INTRO TO MY SECOND BLOG PAGE & WHITE CHOC CHIP COOKIE

My need for a second page is to complement my art website.
For some time, I would have liked  to react right away to the comments made on my paintings, but  both of the web masters of my art website www(dot)stgermainart(dot)com are extremely busy.
Also, every change I like to make is going to cost me. That is not in my budget now.
AND.....I have you, who are already reading my stuff (thank you, you are much appreciated!!)

"Art Notes" will be more "off the cuff", telegram style, or like notes jotted down on a sticky note. Who knows it will grow into a book!
So, bloggie friend, click on the bottom of  "view my complete profile." There you will see my blogs  "Mysteries" and "Art Notes".
Click on  Art Notes.
I have not finished customizing it, but that will come soon enough!

When the days turn shorter and colder, my cookie gene kicks in. It may have to do with my Dutch gene that says you can't have tea of coffee without a cookie.

My favorite holiday cookie is a chocolate cookie with white chocolate chips in it. Whole wheat flower is less tasty with this cookie, so I use non-bleached flour. I always reduce the sugar amount a few teasoons than the original recipe here. The recipe makes about 45 mid- size cookies.

On ungreased sheet drop teaspoons full of batter. 
Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 180 degrees Celsius for 10-11 min. 
Edge is lightly browned. Cool for 2 min.


Ingredients

Combine and set aside: 

          2 1/4 cup flour

          2/3 cup cocoa 

          1/2 tsp. salt

          1 tsp. baking soda

 Beat  with combined ingredients (above) till creamy 
          1 cup of butter, softened
          3/4 cup sugar
          2/3 cup brown sugar.1 tsp vanilla
 Add slowly 
         2 eggs
 Stir in 
         1/2 cup white chocolate chips or chunks

Be careful not to get in chocolate shock!

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SCRIBBLE/DOODLE - The Same But Different MOODS

The same scene scene, with two different mediums. 
One is acrylic. One in watercolor. 
One scene with 2 different painting styles. 
The same scene displaying different times of the day. One is a night scene. The other is a day or Spring scene. 
In the Scribble/Doodle Window I changed this scene with Photoshop into an wild Fauvistic, expressionistic landscape.

I gave myself this exercise once as an illustration for a workshop I taught some years ago.

©Acrylic, Teneya Lake by Night, St.Germain

It is one thing to be able to draw well,  but better art displays a mood in the painting. Setting the mood is definitely what makes the painting "speak." How to set a mood? Colors and shadows more importantly, and then moving on to blurry or sharp edges (boundaries). The darker the color, the more it will have the effect of  a somber, night, serene, or mysterious place.

©  Watercolor, Teneya Lake in Spring, St.Germain

Light and bright colors express an uplifted mood.  A display of spring or summer, sunny, cheerful. Edges are often sharper, but do not need to be.

These are not the only possibilities for this or any landscape scene. 
Another mood would be fiery, or a late Fall with almost bare branches, or snow, or storm. A mood goes beyond weather conditions. One can make any kind of scene busy, or contemplative, or depressing. 
If I'm doing a little self-evaluation here, I've noticed that most of my landscapes exude a bright, sunny, or dreamy atmosphere, while the painting of angels and of revelation (on my web site) are more night and mysterious views.


In these scenes I did not deal with shadows, but they are another way to set the stage. That maybe for another time bloggie friends!

RELAXED WEEKEND - ramble

What a relaxed weekend. I needed that. Puttering around. No deadlines, schedules, or commitments.  I called my favorite nursery on a whim yesterday, to ask if they already had the Christmas cactus in stock. 

 And they did. Pink, white, and red.

So, I chose a big white one, and a small red one. 

I put them close together. 

 I have a weakness for African violets, so this one begged me to come home with me. 
Another orphan rescued:) Now I see this pic, I notice hubby has been doctoring with the settings. So, I don't feel bad taking it into Photoshop to get the effect I originally wanted.

Some people feel alive in the morning. Others in the afternoon. For me, I feel most alive in the evening. My inspiration for painting also comes in the evening. Never in the morning, unless I am waking up from a dream about it.  

This weekend we went out for coffee. Exploring our new neighborhood and night life, so to speak. This was a cozy, but well lit coffee shop. I like to see what I'm drinking. Nice interior, comfy chairs and not too small. We were astonished when at 9 pm they said they were closing. Is this Los Angeles?? Maybe we're in the wrong city! I had counted on 10:30 at least.

click on image for details

We met up with friends whom we had not seen in ages, and caught up on each others stories of the years we had not seen each other. Seems like all of California is on a roller coaster (a tad exaggerated). But when you hear that some of your friends are in an equal position, things do not seem so bad anymore. We all will survive this. And some of you out there, you will too, even though you have the feeling that you're hanging on by a thread.

BIRDS MIGRATING and other Things, SUNDAY PART 3

On a Wednesday in July, still in the middle of moving boxes, an email came that the head of the music department had voiced, "Why not painting every time we play music, instead of only at conferences?"
I was excited, so I signed up for the first Sunday.

How do you Know What to Paint?

The rest of that week, whenever a quiet moment came, I saw birds in my mind, flying in migrating patterns. This didn't seem  a particularly spiritual subject to me, but I have learned to go with whatever keeps coming to my mind, because that is often the inspiration I should go with.

