I realize that as a professional artist I probably have the best job in the world, but even artists can suffer from being over-serious.

The business end of being an artist can, at times, weigh heavily. So after a few days of getting papers together for taxes and submitting work with the hope of finding new gallery representation I found my self with my shoulders up around my ears and feeling downright grumpy.

This is not a creative state. What's an artist to do when we find ourselves over stressed and out of sorts, but feel the need to create?

Here's my never fail prescription for getting past the art blahs:

1. Take a shower.

"What?" I hear you say, "I am not dirty". The fact is that taking a shower does more for you than cleanse your skin. Water is a great transformer, it can take you away, change your state of mind, and renew you. There's a reason they used to spray out-of-control crowds with fire hoses of water. Try it...it's wonderful and it works.

2. Get the beat with Music.

Music is probably the best mood transformer there is. I like to crank up the sound and listen to something that gets me moving. Nothing quite like dancing alone and with great abandon to take your mood up a notch. Today I listened to "Oh Happy Day" because it was running through my head while in the shower. Oddly, I have always had the words wrong in my head, thinking it was "when Jesus was"...turns out it's "when Jesus washed". Ha! Thank goodness for youtube.com.

3. Let loose with a brush.

That's if you paint of course. If you use another medium get loose with your favorite tool. Now when I say get loose, I mean forget the next great masterpiece. Forget your self-imposed deadlines, selling, marketing, emails and give up the need to make good art.

I generally have way to many ideas for paintings and they get filed away in my head in order of importance. Way down at the bottom of the list is something I'd like to do that will have no value to anyone but me. There is such joy in giving yourself permission to make art just for fun. It's OK...nobody is watching and it will be the best possible use of your time.

Once you've created your not-masterpiece, you'll remember that you LOVE doing this making art thing. Then you can tackle your "real" work with a sense of passion, love and fun! You may even discover some new technique you didn't know you had in you.

Wishing you a creative day,

Cheers,

Laura

Sometimes beauty can be found in the simplest things.

I have a new-found passion for making fresh cheeses and for this year's holiday season I decided to create goat's milk cheese to give as gifts. After toiling over the stove to make the magic that is cheese, the curd (the bit we eat) has to be separated from the whey (the watery bit). To do this I tied my cloth full of cheese to a wooden spoon and suspended it over a bowl to drip at its leisure. Infinitely pleased with myself for this momentous accomplishment and admiring my handiwork, I was struck by the beauty of the twisted cloth, the subtle shifts of color between the glass bowl, the fabric and the whey.

  Fortunately cheese needs to do its dripping over a long period of time and so a painting was born. I put my bowl on an old 2 drawer chest, liking the contrast of color and the texture of the wood with it's nicks and scars.

I added all the yummy herbs and garlic after this process and if you are a foodie like me, the recipe is below. So now only the foodies will find out that there is no actual toiling involved...but it sounded good right?

Cheers,

Laura

Fresh Goat's Cheese with Herbs and Garlic

1 gallon goat's milk

1/4 cup white vinegar

salt

Put one gallon of Goat's milk (found in most health food stores and even some regular grocery stores) in a large stainless steel pot. Bring the milk up to a boil very slowly so as not to scald it, stirring occasionally. This takes quite some time and accounts for the toiling aspect of making cheese. You are aiming to get the milk to a temperature of 185 degrees F., but if you don't have a thermometer, that's just at the boiling point. When your milk is just starting to boil, take it off the heat and add 1/4 cup of white vinegar. Stir well and put the cover on the pot...keep it off the heat.

Let it sit covered for 10-20 minutes. Once you see that the milk has separated and the whey looks clear you can begin draining. If your cheese is not separating properly, you can reheat the milk. Keep an eye on it though because you really don't want it boiling over!

Wet your cloth (I use a clean tea towel) and drape it over a colander. Pour the curds and whey into this and when the majority of water has drained, gather up the cloth and tie it to a wooden spoon. Hang it on a bowl and let it drip for at least 2 hours. If it still feel to wet, you can squeeze the cheese to express even more whey.

