Risotto

We love Risotto at our house.  So, I thought that I should share one of our favorite recipes.

2 cups Arborio Rice
olive oil or butter (as much or little as you would like) I use about 4 Tblsp Olive Oil
1/2 Cup White Wine
32 oz Chicken Stock (one box)
Fresh Grated Parmesan Cheese

Add Olive Oil to a large pan
Add rice and stir for a minute or so
Add White Wine; stir until absorbed
 Add Chicken Stock 1/2 cup at a time.  Making sure liquid is absorbed before adding another 1/2 cup. Stir constantly.  Continue until all chicken stock is used.
 Add about  1/4 cup or more Grated Parmesan Cheese

Container of grape tomatoes
two cloves of garlic
lots of Olive Oil
red pepper flakes
Fresh Basil

In another pan:
Add lots of Olive Oil.  No set amount, but I use a lot.  It depends on how much you want to drizzle over the rice at the end.  I'd guess 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup
Slice garlic.  As much as you would like.  We use two cloves.  Brown them in the Oil and then remove them to add on our plates at the end.
I then cut grape tomatoes in half and add to hot Olive Oil.  Be careful, they pop a lot.
Add as much red pepper flakes as you like
Cook until tomatoes are soft

Spoon over Rice, add Fresh Basil, sliced garlic and more fresh grated Parmesan cheese

I think my oldest daughter made this up.  It's really good!!!

Still In A Blue Mood

Gus Monet

Blue Cat III

I guess I will call this my "Blue Period".  LOL  I have a new little," Blue Cat III" painting, and an update on one of my WIP paintings.  I'm calling the dog painting, "Gus Monet".  My dog, GusGus, was the inspiration for this painting, and it's turning out kind of blue/green, which reminds me of Monet's water lilies.  Both paintings, I guess because of the blue, don't photograph very well.  Or, I can't get them to photograph well...so, they really don't show the depth of color that they do in person.  I need to work with my camera more.

Two New Works in Progress

I've been in a blue mood, paint wise, lately.  It's funny how your color likes and dislikes can change...I've never really been a real fan of Blue before, but I'm loving it right now.  Lots of work left on these two paintings...I'm thinking the blue dog won't have that much blue left when I finish him. The cat lady is a mixed media piece.  I started out using Matte Medium and pages from the French Novel I've been tearing apart.  I like to see the words through the paint, so I'm thinking more washes and light color.

Draw Something Addiction!

If you haven't heard about the new sensation, "Draw Something"...  I can tell you that, if you like to draw, it's addicting!  Tons of fun, too!  You don't need to draw well...just be able to get your point across.  Most of the time stick figures work just fine.  But, if you like to draw...you can be as elaborate as you would like to be.  Check it out, and I'm on facebook if you want to play!

Art By Madeline

Our, ten year old, Granddaughter was at our house the other day, and she asked if she could sketch with my iPad. I thought that I would share a few of her iPad sketches with you because I love looking at the Art kids create, and I am thinking that you do too.

Colorful Landscapes

I've, of course, heard of David Hockney, but I haven't really paid much attention to his Art. Unfortunate on my part. Someone mentioned his landscapes the other day, so I googled him. Oh, My! I love his colorful, whimsical landscapes! Now I'm inspired to start painting landscapes again. The sketch above is me playing around with my iPad, doing a quick "iPad painting" of my favorite hill in our neighborhood. I linked David Hockney's landscapes above...check him out!

Fine Art America Promotion

The most difficult part of being an Artist, for me, is having to promote yourself. I'm not good at it, but I know it's necessary. If your name isn't out there...no one is going to know you exist. So, I'm slowly learning about this aspect of the business. I've decided to do a promotion at Fine Art America for the next 5 days. They offer great deals, and it's a good way to get your name out there, if any other Artists are interested. My first promotion is for a print of, "Fuzzy". It's an 11X14, stretched canvas print at an amazing price. I'll let you know if their promotions really work! Have a Great Friday the 13th!!!

