Labor day has been windy and warm here. I wanted a photo of two zinnias who are doing well in spite of a hot summer. Even holding them, the photo is still a bit on the shaky side.

I spent time in the studio....maybe I WILL paint those zinnias yet.... first though I wanted to organize my acrylic paints.

I am less "at home" with acrylics than watercolors, have struggled to find the brand I like best. Now, I think I am settling on GOLDEN acrylics. They have great quality paints and the lids don't break as easily as others. Here, the project was to put a dab of paint from the tube on top of the lid, so I can tell at a glance what color it will be.

In addition to zinnias, I have plans to paint a dish of strawberries....I have the inspiration and the photo ready. A small 5x5 canvas will be large enough.

************************************************************************************

What's for dinner???? Grilled chicken and a side dish of herbed spagetti squash from Emeril Lagasse.

It's so nice to have a Saturday at home! I'm spending some time in the art studio. I have finished the page for our "Art Saves" round robin journals. This one re-cycles the black paper from the Shiseido "Zen" perfume and adds Oriental newsprint, sheer sparkly overlays of gold chiffon, butterflies in different materials and images of geisha. "Geisha in the Mist", is now ready to send on to Ily for her art work!

******************************************************

All this collage is creeping into my acrylic paintings!

Work in progress (below)...this small 5x5 canvas is being painted from a photo of a train station door in Lamy, NM. The stucco walls are "crumbling" a bit to reveal the collage elements....can you find the mosaic face? [Click picture to look closer!]

This canvas has 1" deep sides and won't be framed. The sides are perfect for continuing the
"stucco" and collage. [The torn paper of the old Coca Cola case in now on the underneath space, where the photo had gravel outside and in front of the door.]
Hope you are having a good, creative weekend too!

Later---the finished 5x5 with view of the side too!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tonight's main dish has been assembled. I still have time for more art before I bake this!

It is lasagne using extra boulanaise sauce made from food network Emeril Lagasse's (sorry the direct link just didn't work for me!) recipe! It has lots of spices and ingredients, including bay leaves, cinnamon, and nutmeg.