psychedelic cupcake relief

I've been mildly obsessed with making dioramas for the last few months, but it has been a slow pace, trying to find the right materials to create them. This one is almost done now; I just have to paint the back (or cover it with fabric? not sure yet...) and it should be good. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It took forever to find the kind of shadowbox that I was looking for, and I actually just ended up turning around the wooden boards they sell at the art store around and pretending it was a shadowbox. Regular shadowboxes in the frame departments are expensive! I was originally going to paint it with acrylics, but I always feel I get way more detail and interesting texture with watercolor. And besides, it's a technicolor cupcake relief scene! Poor 'lil panda doesn't know what hit him! I wish cupcakes really did fall from the sky attached to pretty balloons. Another material issue I had, was what to hang the balloons with. I didn't like the way the knot looked when just string was used, so I ended up going to the jewelry stores near my work and finding some silver chains and jump rings to attach everything. I love that you can find anything ever in Manhattan. Yay convenience. So far so good! My next diorama has a bit more things hanging, so we'll see. This is about 6"x6" and the painting does go around the sides and top/bottom, but I neglected to take a picture of that part.



Dr. Sketchy's was this past Saturday. The theme was "all the colors of the rainbow," and while the model had some kick-ass costumes, I wasn't all that into her. She wouldn't stay still! So anyways, this was my favorite from the session:


Nik and I shared a GIGUNDA fruit bowl last weekend while watching a pretty anime. We almost finished it, but not quite. The rest was used in smoothies the next morning, alongside some awesome waffles.





There were actually farmers at the farmer's market near my apartment on saturday, so I bought fruits and veggies until my bag was full. Farmer's markets get me so excited; I swear, they are the happiest places on earth. I met my farmer that I will be getting my CSA from this year. I cannot WAIT until it starts!

Anyways, the point of me bringing up the farmer's market was this kick-ass black olive bread that I bought there. I couldn't even wait to get home before I started gnawing on it. I made some open (and closed) faced sammiches with some yummy marinated tofu and fresh spinach. Carrot sticks and some crispin apples on the side. Yummy lunch!

Paulina and the Poppies

Dear Paulina,
I saw you yesterday and you were wearing that red dress that reminds me of poppies on a summer day.
Love,
your secret admirer

new painting!
watercolor on heavily textured/gessoed wood.
9"x12"

Prints are available in the shop.

I like how this came out. Poppies are such pretty flowers. I used to call my Grandfather, "Poppy." No, not Papi, Poppy. My whole family did also, and they spelled it that way too. Ahhh, mixed up Italians. :) Also, and I know this is random, but I didn't know what the heck a garbanzo bean was until I was well into my teens. They were always "Cici beans" to me. Or, as I referred to them, "slimy butt cheeks." This wasn't that random; I used to be the salad girl in my family's restaurant, and my Poppy would always be watching over me to make sure I wasn't too generous with the veggies (and cici beans) on the salads. He was pretty great and I miss him a whole lot.

Arrrrrrghhh!! Pirate mushroom planter!

New shop item! I'm pretty excited about this one. I'm still working on the Broccoli dude. I made him, but I have to figure out some cracking issue and clay usage, so I'm holding off him until I can experiment furthur.

chelsea graffiti

Yesterday was an absolutely lovely day off of work. I was still in bliss-mode, after seeing Ira Glass at the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theater thursday night. I don't think I ever pictured the words "expressed his anal glands" come out of Ira Glass' mouth and i don't think I have laughed that hard in a long, long time. Swoon!

I slept in nice and late friday (much-needed!) and then made my way over to Chelsea to catch an exhibit that I have had my eye on for awhile now. Lori Earley and Tara McPherson both had solo exhibits in the Jonathan Levine Gallery So so great! I think I had a smile on my face throughout the whole exhibit. I was the only one in the place, besides the attendant, so I could browse at my leisure. Afterwards I walked around Chelsea a bit, admiring the graffiti and checking out a few other galleries. I made my way down to the village to have the most amazing sammich ever created at 'Snice. Seriously, the vegan panini is the most tastiest creation between bread. Happy tummy.