Living Life Creatively

I've been trying to live life in what I call a "creative way" for as long as I can remember. I used to succeed at it, too. But, that hasn't been the case in several years now. Life has been so busy, and I'm pretty good at putting everyone else's needs ahead of mine, so life here has been unorganized and so" not the composition" that I would like to live in. Yes, I do like to look at everything as if it were a painting, and my dream is to live in that beautiful work of Art. But, until I can get back on the right track...I've found "Creative Carmelina". She lives a "Creative Life", and her blog gives me the daily smile and awwww moments that I crave. She has a beautiful Thank You to me for the Give Away that she won on my blog...but, I'm saying, THANK YOU, CARMELINA! For the beautiful, "Creative Life" that you share with us. You are an inspiration!

iPad Sketching

My husband gave me an iPad for Christmas, and I've had a great time playing "Words With Friends" and "Draw Something" with it. (Great Games, btw.) The other day I decided to,finally, download a drawing program and start learning what I can do, Art-wise, with my iPad. Oh, how much fun I've been having. It's going to be a great tool! It will allow me to upload sketches, try different color combinations, work out ideas for paintings...the possibilities are endless. I just need to get the pen...because drawing with your finger...is not the best way to get a good drawing. I'm, also, looking for a better drawing program. The FREE one that I found is okay, but I'm sure there are great programs out there. We live in a very exciting time!!!

Not Finished, but Closer

Time is really ticking by quickly! Life is always busy, but seems to be more so lately. I am working on a couple of commissioned pieces; which are a lot of fun. I'll share those later. I am, also, still working on my sort of, abstract, cherry blossom cat. I'm still not sure where she will end up. And, I just updated my CafePress store a little. They have so many new products! I am excited to work more with them...later. Need to get ready for Easter right now! I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter! We're supposed to have sunshine!!! Yay!

Cherry Tree Inspiration...turned Cherry blosson Cat

The Cherry Trees are blossoming, and they inspired me to paint a landscape...but...it turned into a cherry blossom Cat. Not sure how that happens, but I just go with it. I decided to sketch with my watercolor pencils, and I will move on to acrylics soon. I just really love the control watercolor pencils allow. The painting is a little light, so far, and I'm not sure just how dark, or colorful I'm going to go with it...that's the fun of painting! Hopefully, I will have more to show tomorrow!

Playing With Picture Frames

I've spent the day playing with Picture Frames, and thought that I would share this site, if you don't already know about it. You can upload your photos/paintings and then have fun trying different mats and frames...save them to a gallery...and I used the images to show what my prints would look like framed in my stores. I have ordered frames from this site, and they are wonderful! I happen to like prints framed without matting, so I experimented with both. If you go to the site...I warn you...it's addicting!!!

Macy the Border Collie in Abstract

Sold! Thank you!

I seem to paint more cats than dogs. Not sure why. But, today I have an abstract Border Collie painting to share. Her name is Macy. Now I need to take my little guy, GusGus, out for his walk. The sun is out today, the snow has melted and he's ready to go!

Blue Cat II

I guess I'm into Blue, right now. I just finished another Blue Cat...this one is 12" X 6". I kind of like them together. The snow is still here, but my little dog, GusGus, is insisting we go for a walk. Sounds like a good idea, actually! Have a great evening!

Spring Break? Looks Like Christmas Break!

We woke up to a Winter Wonderland this morning! It's the first day of Spring Break, but it looks a lot more like Christmas Break to me. I snapped a few pictures of our fur family investigating our white landscape. Rory and Riley loved it, but Rudy Farcus...he's not so sure about it.

Blue Dog, Yellow Cat and a Green Bird

Here are my new paintings. I have another abstract dog that I've been working on, and will share her very soon. Need to get back to painting...thank you for stopping by!

AND The Winner IS!!!

Carmelina!!! Congratulations, Carmelina! I will be shipping the cards to you on Monday! This was so much fun.... I think I will be having another drawing soon. I hope everyone has a great weekend. I get to paint! So, I will be sharing a few new paintings soon. Thank you to everyone who left comments! I love reading your comments and appreciate you a lot!

Blue Cat Painting

The Facebook Artists' Group that I am a member of...has a different theme every month. This month the theme is BLUE. I painted this whimsical, abstract, Blue Cat...with no name. I guess I can call him, Blue. It's so windy here in Oregon today...I think I had better get dinner ready before we lose power. Have a great evening!

Blue Lady and Yellow Spider

I have to share a gift I received and a painting that I just started working on. My Sister-in-law just returned from Arizona and brought me this very cool metal sculpture. I love her...she's so happy. She's hanging by my kitchen sink...to provide smiles all day long. And, I just started a painting from a photograph that I took last June. I was working in the garden and came upon this gorgeous yellow spider. I like spiders...so, I think she's pretty, but some do not think so. I'm wondering how she's going to turn out. Not sure where to go, yet.

Have a great day!

I'm having a Drawing on the 16th of March!

