Monday Night at the Movies - A to Z

This week, Broken Lance starring Spencer Tracy as a tough as nails cattle baron, Richard Widmark as the eldest son champing at the bit to take over his father's operation, and a young Robert Wagner, the favorite youngest son and half-brother caught in the middle of a family feud.

Broaden my horizens. What's your favorite movie that starts with the letter B?

The Friday Five

Some people eat to live. I live to eat though there are certain things I don't like and other foods I won't even try. Five foods or flavors I don't like

1. Can't stand peppermint. Himself can't stand it either. Hate the fact that it's the flavor du jour of most of the toothpastes. On the other hand, neither one of us will turn down Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies. Go figure.  Must be the chocolate improves the mint.

2. Cheese. Cheese is nasty especially if it's not cooked. Not too thrilled with melted cheese either though I will eat mozzarella on pizza, ricotta cheese in ravioli, and a grilled cheese sandwich made with one slice and one slice only of American cheese. Hate going to a restaurant and ordering a salad and then they ruin it by putting nasty cheese on it.

3. Oysters. This falls under the category of I can't even bring myself to try them. Can't get past the thought of their slurpy slimey selves. Erica, did I make you gag? Lol

4.  Liver or any organ meat. My mother made liver for dinner one night. I was about four or five years old. It smelled horrible. I wouldn't eat it. She cut a small piece and said I had to eat it. I refused. She said I couldn't leave the table unless I ate it. Obviously, I left the table as I'm still not sitting there. I have no recollection of who won the battle. I suspect I did as she never cooked liver again, or any other organ meat, while I was at home.

5. Cooked cabbage. I was staying with my aunt and she made New England Boiled Dinner one night. Even at ten years old, I thought this was strange fare for an Italian household. I was all set for my grandma's homemade macaroni. Instead she boiled ham, carrots, potatoes, and cabbage. The house smelled like cabbage. The ham tasted like cabbage. The carrots tasted like cabbage. The potatoes tasted like cabbage. Blech. Cole Slaw isn't too bad though I'm not partial to mayonnaise.

What foods or flavors do you dislike?

Experimenting with Glazes - 3

Continuing working on the pages. There is no rush to get the work done. Just working here and there when I have bits of time. I love the freedom of experimenting. No right, no wrong. Mixing the glaze with goauche (gwash) yielded a nice surprise, the glaze makes the paint waterproof. Good to know for addressing envelopes. I'll have to test the glaze-gouache  to see if it can be mixed thin enough to flow through a broad edged pen.

Have you made any interesting discoveries this week?

Experimenting with Glazes - 2

I love the opacity of working with the glaze medium. I wasn't sure glaze and acrylic paint would go through the pen, but it worked just fine. Can't beat the Nikko G nib, a real work horse. Painting the leaves is turning into an exercise in meditation. I'm looking forward to filling in more leaves today. Art is cheaper than traditional therapy.

Do you find elements of your work that allow you to meditate?

Experimenting with Glazes - 1

Inspired by a journal page Angelia created using glazes, I decided to give it a try. Supposedly using glazes brings depth to a piece. I found a bottle of glaze medium purchased for some workshop, but never used. Perfect. Wouldn't have to run out and buy more materials to sit in the drawer.

With Angelia's leaf and bird motif in my head, I flipped through my quote book and found two quotes I thought would make good companions for a spread.

"Use the talents you possess for the world would be silent if no birds sang except the best."
"Every heart sings a song incomplete until another heart whispers back" - Plato

Here's the spread laid out in pencil with a bit of blue mixed with the glaze.

What are you working on? Are you experimenting with something new for you?

Monday Night at the Movies - A to Z

I love movies. Mostly, I love old movies like me, but I love movies. I love the adventure, romance, thrill, and the escape when reality bites. As a bonus for the next 26 weeks, I have a blog topic for Mondays! I'll try not to pick too many Horse Operas.

This week's pick: Arsenic and Old Lace. If you're about to go around the bend, you couldn't ask for a better companion than Cary Grant. Put me on the bus to Happy Dale. I'm all packed and ready to go!

Help broaden my horizons. What's your favorite movie that starts with A?

The Friday Five

Mother Nature graced us with a blanket of snow. Five things I love about the stuff:

1. It looks so pretty all clean and sparkling white.

2. What a rush to drive down the hill with the back end of the car fishtailing from side to side.

3. No need to shovel as the snow will melt quickly (hopefully not into the basement)

4. There's nothing like a gentle reminder that Winter lasts from November to April. Only 29 days left. Punxatawney Phil was wrong in his early Spring prediction. The rodent is near-sighted and needs glasses.

5.  I've heard a Spring snow is called Farmer's Gold as the snow is considered cheap fertilizer.

The farmers can keep their gold. Have a Happy April Fool's Day.