When starting  I painted  in big letters Supernatural Turn. I had never done that  before. When the pastor came by to look, he said, "Supernatural turn, huh? I like it already." I painted at this location before, but he had never looked at what I painted. So, I politely thanked him.

It turns out that he was so taken with the concept of the supernatural turn, 
for it applied to 60% or more to his congregation. 
This is in one of the posh beach cities in California. According to the news California is one of the 10 states shortest on cash.
This painting gave him an image to refer to (in advertisement they call it "branding". 
When one sees the box with the detergent "Tide". every American knows what it means.)


Since August the painting has been used as a visual image 
in the meeting for business people. He talked about it at other times, 
let me come to the front to talk about it. 
Not that I talked that much, because there were so many who gave their own 
version how that image applied to them, that at times I was a bit 
uncomfortable with all that attention. As you can see I changed,  placing the words on the right as part of the cloud pattern. It's not quite finished yet, but I'll do that later.

© 24 x 30, Oil, St.Germain

Is the Effect always so Dramatic?

This painting of the birds is actually the first one that has been
so widely recognized and used so many occasions as an illustration. Half of the time it speaks only to a few people.
One time I painted a diamond, and the painting was mainly blue. Someone came in and her jaw dropped, because she had a blue diamond which she had inherited,
and she had been wondering if she should sell it,
because she was in a real jam at the time.

Does it Always come this Easy?

One time my musings about what to paint were finally answered on Sunday morning while packing up my painting gear. I had the strange feeling I should paint a bride.
A bride?? I muttered under my breath that I didn't like to paint that mushy stuff.
But then, a bride would be a symbol of the bride of Christ - the church. Even though I was still cringing at the thought, an assurance came over me
that I would make someone's day with it.

No time to make a sketch, so I went purely on my intuition and  included the Bridegroom
(for the Protestants it is a symbol of Jesus Christ).

© 24 x 30 Oil, St.Germain

After painting this almost iconic looking painting, while I'm cleaning up my things,
someone comes running up the steps to the platform, asking me if she can take a pic of the painting with her cell phone. I do not know her, but I nod. It seemed important to her.
This is part of her paraphrased email a week later (I have her permission).
It really touched me.

The painting effected her greatly, because she was a twenty-something woman who had a shady past. At times she imagines that in heaven God's son would want to dance with her.
Because she had been addicted to porn and other immorality, she feels awkward and unclean, even though she knows that the bride is a symbol for the bride of Christ,
and he has forgiven her what she did in the past.
When she sees me painting the bride, suddenly all her doubts about being forgiven
vanish, and could see herself as washed clean, and being able to dance with the bridegroom.

This painting was never finished, because the next time I painted
something else.  Maybe this unusual subject was only for this one young woman, but thoroughly worth the effort.
Most of the  time I finish a painting at home, and put them on my art website http://www.stgermainart.com/  -  click here*) or on one of my blogs.
Up till now, I have received feedback on every  Sunday painting (since 2004).
Now you can imagine why I love to paint on Sunday.


* NB - website is NOT updated, so my new paintings are not on there and prices on web site are negotiable for my followers on this site

MOMENTS - OUT OF LIFE OF ARTIST

My day always starts with tea. My son-in-law got into 

teas too. So he and my middle daughter took us to 

a tea store where a tea maker from Teawana is sold. 

One puts  the tealeaves on the bottom, and pours

the boiling water on top of it. Then the tea drips 

into one's teacup underneath. I couldn't resist 

trying a  white tea, called Snow Geisha. Delicieux!

Still cutting off roses from my old front yard...

in November! I know, I am spoiled living in California.

Roses make my day - I never can get enough of them.

In-between running errands, mostly for food,  
painting supplies, and this time of the year 
Christmas shopping.  Although I may look like 
a bag lady, my bags need to be nice 

or cute, like this little one my oldest daughter 

brought from the Philippines, but still big enough 
for my wallet, lotion and chapstick.

In the afternoon I often drink a cappuccino. To show you
how small my cappuccino maker is, I
put a pint of whipped cream carton next to it.
I'm mostly too much in a hurry to make the foam,
but its a treat with liquid whipped cream.

 
Often more of my day is spent on making preparations
to paint, than my time painting on canvas. It may be
in doing research on skeletal structure. And I actually
watched two movies for the movement of this horse.
This was the THIRD sketch I made for the painting
Night Riders(which I'll show you at another time).

As you can see, I give numbers to the values
(from light-1 to dark-3)
Often the success of a painting hinges on how much time
one wants to spend in preparation.
How far one comes, also often depends on
how disciplined the artist is.

 Always make time to see the sun setting or

to look at the clouds on my walk.
These clouds are like "pastels in the sky."

This was a first bracelet I made with directions

from a magazine. Some adjustments!

I exchanged big round ceramic beads for

smaller glass ones, because the first ones felt too heavy.

What size of wrists do they give instructions for??

I  made this with one flower less, and was still

too big for me, so I put the "oval "opening on the top

around the last flower when wearing it.

Since it's Fall you know that in-between and at night 

I am knitting hats, scarves, socks, or other things. 

I thrive on having multiple projects going on 
at the same time and drive everyone else crazy with it.