Moly_x_70

Recently, I joined a moleskine exchange. Funny thing is that the flickr group is call "international moleskine exchange", but the other women in my exchange group are all from the US and Canada. Not very international. I still think that it is going to be fun. I am interested to see what each person will add to the previous person's entry.

When I first got my Japanese accordian album I was very intimidated by all of the pages - 60 to be exact. I sat the moleskine on my desk and that is where it has stayed for the past week. Staring at me, calling to me - "open me, draw on my pages" - I have glanced at it numerous times and still have yet to put my pencil on the first page.

I have been thinking and looking through various inspiration sites to try to decide what I want to draw for my first entry. I have been mocking up sketches in my sketchbook and came up with an idea for my sign-in page that is a little too cutesy...so, it will probably not go in the moleskine.

I did however put ink to the cover. I used a Prismacolor Metallic Silver paint pen to put a simple little scroll design on the cover. Guess you could say that I have taken the first step...

Kat

I don't know if any of you other ladies out there have what I will call a "girl crush"...you know - there is a woman out there that you think is so amazing and beautiful that you sort of have a little "girl crush" on her. Well, whether you do or whether you think I am totally nutso - Kat Von D from LA Ink is one of my girl crushes. She is beautiful and extremely talented. This piece came from a photo that I had of Kat from a magazine. I want to add some color to it - I am petrified that I will mess it up though, so I went ahead and scanned it in first. I was also way too intimidated to give her tatoos. I won't say I didn't try - but it looked ridiculous.

Four hours and a Geisha later....

Beauty, originally uploaded by gwsmomma.

Just a little something I worked on tonight. I wanted to scan it in before I added any color - just in case something goes wrong. I am going to attempt to use colored pencils - I guess we will see what happens.

Wish me luck!

**UPDATED 3/30/09

Maybe it is my lack of experience or maybe it is the cheap paper in the cheap generic sketchbook in which I drew my Geisha, but I am not liking the color that I have added.

Charlie girl...

So, I drew this girl lastnight and took her and my watercolor pencils to work with me today - and this is how she came home. I like her. I could use some practice with the watercolor pencils and with finding the proper amount of shading, but I think it looks good.

I have been trying to come up with my own characters and style. For a few months now, I have been pouring over "How to draw" books. There have been "How to Cartoon", "Manga Drawing", "Caricature Drawing" and "How to Draw Hip Hop". I have studied them front to back and back to front and combined information from all of them to come up with her. I found a unique way to draw the eyes that I am going to practice - so that I can get it just right. The lips really happened by accident. Being new to drawing/sketching I am still pretty heavy handed when it comes to sketching out the beginning of a figure. The little heart at the side of her mouth was a mark I made when I was trying to pick the pencil up off the paper. I really really like it though and I think that it may be a signature or something that is consistent with all of the girls I may draw.

I want to be sure though that I give props to some of the people who have inspired me and who's work I look to as an example. Please visit their blogs - they are amazing artists.

http://www.adventuresofanra.com/

http://britsketch.blogspot.com/

http://idassketchbook.blogspot.com/

http://janopdebeeck.blogspot.com/

http://lunchboxunlimited.blogspot.com/

http://www.annejulie-art.com/blog/

http://mikegiblin.blogspot.com/

http://pinkytoast.typepad.com/pinkytoast/

http://prettygoodforagirl.blogspot.com/

http://scarlettcat.blogspot.com/

http://shannonbonatakis.blogspot.com/

Eliza

Just a little something that I sketched while sitting at my desk.

Need to work on the eyes, but the rest of the face is good.

It's been a while...

Sometimes life gets in the way of the things that we like to do. I started with my self portrait and then really had the drawing bug. I have been trying to figure out what 'style' I wanted to learn. Do I want to draw things that look realistic - somewhere I have a drawing of a sandwich that makes me hungry. Do I want to draw cartoons? Do I want to emulate the person that first inspired me Suzanne Cabrera http://www.suzannebuchanan.blogspot.com/ or do I want to draw caricatures? I still haven't decided, but I have atleast been drawing. Here are some of the things that I tote around in my sketchbook...

I drew this when I took my son to see Despereaux in the theater...it was pretty dark, but I think it is okay...I could be wrong.

Strangely enough - I really like drawing feet...is that strange?

Caricature practice - I now find myself looking at everything and everyone trying to figure out the shape their head, eyes, mouth and nose would take in a caricature.

Of all the things that I have drawn so far...I HATE EYES!!!

Compared to some of the extreme talent that I have seen on the blogs I follow (some listed on this blog) - this is amateur, but I really like it.

I think that this one is crap...enough said

Self Portrait

Thanks to The Pioneer Woman I was introduced to one of the most awesome blogs...in my opinion. On her blog, The Pioneer Woman has a little box called "Another Site for You". In this box she will link to another blog that she thinks is interesting - that's what I'm assuming anyway. Well, I just happened to check out her most recent site recommendation and I am so glad that I did. I stumbled across a number of extremely talented artists. I myself am not all that talented. I can draw, yes, but not without great effort, long periods of time and extremely mis-propotioned features. After following the link I found myself at an open [sketch]book. Let me just say that the sketches on this site are amazing. I was feeling inspired by her work today and decided to take a leap and do something that I have NEVER done - a self portrait.

Chipotle at home!!

