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Sunday, July 27, 2014

Love those cherries!

 
They are here again....and calling out to be made into something special! And EASY!
(Sketchbook from another summer!)
 

CHERRY CLAFOUTIS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt butter (3 T.) in the bottom of a 9.5 " pie dish.

Place 2 cups of pitted dark cherries in the bottom of the dish, sprinkle with 1/2 c. Slivered almonds.

set aside.

In a blender combine 1 c. milk ( almond or coconut milks work well), 3 eggs, 1 t. Vanilla, 1/2 c. flour (gluten free if desired), dash of salt, 1/2 c. sugar.

Pour over cherries and almonds in the dish.

Bake for about 1 hour...checking after 45 minutes.....or so.

This is a lovely baked custard dish....

It is dense and smooth, not light and airy.

Delicious warm or chilled, even with whipped cream, too!

P.S. I got my cherry pitter at Bed Bath and Beyond. It is very helpful! I love it for canning jars of brandied cherries too!

 

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The latest apron, from a Kwik Sew pattern. I love how the straps cross in the back, no annoying ties around the neck!

 

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Gardens and more gardens but first a painting.

A technique to see if your painting "works".....analyze it upside down....what is the dominate color? Where is the focal point? Is it balanced?.....etc. this one is acrylic paint with torn paper for real and visual texture.

This is from a photo of my grandson watching TV in his Spider-Man pj's while eating a peanut butter sandwich. :-) I think it is ready to sign and varnish. I added some lime green reflections in his skin caused by those bright red pj's. ...balanced by lime green in the table cloth and fruit bowl. Painting is fun if you love COLOR!

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I sewed a little tote bag yesterday morning, trying out colors which remind me of FRENCH GENERAL.

It will be for sale I at our quilt guild's booth next April, fund raising for the guild!

Now to the gardens....

Sunday I visited my good friend Sally and her husband. both love to garden!

On their estate, this charming little bridge surrounded by day lilies hides in the shadows , but not for long...they are going to paint it bright red!

Nearby - a pear tree is loaded this summer!

A brandy wine tomato is starting to ripen!

They have a chicken house, which is still in the box..LOL! But these fowl are already on the loose!

Easy-care metal chickens....but the eggs are sorely lacking!

cucumber and bean vines in raised beds ....below flowers!

Nearby were 2 plants full of bees! Yeah!

The first the maiden tree....attracts bumble-type big fuzzy bees...

B-z-z-z-z.......

That fuzzy yellow and black thing in the center...that's a bee! While below, the Russian sage plant has lots of honey bees! Can you find this one?

Just to help you, here is an image from the Internet, a bee close-up.

Back at home, in my garden this morning....

I planted this whole package of sunflower seeds in March. Squirrels promptly dug them and ate all but this one--- below --- finally blooming today, mid-July! Love it!

Next year I will start the seeds inside and will have many more survivors!

In another container nearby, these pink mallow flowers are lovely, AND a BEE is visiting (look at the flower on the upper left).

He soon emerged, loaded with pollen! Another bee found this lovely rosy red godetia* blossom, (my iPad camera is too far away to see him well, but he is on the left side in a classic bee pose!)

Across the yard, my lettuce and tomatoes....and my shadow!

The lettuce is about spent.....and the indigo rose tomatoes are starting to ripen!

I will pull up the lettuce and try some of these seeds....winter squash and pumpkins should be planted now for autumn harvest.

Out the door now, to plant!

*also called "farewell to spring"!

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Good things!

My friend Barbara took this photo of part of a nest (hive) of honey bees which had built a home on her home!

Entomologists from our local university came and moved the hive to a better location.

Honey bees are precious and valuable! I am planning a painting featuring a honey bee....seems I am doing an insect series....Monarch butterfly, honey bee and also plans for a painting of a swallowtail butterfly on lilacs....

I took this photo (above) in our flower bed. Here is the painting so far...

I worked on it just a bit while taking painting with Nadine at her studio, our local Art Location. It will soon have leaves for the zinnia and of course, a large honey bee! The gold paper which I first used in the mixed media textured work below, was just PERFECT for the honeycomb.

This is the other painting I worked on today! Nadine was a wonderful teacher/guide as we decided upon the application of the many layers of this mixed media piece....now I love it!

Don't know how I can wait for next week's class! So much more fun than painting alone in the studio...

 

Friday, July 04, 2014

Flowers and art....and chairs...

Earlier this spring, I bought this mix for a flower garden.....so much variety!

Sure enough, I have flowers which I have never had before, though not as many as in the photo on the package.

My favorite was ready for a close up....

I don't even know what this is! But love the red and pink! I see a tiny grasshopper or leaf hopper is playing there, .....but I am thinking of doing a painting of this blossom and featuring a honey bee....now endangered.

Today, I painted milkweed and Monarch butterflies. The more milkweed we plant, the better it is for the Monarchs!

By reading Barbara Kingsolver's novel "Flight Behavior", I learned a lot about the orange Monarch.

They were called "King Billies" by early North American settlers, because of their orange color, they were reminders of the English king, William of Orange. The monarch of Britain, hence "Monarch" butterflies!

So today, I worked on a canvas with my brushes, palette knife and acrylic paints....

Almost finished...(above)....

Ta-da!

It was really fun, I painted or finished some others too!

 

 

You can see that I LOVE chairs! There may be more chair paintings ahead too!

 

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Now a quiet evening (Inspite of neighborhood fireworks!) of quilting on this flag quilt......Happy Fourth of July to all!

 

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