they're so heavy duty and are zip-sealed.

The recipe I followed was for Lavender Mustard. I admit, I love the smell of lavender, but not the taste so much. So, I followed the recipe, but reduced the lavender by half, and I think you could probably leave it out all together without any major change in taste. I also used my immersion hand blender to mix it, and left many of the seeds whole since we like a grainier mustard rather than a smoother one.

Here's the original link for the recipe.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup brown mustard seeds
• 1/4 cup yellow mustard seeds
  (use only yellow seeds if you want a milder taste)
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 tablespoon lavender flowers
• 1 teaspoon salt

Place the mustard seeds, apple cider vinegar and water in a glass bowl. Cover and let sit for about two days.
When the mustard seeds are through soaking, place them as well as the liquid into a food processor or blender.
Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until the mustard is ground into a mustard paste.

Delicious!

Derailments

It's amazing to realize just how many plans, chores, schemes, paths, and journeys one is in the midst of when they all get temporarily derailed. Or how many of those intentions still need to be realized, even though coughing and sore throats are effecting productivity.

And then to get all those derailments online again, which, in weaker moments, feels like a Herculean task. Or rather, a plethora of Herculean tasks. Especially because the commitments for the upcoming few days I agreed to weeks ago.

I'm not complaining. Well, maybe a little. I feel more energized than in the last 3 weeks, though, so maybe I'll catch up!

Or maybe I'll realize that catching up is an unrealistic goal, jettison all the extra stuff that just isn't going to get done, and move on.

Whew!

This Moment

When your sibling is your best friend, it is a beautiful afternoon.

{inspired by SouleMama}

Fantastic Mr. Flytrap

The Venus flytrap in our kitchen window sill is certainly earning its keep.
It is currently digesting 8, yes EIGHT, flies.

How cool is that!?!

 I learned more about Venus flytraps here, when figuring out the actual digesting part of the plant are the hinged leaves. And they can close in a second! I've never seen the actual capture of a bug, only seen the after effects of a bulging pair of leaves with a dark blob in the middle.

Before and After: Candystripe Beet

Transformation, evolution, metamorphosis, revolution.

Revelation.

Amazing changes all around me.

 

 This unassuming root vegetable, freshly scrubbed...

 

Is truly amazing. 

Can you tell I love vegetables?

October in the Jemez

We spent this holiday in the Jemez Mountains, which are surprisingly large enough to forget about, especially since they're practically in the back yard. We have spent quite a bit of time in the last 10 years in the closer hills and valleys of the Jemez, and always take visitors into the Valles Caldera area. But just a mere hour further are more trails, more roads, more unexplored (to us) territory. Today we meandered along the Rio de las Vacas.

I had originally decided to skip taking any photographs since I have a backlog of random landscapes in the mountains, all of which remind me of the time I've spent outside, but which can become cumbersome to store and talk about. Once at the Rio, however, I had to take a few. Autumn is really about all of the colors and the light makes them more provocative. But perhaps it's also the anticipation of the upcoming season of brown and grey (and hopefully white) that also intensifies the red and gold of autumn.

Our collection of leaves and wild rose hips.

Vibrant green moss on a blackened log.

An incredible blue sky.

 

I brought my sketching materials, but had forgotten to throw in any color. Yet here I was surrounded by nature's vibrant hues. At first I was a little discouraged, and I wrote for a bit about it, but decided to draw at least something. A landscape didn't seem like the right choice since it would necessarily be black, grey, and white. After half-heartedly sketching a few pine needles, I was inspired to add some color directly from the leaves we collected earlier. So, by smooshing them around with my pencil, I got a few spots of color.

I then remembered the online summer sketch course I signed up for and only looked at the first 3 days of, taught by Alisa  Burke, and did something new for me: I used the pine needles and color blotches as inspiration and went to town with doodles and writing. Which is what I learned in the first 3 days of the sketch course.

So much fun! I didn't get to finish this sketch and hope to get back to it, but the very idea of it felt freeing and productive. I'll have to keep exploring this idea.

And, I think I still have access to the summer sketch class, so I guess I should get back to that, too! I should not that it wasn't Ms. Burke's fault that I didn't follow through with the sketching. It was my lazy ass that didn't commit to it.

Lucky $2 Bills

 

We had an interesting day on Sunday- not because of what we did (I'll likely post later about the Harvest Festival at El Ranch de las Golondrinas)- but because within a matter of 6 hours, three $2 bills came into our possession. Not one, or two, but three of them. It felt so odd, and so potentially auspicious! Auspicious of what, I don't know. Thinner wallets, I suppose, because they take up exactly half the space as two $1 bills, and they are each worth twice as much as a single! Ha! I did some reading when getting the image above, and they're not particularly rare, but they aren't commonly used. Apparently there is a contingent of spenders who delight in getting largish quantities of $2 bills in order to witness the reactions of cashiers when they pay in multiples of 2. I don't think that will be me. The crazy thing is, I kind of don't want to spend these three $2 bills of ours because in the last 5 years, I think I've only come across a few of them- and never in my possession. 

Maybe I'll give the kids a bonus on their allowance this week!

Painting in Place

In working on a different project, I came back to a painting idea I was working on in college. I'm currently remaking the college canvases into something new (I knew there was a reason I saved them!)- more on that in a later post. However, I spent a couple of days working on a new canvas, in a style I'm mentally calling Painting in Place.

The idea is that a landscape or location can influence the paints in a more direct way, outside of the  traditional color choices, subject matter, light, or even inspiration. Painting in Place involves draping the canvas on, around, and in the location. Thus, there is a miniature landscape created by the folds and drapes of the canvas, and the paint can interact directly with gravity and the mountains and valleys created by the canvas.

For this painting, I wasn't necessarily influenced by the visual scene in which I was working; the wood shed and cinder block wall of our back yard wasn't particularly inspirational. We are, however, in the midst of autumn and the leaves on the trees are bright and colorful, especially against the intense blue sky of an October in the high desert plateau of New Mexico. The outside environment has been a saturated multi-color experience in the last week or so.

I went into this project with a basic color outline already in mind and used pigments right from the tube for their undiluted effect. Green, yellow and orange, with a little purple, surrounded by a washy blue seemed to capture the impression of the autumnal afternoon.

Additionally, this is a time of year marked by rapid and distinct metamorphosis as the trees go from full summer foliage to naked winter hibernation, and the sunlight changes from overhead heat to angled diffusion. The earth is in movement, and this is a time when it is most evident. This canvas is an attempt to capture many feelings in one place.

I hung it on the wall under the window in our bedroom, so I could continue to contemplate it. It doesn't quite feel finished yet; it needs some direct painting or drawing on it so it can go beyond just the landscape phase. I'm not sure what that's going to entail just yet, but I'll keep working on it.