Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Dreamy Quilts




A few of the Quilts of Gee's Bend are back in Knoxville! These are some of my favorite artists, and I've seen several museum exhibitions featuring their work. I'm not sure how many of the quilts will be at the Emporium, but they are beautiful to see hanging on a gallery wall and, dreamy to bundle up with at night. That's right, somehow my mom found a replica of a Gee's Bend quilt from Kathy Ireland's collection at K-mart a few years ago that's on our bed right now. I love it! However, I don't think any more have been produced lately; it might be kind of controversial? These few samples show the beautiful and sophisticated design that graces every quilt. All are made from used work clothes, worn out fabric, or salvaged scraps and each has such a unique expressive quality. I love the bright colors, though not all of them are as colorful, and I love that each quilt has it's own liveliness while reflecting a cohesive aesthetic, surely something only accomplished sitting around a quilting table.

The show is entitled "Re-Vision" and will be at the Emporium Center April 2nd-23rd.

Wordless Wednesday

Monday, March 29, 2010

Eric Carle Post Cards


Last fall Laurence and I packed up the Passat for a road trip through New England, experiencing ten states in ten days- from Knoxville to New England, via New York. One of the places on the top of my list to visit was Amherst, MA - home of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. This wonderful museum celebrates the art of the great Eric Carle, a kindred spirit of sorts, along with many other children's book illustrators. There was an exhibit of Tomie dePaola up when we were there. The unique experience of viewing children's book illustration as a gallery exhibit is seeing the entire process, from sketches and story boards to the finalized format of a book. I love how engaging the experience is because each component evokes such a different response; holding a book in your hands and turning the pages filled with artwork is very different than standing a few feet away looking at a piece of work flat on a wall in front of you. Can you tell where my bias might be? Anyway, I loved the museum and hope to visit again soon. And, the museum store! I think I spent as much time there as I did viewing the exhibits. I was a little bit overwhelmed because there was just so much to see... so many beautiful books to pick up and flip through. I wanted to buy way too many books and couldn't decide on just one, and Laurence reminded me we had to get back on the road, eventually. I decided I would hold off on any big purchases and maybe order some of these nice books later online. I did buy a few postcards to send to people, another tough decision because I loved them all, however, here's what I ended up with... and kept for myself! I love Eric Carle's happy and colorful painted paper collage. Of course I love his beautiful stories that go along with his art, but it certainly can stand on it's own too, hanging on the wall of a museum or in the small format of a postcard. Even though I never got these in the mail, here's sending out some brightness from a dreary Knoxville...



Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Edible Fungi for Edible Plants

Last Sunday Laurence and I hopped into a borrowed pick-up truck with some sandwiches packed for the short trip to Loudon, TN, just about 36 miles southwest of Knoxville. We always love riding around in a pick-up, but our purpose on this occasion involved filling up the truck bed with a mound of mushroom compost. We were greeted at the guard gate by an old man with a knowing grin on his face holding this bulging brown paper bag out the window for us. "You here for the mushrooms?" We did inquire about the mushrooms, and he informed us that a lot of folks come out on Sundays to pick up a 5 lb bag of mushrooms. He also told us that he couldn't eat any mushrooms because he had "the gout." We told him we were really there for the compost, and he directed us by pointing to the billowing steam rising from behind the buildings.

As we drove around the back corner of one of the buildings we saw rows and rows of mushroom compost, each mound filling the air with its own steam. As Laurence rolled down the window and caught the first whiff he exclaimed, "Wow, that's ripe!" Our next greeter looked at us like he had no idea what Laurence was talking about. Obviously we city folk don't have the same tolerance for odors that result from decomposition. They packed in the compost and we drove back to the front gate where we paid the friendly old man, and we decided we might as well take home 5lbs of mushrooms for $4. Since I've probably purchased mushrooms only once before, I still have some recipes to find to use all of these up! Maybe some spaghetti sauce for freezing? Laurence has suggested just sautéing them all in a lot of butter. Anyway, it was a good excuse for trying out this new Chicken Chasseur recipe posted below.

Rich, fluffy, and ripe, our raised beds and rows are almost ready to go after a long day of working in the garden. Even though it was a rainy day it felt so great to get my hands in the dirt again, finally! And, we're expecting a plentiful crop this year thanks to our magical mushroom compost! We started a garden blog last spring, but I'll keep updating this blog now with garden news as well.





Chicken Chasseur
1 T cooking oil
4 bone-in chicken breasts (2 1/2 lbs)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 T butter
1 onion chopped
3/4 lb mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp flour
6 T dry vermouth or dry white wine
2/3 cup chicken broth
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
1/4 tsp dried thyme
2 T chopped fresh parsley

In a large frying pan heat the oil over moderately high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper, add to pan. Cook until browned, turning, about 8 minutes in all. Remove and pour off all but one tablespoon fat from the pan.
Add butter to pan and reduce heat to moderately low. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally until translucent, about 5 min. Raise the heat to moderately high, add the mushrooms, garlic, and 1/4 tsp. of salt. Cook, stirring frequently until the vegetables are browned, about 5 min.
Add the flour and cook, stirring for 30 sec. Stir in the wine/ vermouth and bring back to a simmer. Stir in the tomatoes, thyme, and the remaining 1/2 tsp salt. Add the chicken and juices, reduce the heat and simmer covered until the chicken is done, about 10 min. Stir in the parsley and the remaining 1/4 tsp pepper.
Serve over rice or spaghetti!

Friday, March 19, 2010

Baby Sam

Here's another sample of one of my birth announcement canvases. This one is on display at the Southern Market in Knoxville... another one is coming soon to match little Sam's nursery colors! I'm still trying to figure out my standard images for my baby boy and girl announcement canvases. Boats, trains, lambs... flowers, birds, bears... any ideas? Let me know!

Here's a sample of a girl's birth announcement canvas. Custom orders can be placed in my Etsy shop.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Wordless Wednesday

photo by Laurence Eaton

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Night Owls



I just finished my piece commissioned for the Knoxville Symphony House! This painting will hang above the dresser in a boy's room designed with a camping theme. I can't wait to see it all put together... old quilts, lanterns, bug nets, stuffed bears, and carved wood in the shape of trees to frame the windows. What little boy wouldn't want to camp out with this type of decor? This was such a fun project for me to work on. I love camping, and I love that the interior designer gave me free reign for the piece, encouraging the creative process.

Here are a few photos documenting my process. I experimented a little bit with this piece using more layering than usual, a new type of glue, and figuring out how to work on board without dealing with mat boards and glass for framing. I like the outcome but will still experiment more with ways to hang board in a casual manner like canvases, i.e. no glass! The YES! paste worked well for my collage technique. It is easier to work with than my usual mix of water and matte medium / Elmer's glue mainly because I wasn't mixing it with so much water. However, because of the thicker application of glue I went through quite a bit of it for just one piece. It does have a nice flat finish and is very easy to work on top of, with paint and pastel in this case. I also didn't have as much bubbling up of the paper, again probably because of less water being used. Anyway, I vote yes for the paste and will most likely be buying more soon.

Phase 1: Some nice green grass paper I've had a while. This paper was actually a drop sheet for painting some green tissue paper, but I loved the wrinkled effect of the by-product.

Phase 2: Painted over the nice wrinkled grass so it wouldn't be too distracting and added some trees and water, with the mountains in the background- a few staples for a camping scene.

Finished! I was tempted to add more flowers, but it is for a boys room. And, if you ever have a chance to see the synchronous fireflies in the Smoky Mountains, it's more magical than could ever be recreated in an illustration, though I like the quiet effect of their presence in this piece too.

Close up: Night, Night.