Turn your newly made cheese into a bowl, add salt to taste and mix well. You can add fresh or dried herbs and garlic makes a super yummy cheese for spreading on bread or crackers. I used basil, lemon basil, a touch of thyme and garlic. Cover and keep in the fridge...or better yet, enjoy right away.

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The big race to find a great gift for someone who has everything had begun...oh the stress! I'd like to suggest that art is not only timeless but an unexpected joy to receive. With that in mind, I have created a collection of IttyBitty paintings specially for gift giving.

There are 2 formats available:

A 2.5 inch wooden cube with five sides painted in oil and the bottom signed and dated. That's 5 tiny paintings that you can rotate to change your view whenever you want. The Cubes are $85 and the price includes shipping to anywhere in the continental USA or Canada.

A 3 x 4 inch wooden panel (1 inch deep) with the front painted in oils and the sides left natural wood. The backs are signed and dated. These little gems are only $55 each and include shipping to the continental USA or Canada.

Purchases can be made directly from my website via Paypal. Don't worry you don't need to have a Paypal account you can pay securely with a credit card.

I can include gift wrapping and a card with your personal messsage, plus I will ship directly to your recipient.

I hope you'll come and have a look at the collection...just click HERE

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season!

Cheers,

Laura

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Twisted Cheese and Fresh Bread…a new painting & a new recipe.

Last week I was making fresh mozzarella cheese and instead of making the usual ball of cheese, I pulled it into strings and made a twisted ball. Oh so pretty! Naturally I was inspired to make a painting of the cheese and so I coupled it with fresh bread, parchment paper and my all time favorite blue and white tablecloth.

I had such a good time making the cheese, I thought I would share the recipe and spread the joy!

Cheers,

Laura

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Making a twisted cheese

Twisted cheese is great fun to make. It’s basically Mozzarella cheese that is warmed and pulled into long strings that are then folded together and twisted into a beautiful form.

  I enjoy making cheese and the recipe for Mozzarella is very easy. I have included the cheese recipe, but you can begin with a store bought cheese if you wish.

Making the cheese:

Ingredients:

1 gallon whole milk: You probably don’t have access to farm fresh milk and most milk from the grocery store is too processed to work well, I suggest getting “Organic” whole milk. I have used it and it makes great cheese curd.

1 ½ teaspoon powdered citric acid dissolved in ¼ cup cool water: You can find citric acid at most pharmacies, or at a cheese making supply store.

1/4 teaspoon liquid rennet diluted in ¼ cup cool water, or you can use rennet tablets (follow the directions). Rennet can be found at some grocery stores or cheese making supply stores. There are many online…google it!

1-2 teaspoons salt.

Heat the milk slowly in a stainless steel pot while stirring. When it gets to 55 degrees Fahrenheit add the citric acid and mix gently but thoroughly.

Continue heating the milk and when it reaches 88 degrees and is the consistency of yogurt, add the rennet. Stir gently for 30 second and then leave the pot alone. Turn off the heat after it reaches 105 degrees and wait 10-15 minutes.

To make sure you have formed cheese curd, put your finger into the pot and see if the milk has solidified to the consistency of very thick yogurt. A little pool of clear whey should fill the hole you made. If the whey is not clear, wait a little longer. If your cheese is not setting up, try heating it just a bit further.

 Use a slotted spoon to remove the curds from the pot and place in a large bowl. Gather the whole thing up in your hands and begin squeezing out the whey.

Once you have a ball of cheese, put it in the microwave for 20 seconds or so. Put on some rubber gloves and pick up the cheese again. Begin stretching it out on a clean counter and folding it back on itself. It’s just like kneading bread. You will probably find that the cheese expresses more whey. Do this a few times and then return to the microwave. When you begin kneading it this time, add the salt as you go.

By the third heating and kneading the cheese should be a smooth shiny ball of fresh mozzarella!

