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July 29, 2016

Another Delicious Salad


A few days ago, I was making the raspberry vinaigrette dressing I shared in my post, Dressing Up a Simple Salad, when I got to thinking. Maybe I could use this basic recipe and change it a little to make other flavors. Suddenly, my head was filled with ideas for dressings to try. First I came up with this Apricot Vinaigrette, a sweet-tart dressing that tastes delicious! First, I tried it on a spinach and apple salad with goat cheese, and used a little of it when cooking some chicken tenderloins. The result was just what I had hoped it would be.


Today, I put together a scrumptious salad filled with fruits and veggies for lunch. I started with romaine lettuce and spinach, and added onions, cucumbers, and broccoli florets. To this, I added strawberries, blueberries, nectarines, and some longans that my next-door-neighbor gave me from his tree. I topped the salad off with candied walnuts and goat cheese, and some of my apricot vinaigrette. The result was a delicious, summery treat full of flavor and nutrition.

Apricot Vinaigrette

1/3 Cup apricot preserves
1/3 - 1/2 Cup white wine vinegar
1/4 Cup vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon salt

Blend ingredients in blender until smooth, and pour into bottle. 
Keep refrigerated.

Enjoy!


July 27, 2016

Perfection?


What is perfection, anyway? The dictionary defines it as the quality of being free from all flaws or defects. The trouble with perfection is that it is unattainable. While it may be possible to get a perfect score on a spelling test, the work of our hands invariably falls short of our expectations. And in trying to reach that impossible goal of perfection, we sometimes become paralyzed, unable to do anything at all.

I will readily admit that I suffer from that malady called perfectionism. I must always be the one to paint the trim in a room, for example, because it must be just so. I want my lines to be crisp and clean, and anything less bothers me terribly. I must be the one to install the bathroom tile, because each tile must be aligned properly and evenly spaced. And yet, it still isn't perfect.

One of my favorite painters is Salvador Dali. The Spanish artist known for his melting clocks and signature mustache was a creative genius with an eccentric personality. His paintings are absolutely stunning, with colors that sparkle and subjects that require serious thought. He painted so much more than melting clocks! Perhaps one of the reasons his body of work is so immense is that he wasn't crippled by perfectionism.

My attempts at keeping a sketchbook in the past have always been sidelined by that feeling of dismay when a drawing didn't turn out to my liking. But this time, I am trying to overcome that hang-up. If it's not perfect, so what? I will resist the temptation to tear out the offending sheet of paper, and keep it for the record. And so, as a reminder to myself to give up the ridiculous expectation that everything I do must be perfect, I have written Dali's quote in my art journal:

Have no fear of perfection -- you'll never reach it.

Hopefully, his words will encourage me to press on, even when I am discouraged by my failures. I may not be as prolific in my painting as Salvador Dali, but I will try to create more art than I have in the past -- even if it's not perfect.


July 22, 2016

A Busy Week


It has been another busy week with little time for blogging. Having my husband home for the summer is always nice, and we've been spending a great deal of time working around the house and enjoying each other's company. In just a few more weeks, school will begin again, so we have been trying to get the tiling done in our bathroom. This is a project we started a year ago. But with my husband's busy schedule, we just couldn't seem to get anywhere with it. So we decided enough is enough and set our minds to getting the job done. We make a good team: I do the measuring and installation, and he does the mixing of the mortar and the tile cutting. I am happy to report that we are making progress. We are hoping to have the shower finished and usable by the time school starts.

My latest project has been creating an art journal. I've been trying to squeeze in a little time each evening to work on it. So far, I am just warming up. I have lots of ideas for pictures and quotes and things to do with my journal, and once we get the tiling finished, I will get more creative. My first page of daily entries is shown above, and here is my collage for the month of July:


I used pictures from magazines that remind me of July. It's not fancy, but it's a start. There will be little watercolor paintings and sketches and some of my favorite Bible verses. I will include quotes and ideas and memories. Hopefully, my doodles will get better and better, and my creativity will increase. And then will come more ideas and more art! Would you like to join me? Grab a sketchbook or a planner (no need to wait until January -- academic calendars start in July), some colored pencils or pens, and express yourself! It's your book; you can do what you want. Happy journaling!