I absolutely love Chipotle - the flour tortilla, the cheese, the rice, the corn salsa, the black beans, the sour cream and the meat with a kick you in the back of the throat dash of hot. Unfortunately, I don't get to eat it all that much. A couple of weeks ago I got a craving for Chipotle though. During one of my food blog binges I stumbled across a recipe for Cilantro-Lime Rice and thought that I would try it. There was nothing better to pair it with than Corn Salsa and so the Chipotle at home mission began. I managed to find all I needed on the website http://www.chipotlefan.com/. The meal was a big hit with the family and tasted even better reheated the next day. One problem that I had - the recipe calls for red onions and when I cut into the onion...well, I might as well have been blind. I couldn't see for about 5 minutes because my eyes were full of tears and two days later were still swollen. However, with my recent cooking adventures - if that is my only problem, then I am doing pretty good. Making the marinade was awesome - I got to use my anniversary present!! My new food processor!!

Here are the recipes that I used:

Chipotle's Steak Marinade
1 (2 ounce) package dried ancho chiles
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons cumin powder
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
6 cloves garlic
1/2 red onion, quartered
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 Small Steaks (6 ounces each)

Soak dry chilies overnight in water, until soft. Remove seeds. Add allingredients except meat in food processor. Puree until smooth. Spread mixture over chicken, or other meats and refrigerate at leastone hour, up to 24 hours. After marinating, heat grill to about 400 degrees F, or if cookinginside, heat small amount of oil in skillet or grill pan over highheat. Salt meat to taste (optional), and grill lightly, turning onlyonce, until done. 8-10 minutes perside for 3/4" thick steak. Recipe will make four burritos.

(For the meat, I used a package of the preseasoned fajitas that HEB sells. This wasn't a good idea if you want to really taste the flavor of the marinate. It was still really good though.)


Cilantro Lime Rice
1 teaspoon vegetable oil or butter
2 tsp. fresh cilantro
2/3 cup white basmati rice
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Lime

In a 2-quart heavy saucepan, heat oil or butter over low heat, stirring occasionally until melted. Add rice and lime juice, stir for 1 minute. Add water and salt, bring to a full rolling boil. At boiling, cover, turn down to simmer over low heat until rice is tender and the water is absorbed, about 25 minutes. Fluff rice with a fork.

Corn Salsa
2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed (a large can of corn works just as well)
1/3 cup chopped purple onion
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 to 2 tablespoons finely chopped jalapeno pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours. Remove from refrigerator about 30 minutes before serving. Serve corn salsa with grilled meat or poultry. Makes about 3 cups corn salsa.

Happy Anniversary to Us!!

It has been a year since my husband and I were married...although it seems like longer. We live our lives day to day working and taking care of our two boys - time just passes so quickly. So much has happened in the past year.

We didn't do anything special for our anniversary - just dinner with my parents. We ran around the day before purchasing my husband a new wedding band, as his original band is titanium and cannot be sized - it seems to be too big. I got a food processor as my anniversary gift. I have been wanting one for forever - now, I just need to find a reason to use it. When I was looking at food processors online I actually found that there are cookbooks with recipes which specifically call for the use of a food processor. I may need to look into that.

On our wedding day, our wedding cake was an Italian Cream Cake. We didn't save the top layer - didn't have the space in the freezer to store something for a year. With my recent interest in cooking and baking and trying new things - I thought that I would make an Italian Cream cake for our anniversary. It turned out really well!! I was impressed with myself especially since both of my parents agreed that it was much better tasting than my wedding cake.

Italian Cream Cake

· 2 cups flour
· 1 teaspoon baking soda
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 1/2 cup shortening
· 1/2 cup butter
· 2 cups sugar
· 6 egg yolks
· 1 teaspoon vanilla
· 1 cup buttermilk
· 1-1/2 cup flaked coconut, lightly toasted
· 6 eggs whites

· Frosting:
· 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
· 1 pound powdered sugar
· 1/2 cup butter, softened
· 1teaspoon vanilla
· 1 cups chopped pecans, lightly toasted

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 3 8-inch round cake pans. With a wire whisk combine flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream shortening, butter and sugar. Stir in vanilla. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time. Flour mixture is added alternately with buttermilk. Stir in coconut. Beat egg whites until stiff. Gently fold whites into cake batter. Pour into prepared pans. Bake 25 minutes.

Cool cake layers in pans for 5 minutes. Remove to cool completely on racks. Blend together cream cheese, butter. Add powdered sugar a little at a time. Stir in vanilla. Place bottom layer on serving plate. Frost with 1/4 of the frosting. Sprinkle layer with 1/4-cup nuts. Top with next layer. Frost with 1/4 of the frosting. Sprinkle layer with another 1/4 cup of nuts. Place top layer on middle layer. Ice sides of cake with half of remaining icing. Frost top of cake with last of the frosting. Sprinkle remaining nuts all over the cake.

Who doesn't LOVE pizza?!

I found a Betty Crocker recipe online the other day for Cowboy BBQ Chicken Pizza. The pizza crust was made out of Bisquick and since I have this new thing for BBQ Chicken pizza - I thought I would try it out. In the end I chickened out on the Bisquick crust - instead I used the BreadMaker to mix up some pizza dough. I didn't really 'follow' a recipe - which is a first for this cook. So, I ill just list what I did and hopefully you can go from there.

BBQ Chicken Pizza
2 Chicken Breasts - cut into small 1/4 inch pieces
your choice of BBQ sauce
8oz bag of Colby-Jack cheese

I cut up my chicken breasts - added some salt and pepper - coated them in BBQ Sauce
Next I put the chicken in a pan and cooked it through
Depending on how much sauce you like on your pizza - spoon BBQ Sauce onto pizza dough
I then added a thick layer of the chicken and most of the cheese. Then I added more of the chicken and the rest of the cheese.
I made a large 14-18 inch pizza but you could make 2 smaller sized pizzas.
Once I had all of the ingredients on the dough I popped it in the oven for 25 minutes at 425 degrees.
It was delisious!!!

I also made a pepperoni and sausage pizza - which was a much bigger hit, but they were both REALLY good.