I rocked out to Modeselektor last night at Studio B. Those crazy germans sure know how to get the booty's shakin'.

Here are some pictures of some cool graffiti I saw!

SPOOK

New painting for my girl series. I'm not really sure how many are going to be in this series, but I have a whole bunch of sketches for new girls...so I'm just gonna keep painting until it feels complete. :)

This is Claudia. All the 'lil ghostlies covet her attention and love. Poor 'lil things. Unrequited love is the most frustrating of them all.

Watercolor on heavily textured gessoed wooden board.
9x12"

Toasted Potato...Bread?

Dr. Sketchy's on Saturday. Ms. Pandora in a Communist theme. The decorations were really rad. I drew a picture that incorporated the decorations (and mustaches and beards) for a contest (that I won a shot of straight-up vodka *scrunch-face*), but I didn't scan that one. I like this one the best. We had to incorporate a toasted potato in it. Don't ask.

Saturday was so beautiful out! Brooklyn + sunshine is marvelous.

***GRAPHIC POST***

Cajun tofu salad with Goddess dressing (tofu and dressing both from Yellow Rose Recipes)

Nut case cookies, from My Sweet Vegan!! These were really yummy, even though I totally bastardized the recipe. I super-proteined it up. I ran out of regular flour, so I used Chickpea flour and I had a mega-mix of nuts, seeds, and dried fruit, so I dumped that in.

I spent most of sunday making this stew and biscuits. I also tried those steamed seitan sausages that have been floating around the interweb lately. Mine were waaaaay too wet. Not sure what happened, but i compensated with more flour, so i had some really bready seitan on my hands. Ah well. Still good. The stew has red potatoes, corn, carmelized onion, garlic, broccoli, carrots, spinach, and a whole lot of spices (mostly pepper and tarragon). I cooked it forever in two pots and it came out really well. Total comfort food. The biscuits are from YRR.

She Talks in Maths

New painting in girl series: She talks in maths
watercolor on gessoed wood.
9x12"

Hooray!

Ooooh exciting: the cupcake planter I listed on Etsy last night was put on the front page today! I missed it, because it sold quickly (yay!), BUT that particular treasury was put together for an article on the Storque, so the article link is still on the front page (and will stay in their archives)! Woohoo.

screenshot of article with cupcake listing:

New Shop Item!

Cupcake planters!! I'm really excited about these and have plans for other types of food-themed planters for spring. BROCCOLI is next! Cupcakes are up in my shop!



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Some food from the past week or so!

Brunch this morning was pancakes with a strawberry-orange sauce and walnuts. Sweets for breakfast is the best.


I finally got Yellow Rose Recipes, and made the Sloppy Joannas the other night. I added Corn to mine, 'cause that's how I roll. Also, there is a dispute on how to eat these! I think they are called "sloppy" for a reason and are meant to be smothered and eaten with a fork, while other seem to be silly and think it is an ACTUAL sandwich. crazies!


I also made the Baked Samosas with Mint-cilantro chutney from YRR. I don't like mint all that much, so i modified the chutney a bit with spinach in place of fresh mint and just added a smidge of dried mint. These were yum and well-worth my fight with the phyllo dough. Oh, I also didn't add spinach to the filling like the recipe called for, but broccoli and corn instead.

MESS

black kitty + white gesso = NOOOOOOO

sneak peek and PB-BOMB

Sneak Peek at new item for my shop! will post more once finished, and well, there is daylight to take a better picture. (hooray for daylight savings!)


I made Peanut-butter Bombs from My Sweet Vegan this past weekend. Yummy, but needs more CHOCOLATE. This begs the question, who would win in a super-ninja-awesome-fight: Chocolate or Peanut Butter?!? I think I vote chocolate, but it's a tough call. Yum either way.