Tephyr's Studio: collage

Thursday, October 6, 2011

This weeks Garden, Studio and Kitchen update

I seem to be running late on everything the last couple weeks. My excuse is getting ready for the trip this weekend. And I'm sticking to it :)

The greenhouse is all planted for the Winter: Mesclun lettuce, Tyee Spinach and a mix of orange, yellow and red Carrots. I transplanted the 3 Celery and 4 of the 8 Artichokes. I left 4 of the latter in the garden as I'm told by a friend in N.VT that sometimes they will over winter outside. And the ones I transplanted didn't seem to like it much. I'm hoping they will revive.

I put a layer compost and composted manure down, seeded and then a shallow layer of chopped straw on the seeds and a couple inches around the plants.

You'll also see in the above picture that there is now a drip irrigation system which is great. I just have to remember to turn it on and off. I'll get a timer set up at some point. I'll have to remove it in a few weeks so it doesn't freeze but for now it makes life easier.

Studio update:
I got 3 8"x10" canvases finished and a fourth drying. The fourth I'm trying out crackle paste and it needs to dry a couple days in this weather. I'll post it when I'm done. Below are the two I did Tuesday and Wednesday. The first is in the previous post to this one.

Both of them I was just "messing around" with color as well as gluing duck cloth torn to fit the canvas; then painted. The first I then glued tissue paper over that and continued to paint and embellish with oil pastels and crumbled gold leaf. Then I varnished it with Satin Varnish which seems a bit shiny to me for Satin.

I'm going to try experimenting with different varnishes now to see.

The second one I like a lot. Done the same as above only I stretched and glued cheese cloth under the tissue paper and then collaged. And instead of varnish I used a faux bees wax acrylic formula over the top. This gives it a very nice, soft look. Much better then the shiny varnish.

Here are the images:

Kitchen update:
Big thing out of the kitchen this week was Coq au Vin. Chicken cooked in wine. I've tried it a few times and not been satisfied but this time it came out great, if I may say so. (others do too :) )
I'll post the recipe sometime I promise. There are a lot of recipes out there: beware the really complicated ones. It's basically chicken cooked in a wine/broth reduction. Here is an image (beans are from The Garden):

All in all a fun week. Again: I'm off until Tuesday. Back to Maine (yay!)

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Prodigal Blogger

Here I am. Hard to believe it's been since February since I've written. It's been a very strange year; to say the least.

Those who've read me in the past know I spent most of last winter recovering from Lyme Disease.

In March it turned out the Leiomyo Sarcoma returned. In my liver in two places. It took until June to sort out what to do and then I had surgery to remove them both within two weeks of each other. (they actually microwaved them to death; no cutting required. Amazing really)

There are some questionable areas that are being watched; the scariest is in my spine and in October I go in for tests to see what's what.

In the mean time things are going rather well; working a lot in the Studio (the picture to the left is from some block prints last Winter) and The Garden is doing great. I started doing the Artist's Way (Julia Cameron) which is an amazing process and I recommend it to anyone who want's to do anything creatively; even just Live One's Life.

Then the first day of August someone very very close to me passed on. It doesn't matter that she was 88 : she was a wonderful woman and Artist. Her presence will be missed in many lives. Including mine.

I didn't notice the Earth Quake and the Tornado. I'm torn if that's a good thing or not. :)

I live on top of a mountain so Hurricane Irene was a bit anti-climatic. Though I'm one of the lucky ones as from what I've heard the rest of the county is a bit soggy. (understatement for under water)

Now here at the end of the summer: I'm just doing my thing and waiting to get past the next bunch of tests in October. I have a full fledged phobia against Ticks. Which makes gardening a bit hard but I'm being diligent. I found a tick on me early Spring and almost packed up and moved into a Condo but got over myself.

But despite all that, things aren't too bad. I'm alive; I have my family, the crazy cats and the cockatiel. The Garden is doing well though a bit weedy and most of the planned projects are either canceled or very slowly enfolding. Very slowly. I grew little watermelons for the first time in the greenhouse. How cool is that? They are delicious. I got two of them; which, I think, is good for high in the mountains.

The most prolific activity for me has been in the studio. Which is easy to me no matter how I feel. I can always get out a pad and doodle or some water colors.

When one goes through times like this you can't not be changed and so this blog will be changing too. I spend more time in the studio then anywhere so I'm going to start chronicling that. As well as about my dealing with LMS (Leiomyo Sarcoma). No worries: no long drawn out details just how it impacts my life in general. In the hopes that the few out there dealing with this or any life threatening or "terminal" diagnosis: might stumble upon it and get some hope.

So, as they say; It's been a long and strange trip. They also say “May you live in interesting times”.

Personally I like boredom. :)

Check back soon or subscribe; I'll be around again. Next thing will be an update on the Studio and then an update on The Garden I think. We'll see where the muse leads me.