Sunday, January 27, 2008

suicidal raindrop diorama

It's grisly, I know. I've been interested in making a diorama for a long time now and i finally tinkered around with it. I looked into just buying a shadow box or some other sort of box-like container to house it, but dammit, they are just too expensive. I attempted to make my own, but it turned out a bit shoddy in construction. I'll measure better and use a right angle next time. better wood too. Nonetheless, I had fun making this. the poor little raindrops are made out of polymer clay, with a shiny wet-looking gloss on them. acrylic painted raindrops on the pretty paper covering the box.

more dioramas are in my future.









Oh! You might notice the lil' Etsy widget on the side of this blog. I finally put up stuff in my store. I'm going to be making a bunch of prints and screenprints to put up sometime in the near future.

my zoetrope etsy shop

I've also joined Ravelry and once I get over my initial overwhelmed feeling with it, i think i'll be pretty happy. I've been into making Amigurami toys lately. I found cuuuuuuuute Amigurami birds on ravelry that i wanna make.

Decadent sunday brunch

a rockin' salad made earlier in the week. homemade vegan ranch dressing on top. Steamed, then browned in shoyu tempeh, pears, purple cabbage, radish, carrots, spinach, boston lettuce (i think?), makes up the salad.



Decadent brunch. Chocolate-chocolate-chip Blueberry pancakes with some awesome potatoes (garlic, thyme, sea salt, olive oil seasoning. boiled and then fried for optimal inside tenderness and outside crunchiness).

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

May and June






download here to print out (they are 10.8"x16"):
May-Color
June-Color

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In other news, I've been doing some Kindergarten arts+crafts lately. I'll post results soon.

Monday, January 21, 2008

MLK Day-off Foodz

Cauliflower and Mushroom Potpie with Black Olive Crust from Veganomicon. Those Black Olive crust/biscuits sure were something




Oatmeal-chocolate-ship cookies. I used the Oatmeal Raisin recipe in Vcon, but raisins are like poo, and chocolate>poo (i have good logic, see?).

Sunday, January 20, 2008

ask me again on wednesday

Went to The Addams Family themed Dr. Sketchy's yesterday, and it was ,quite possibly, the best session I have been to yet. Next time I shall bring my camera, as I was literally kicking myself for not having it yesterday. Absolutely fantastic costumes and poses by the two models as Wednesday and Uncle Fester.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Veggie Rollatini

I made a veggie rollatini of sorts (except I stuffed too much stuff in it, so it didn't really "roll" per se). I roasted the eggplant with olive oil + spices, and then spread some pesto-like sauce (basil, raw cashews, lots and lots of raw garlic, avocado slices, nooch, olive oil, a bit of water, and some pepper and hungarian paprika for spices) on it. Raw veggies got rolled up in it (er, folded in): carrots, radishes, avocado (those weird watery florida ones), spinach, and green onions. Total yum and super filling.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

A whole lot to say/see

The month of april! It's the best really; Aries unite! It's funny making these calendars and marking the holidays and whatnot; It makes me feel prepared or ahead of the game or something. For instance, Easter is in March this year and not April! Now I'm an athiest and don't put much behind holidays other than a)spending time with the family b)good food is made and eaten and c)days off from work! As a child and teenager, Easter and Good Friday were always on the top of my holiday list, since that means that I usually got my birthday off from school during the spring break. Anyways, April looks lonely this year, with only my birthday marked (ha!). I guess that means that you need to pay extra-special attention to it. Hugs and pokes are welcome. See?? I'm getting way ahead of myself, imagining that it is the lovely month of April and not still cold, freezing, dark January.

Speaking of dark, I (nik) just changed the light bulbs in my studio to those energy-saving DAYLIGHT bulbs. They rule! It's a white room now! I'm already energized from it. Maybe the Goldfrapp on repeat is helping with that energizing also. But seriously, it's amazing!