It's Spring in Oregon, for today anyway! It's, also, my grandson's 9th birthday...So, we went out for lunch...Just the two of us. It was so much fun. I'm not sure why we didn't do it sooner, but we will have lunch dates, more often, from now on.

Years ago I had several cards for sale on a website. Unfortunately, they closed the site and the lady that owned it sent me a lot of cards. I've decided that I might as well share them...I certainly have way more than I can ever use. I'm going to sell a lot of them on eBay and Etsy, if anyone needs cards...sorry, no envelopes. I've, also, decided to do a drawing for a package of 100 cards. Not sure anyone needs that many cards, but I'm sure they can be re-purposed. So, leave me a comment and I will draw a name on Friday the 16th of March. The card is shown above.

Fevrier Chat

This is my new painting, "Fevrier Chat", or "February Cat". He's a mixed media piece; created with paper from an old book written in French, and acrylic paint. I was going to write more, but my husband is waiting to watch American Idol...so, I best go for now. Let's see if I can get the painting on this page...I am learning how to use a new computer, and a new picture editing program. Not an easy thing for me!!! But, it's good to learn new things...I keep telling myself.

My new painting...Dora

Happy Friday! I just finished the portrait that I started many months ago. I started the piece by sketching a woman, now called Dora, on a canvas. Then I used matte medium to glue pages of an old French book to the surface. Many hours of painting later.... here she is. Dora came to mind after watching, "Midnight In Paris" the other night. She wasn't in the movie, but Picasso was...and I had the privilege of seeing his Dora Maar paintings several years ago. (They are amazing!) If anyone hasn't seen "Midnight In Pairs"....I highly recommend it. It's my new favorite movie. So good!

Tophatter Live Auctions

Hi! I've been very, very busy finding new ways, and places, to sell my artwork. Not leaving much time for making art, but it's been fun. There are two new sites, to me anyway, that I am very excited about. The first is, Tophatter. I think this auction house is going to be a lot of fun to sell and buy from. It's a real, live auction house! I am selling my first print, Frida Dog, on Monday, Feb. 20th, at 9:00. Wish me luck. And, then, there's a site that's been around a while.... Artist Rising. I, actually, signed up a while ago, but forgot about it. You upload your artwork, and they do the work selling your prints. (My shop isn't coming up, yet...not sure how long that takes) They have framing available, too! You can sell originals, also, but I haven't looked into that, yet. I will let you know how things go. Especially with the Tophatter auction. I think it's going to be fun to watch.

Update on Artsy Home

For those interested in selling their artwork...I thought that I would let you know how it's going on Artsy Home. I cannot believe the hits I am getting! I haven't sold anything, but I have over 300 hits on the cat painting I listed last night...with 3 tweets! I've listed a few other paintings and a print, and they have a ton of hits, too. I had 19 hits on the Flower painting when I had it listed on Etsy. It has 37 on Artsy Home...and I just added it to my shop. Now, we'll wait and see if sales are better. I will let you know.

Today is my Birthday... Lunch with my Mom, Sister and daughters! Then, finally, going to see "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" tonight. I loved the book... Hope to work in a little painting, too. I'm finishing up a portrait that I started a while back.

Have a great day!!!!!!

Artsy Home Shop

Hello! I've been busy trying to organize my Studio, and find new sites to list my paintings. I love Etsy, but I think it's gotten so big...it's hard to be seen. I've heard good things about Artsy Home, and just opened a new shop there tonight. So far I have listed "Snow Princess" and the new little cat painting shown above. He was fun to create. I used a page from an old book...sketched a kitty head, glued it on a mini canvas and painted the little guy.

I've been working on another painting, and patterns for some kitty dolls...which I am very excited about! So, stay tuned! Have a great evening!

I love Pinterest!!!

My daughter has been using Pinterest for quite a while now...and I finally got around to checking it out. Oh My! I love it! So much inspiration, great food and fun ideas. Check it out...if you haven't yet.

Three New Paintings

I've been busy painting...and have three new paintings to share. Two paintings I started several months ago, and I just got around to finishing them. (The abstract flowers, and The Ants and Jellybeans) Snow Princess was inspired by our lovely weather, as of late. I do love snow...when I don't have to drive in it. We had a hair raising experience the other day trying to get to the Airport...solid ice on the freeway...it was very scary. I hope everyone is staying safe out there!

Wedding Pictures

Our youngest daughter is now married! It was an amazing day, so I thought that I would share a few pictures. The photographer, Ashley Dimeo Buchan, is a very talented young woman. We can't wait to see the rest of the photos!

Off to paint! Have a wonderful day!