July 11, 2016

Starting an Art Journal


Last week, while looking for some Kindle books to read, I stumbled on a book by Gina Rossi Armfield called No Excuses Art Journaling: Making Time for Creativity (click here for more information). Since one of my goals for the summer is to do something creative each day (see my list in the post Hello Summer!), I thought this might be just the thing to get me started. Gina recommends using a daily planner as an art journal to record one's life in words and pictures. Her book is filled with ideas to get the reader started on creating a beautiful book filled with personal thoughts and meaningful illustrations. Each month begins with a collage, each week there is a miniature watercolor, and each day includes an illustration of the weather, color/word of the day, and a design. It's just enough to get the creative juices flowing, and the end result is a book filled with memories -- and art!

I have looked at books on this subject in the past and even tried to start a sketch book of daily drawings, but, like so many things, it got put on a shelf and forgotten. Enter No Excuses Art Journaling. Gina has so many ideas here that, surely, I can do a little something each day. And I am hoping this will prime the pump for even more drawing and painting. So I have decided to go for it.

Instead of using a planner, at least for now, I am going to use that old sketch book that was being neglected. It wasn't very pretty on the outside, so I covered the front and back with some origami paper I had in a craft drawer. Now it looks inviting -- like something beautiful -- instead of just a spiral notebook with Bienfang printed on the cover. I gathered some supplies and set to work preparing my journal. Envelopes are attached to the book with washi tape for holding little reference photos or memorabilia that will be used for the monthly collage. I added a sheet of watercolor paper for each month and traced around a gift card to make little boxes for the miniature paintings, called "card peeks". And I drew grids on some pages for the daily drawings. I have plenty of extra pages in my book so I can do larger drawings or calligraphy if I so desire.

No Excuses Art Journaling is a method that can be used by anyone -- no need to be a professional artist, or even a skilled amateur. My book doesn't have to look like it belongs in a museum. And I can do anything I want with it -- it's my own personal art journal. I can't wait to get started! Maybe I'll even share some of my pages when I get them done. Have you ever considered starting something similar? Why not give it a try?

July 4, 2016

Happy Birthday, America!


I grew up in small town Pennsylvania. It was a place where everyone knew their neighbors, and kids ran in and out of each other's houses on a daily basis. Baseball games were played across two backyards, and nobody thought anything of it. We could swim in the neighbor's pool, as long as we had a grown-up to watch us. And on warm summer nights, we would sleep out on porches or in the backyard under the trees. We'd ride our bikes down the hill to the park in the morning, and walk back up the hill at lunch time. Afternoons might find us hanging out, listening to records, or maybe walking to the library to check out some books. In the evening, we might walk down the hill to the movie theater to see a show, or play games at somebody's house. There wasn't much excitement in our town. But then came the Fourth of July!

Independence Day was a big event in our town. It began with the firemen's jubilee -- a week long carnival with rides, food stands, and game tents. Grown-ups would play bingo in the big tent, while we kids would walk round and round the carnival, visiting with friends, eating candy apples and drinking ice cold lemonade. Boyfriends and girlfriends would walk hand-in-hand, often with the lucky young lady carrying a stuffed animal, bravely won by her friend's ring-tossing skills. The ferris wheel took riders soaring into the sky and the merry-go-round horses went up and down as music played and added to the festive atmosphere.

The Fourth of July parade was always a spectacle. People would line both sides of the street, some with lawn chairs, most just standing, as vendors walked along selling cotton candy and balloons. Shiny red fire engines would slowly roll along, the firemen proudly riding on the back, and sometimes they would even ring their bell or blow their siren, to the delight of children on the sidewalk. Firemen's bands, fife and drum groups, and drum and bugle corps from neighboring cities and towns provided the music. Color guards from far and wide marched proudly down the street, and majorettes skillfully twirled their batons.

The holiday was filled with picnics and games, water balloons and badminton. There was always a baseball game to listen to on the radio. And watermelon, juicy and sweet and filled with seeds that we'd spit as far as we could. As the sun went down in the west, we would hear a few BOOMS, reminding us that soon there would be fireworks. Our firemen had the best display in the area. The colorful flowers exploded in the sky, sparkling reds and golds and blues and greens, accompanied by the "oohs and aahs" of spectators and followed by a flash and a loud BOOM! And then came the Grand Finale -- that moment when the whole sky lit up with beautiful colors as rocket after rocket went up into the heavens with such thunderous noise, the ground shook beneath our feet. And then it was over. Another year of celebrating the birth of our nation -- the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

Happy Birthday, America!