Anyways, here is the month of April for Download (plus all the other months, in case you're lazy. you bum). Again, they are meant to be printed, in color, on 11x17 paper. :

January
February-01-Rose
February-02-Gasmask
March
April



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Here is a glimpse at a new series of mine, watercolor and ink painted on raw wood. I wish I had access to a woodshop, to cut my own wood up, but alas, this is NYC. This series is a cousin to my watercolor on fabric series that I started a long time ago and kinda abandoned, but am picking back up again. I don't have any scans of that up, because they are huuuuuuge (and taking up way too much space), but maybe i'll take a photo someday.

This was fun to do, because I don't get to paint as much as I'd like to anymore (not enough hours in the day? I'm full of excuses.) Plus, anyone can tell, from looking at my work, that I like to play with rough texture and raw wood was an awesome new bleeding experience (i wish it bled more). More to come, you know, when I get to it.







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I'm a chatty cathy tonight, aren't I? Other things that I'm working on/formulating in my head are:
1)sculpey beads/bracelets/necklaces
2)bleach + black dye + fabric + sewing machine=a whole new world (skirts and my bag)
3)that green scarf
4)screenprinting class in LIC so I can get to the bottom of why I can't expose a screen properly.
5)thinking about other crafty ideas for Renegade in the summer.
6)I do have an Etsy shop, with nothing up in it yet of course, but I have to sort out my inventory. I'm anal about the order I do things. Sorry.
7)Kimya Dawson and Karl Blau are playing at Europa tomorrow night!
8)Getting to the fabric store for my painting series
9)making a scary/cute monster cover for my ipod. Priorities people, priorities.
10)Dr. Sketchy's anti-art school rules so so so much. Here are examples of how awesome it is (plus an appearance by me in a few). This coming week is the Addams Family and I canNOT wait! Check out their blog for more fun pictures and info to see schedule.

Okay, that was 10, i'm done now. Ciao!

Dinner tonight

I made a pesto with basil, raw cashews, lots and lots of raw garlic (hey, i'm italian, leave me alone!), avocado slices, nooch, olive oil, a bit of water, and some pepper and hungarian paprika for spices. I had leftover black beans/corn mixed with cumin/pepper and put this, with some raw green onions and raw radishes, over some spaghetti. This might sound like a whole lot of flavors going on, but the pesto was pretty mild and not very basil-y, thanks to the avocado, so it had a nice southwestern flair as a whole. num-num.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Weekend foods.

nik was sick, so i made super-awesome-make-him-better Miso Soup. It's got shiitake mushrooms, green onions, tofu, fresh ginger and garlic, carrots, and hijiki in a mushroom/miso broth. mmm.
I made a super-smoothie with blueberries, mango, spinach, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, and some soy milk and water. Who knew that you can't taste spinach at all in a smoothie?

Sunday brunch in my awesome new cast-iron pan: Scrambled tofu with green onions and avocado and some sweet potatoes mixed with red potatoes, seasoned with olive oil, sea salt, thyme, and ground pepper.


The month of April will be up tomorrow, along with a brand new painting I've been working on.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

February-March

Here are the months of February and March from the calendar I'm making. There are two versions of February because I didn't like the top one at first, so I redid it, but ended up liking both once I colored them up. Pick 'n choose I guess.

download here to print out (they are 10.8"x16"):
January
February-01-Rose
February-02-Gasmask
March

Hooray for almost friday. This has been a most excellent week.



Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Catch-up Yumzz

I'm working on the Calendar; Waiting until I have a few months together to post them in a few days.

got a gym membership today. Punk Rope class?!?!?!!! yes!

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I made a fancy-pants New Year's Day Dinner. Curried Coconut Beggars' Purses, from The Candle Cafe Cookbook. Yum!! And Asparagus is the best thing ever. I'd highly recommend this, even though phyllo dough is a beotch.
Fakin' Bakin and Cheezy-sauce omelete, from The Vegan Ronin:

i sauteed garlic, a bit of ginger, red onion, some green and yellow zucchini, fakin' bakin. I then made a nutritional yeasty-like sauce with some nooch, EB, and a bit of soymilk to mix in with it.

I tried to flip it after the first side was done, but that didn't work at all. Tasted fine anyways, but just a little flimsier on the one side that wasn't browned. I think she mashed her tofu a great deal more than I did and that's why hers looks so creamy. I was surprised at the fluffiness of this though. sooo filling. 1 block of tofu made two omelets.





Tuesday, January 1, 2008

happy boop year and CALENDAR

Hi friends. Hope that all your eves were lovely and Garth/Wayne-worthy.

I rang in the new year with The Dresden Dolls. They, and their posse of amazing performance artists, made for a very enjoyable night. I love how you can just feel the love all around at Dresden Dolls shows. It's just absolute adoration from the audience to the bands and vice versa. Perfect for NYE.

They played at the Grand Ballroom in Manhattan, which I've never been to before. Quite beautiful inside, and filled to the brim with the eclectic costumes and makeup of Dresden fans. Gowns, wigs, masks, corsets, fishnet, and hula hoops abound. An amazing man spun and spun around inside a giant metallic hula hoop to our amazement. Seriously, he was amazing and he defied gravity in his dance with the hoop. Meow Meow bared her self and sang in all sorts of accents in her caberet performance. Also, she crowd surfed all the way to the bar for a whiskey and no one even reached out and grabbed her boobs. Such a nice crowd. The Luminescent Orchestrii performed a very middle eastern, jamboree, blues, hip-hop, funk-influenced set complete with Miss Katie Kay's belly dancing skills. I liked the hip-hop food song they did.

The Dresden Dolls opened with a spoof of "In the Flesh," by Pink Floyd. Dressed in fascist military garb, it was quite an attention-grabbing opener, much to my delight. They came on with about 25 minutes until midnight, sounding absolutely tight and amazing. The countdown was preceded by a cover of The Beastie Boy's “Fight for Your Right (To Party).” YES. Quite a countdown indeed. Confetti and streamers everywhere. Kisses and hugs.

A lot of old songs were played, along with newer. Some that never really get played live. Amanda played a song off her forthcoming solo album. Brian rules so so so much. Watching him drum triggers all sorts of "hell yes!" reactions in me. Amanda's voice quickly went downhill though, due to a sickness, and it probably didn't help with all the beer-chugging that she did the whole night. Instrumental parts remained kick-ass the entire night.

I had a ball on the subway ride home, watching and listening to all the idiotic and asinine NYE shenanigans. Today I'm going to clean the apartment a bit and cook a lovely dinner.

But! wait! I have a present! Last friday, I was endlessly searching in B&N and online for a worthy calendar to put on my wall at home and at work. Very few caught my eyes and I mostly just felt frustrated. Lo and behold, Nate saved the day. I got home and excitedly opened a pretty package from one of my favorite people and, he read my mind! Calendar! Cupcakes make people happy calendar! Hooray! So this will joyfully hang up in my office at work, but I still had to come up with something at home. So! I made my own to print out and you can have it too. Since I only thought about this like, 3 days ago, I only have done the month of January so far. I got to thinking that it would be cool to release the next months towards the end of the present month, but quickly vetoed that since I like to write down things several months in advance. Did that sentence make sense? I didn't think so. But anyways. I'm going to work on the remaining months this month and put them up online for download. January is up for now. I like this idea and I'll think ahead next year. I'll add that to my list of resolutions (I really don't have a list, that was a lie.)

love and cinnamon buns,
michelle


Calendar, month of January:

This will fit on an 11x17 sheet of paper. I made a B/W and a color version.

January-Color version for you to print out (right-click, save as on PC. I don't know what you mac peeps do): http://www.myzoetrope.com/images/Doodles/2008%20calendar/January-color.jpg

January-Black and White version: http://www.myzoetrope.com/images/Doodles/2008%20calendar/January-bw.jpg