Note: You can add all kinds of extra flavor, try garlic and fresh herbs. Simply knead them into the ball. Yum!

Making the twisted cheese:

In order to make the cheese into string, you’ll need to heat it again. Now…you know how mozzarella gets all stretchy when heated? This is what we are looking for. So heat the ball up again and when you take it out, flatten it a bit and poke a hole through the middle like a doughnut. Now hook a finger in each side and pull. Bring the ends together and do it again. You will keep doing this to get ever-smaller strings. If the cheese cools too much to keep stretching, just reheat carefully. At the end, just fold in half twice. This should give you a bunch of string about 7 inches or so long. Twist this into a gorgeous and artistic shape and you are done. Let the cheese cool completely, wrap and keep in the fridge until ready to use.

Are traditional landscapes passé?

Recently a fellow artist raised a question about the lasting (or not) appeal of the traditional landscape painting. His theory, in part, was that younger art collectors are attracted to larger, more colorful, and abstracted works. Therefore “quiet landscapes” have no appeal for them.

While I understand his concern, I believe that the traditional landscape can never be completely out of fashion. There may be trends in art that come and go, but the landscape well executed will always find an audience.  Even the most fashionable trendy art collectors will find themselves moved by a gorgeous vista viewed from an SUV on the highway. Even staunch urbanites do occasionally look up and catch their breath at the sight of a glorious cloud display in the sky.

Many of the now middle-aged population grew up in a time when play-time was outdoors and in the surrounding landscape. They (we) all hold those memories dear to our hearts.

As for the 20-something’s of today, they are the computer generation, the gamers and texters of the world. It came to my attention recently that computer games have upped the ante in graphics, and many games now sport incredibly real environments for the characters to move around in. Guess what? Some of these environments look exactly like traditional landscapes! These younglings will grow up with good feelings about those images.

I am grateful to live in a part of the world with incredible natural beauty to inspire me. I can find sweet lines in the shape of the land, intricate lacework in a vigorous tree, and there is always the ever-changing sky. My world is lush and water studded in the summer and blanketed with snow in the winter. I paint the beauty I see around me, and what moves me, moves everyone who lays eyes on it, regardless of trends, age, or personal convictions.

A landscape artist does well when they choose to paint the general area they live in. So west-coast landscapes tend to be colorful and impressionistic as opposed to the east coast where works are more subdued but no less beautiful. The American southwest with its dry atmosphere lends itself to far reaching vistas and almost graphic rock formations. Each area has it’s own beauty and appeal, and I believe that nobody is completely unaware of it. Even the man who walks with his head down is sure to notice the sky reflected in a puddle.

Recording the natural world in a traditional way, capturing a moment of serenity or breath taking beauty can never be outdated. We all walk this earth, and each of us wishes for those moments of connection to last.

Cheers,

Laura

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I love to cook. Creating a great meal can be as satisfying as making a painting, if not as long lasting. Still, despite knowing that the food on the table will disappear in short order, I take huge satisfaction in the process of combining ingredients and using my favorite tools to create something that family and friends enjoy, however momentarily.

I keep a small kitchen garden with lots of herbs and some vegetables growing for the short season here in Canada. So when autumn arrives and the threat of frost looms, there is a scramble to harvest the last of my little crops to save them from the killing cold.

This year I grabbed a large basket and headed out to save the last of the vigorously growing Swiss chard and Italian parsley. As I carried this bounty back into the house a feeling of gratitude came over me. Here in my hands was something of great beauty, varying greens and purples and gorgeously shaped leaves all waiting to be turned into health-giving and flavorful meals.

Before washing and chopping, sautéing and braising, I just had to chronicle this moment. Quintessence is about the soul of cooking, the cook, the garden and the plants all held gratefully in my own hands.

The resulting soup was a great success (or so I am told) and warmed us on a blustery fall day. Below is the recipe in case you need a dinner inspiration:

Swiss Chard and sausage soup.

1 large onion, chopped

A few carrots chopped

2 ribs of celery chopped

1 sweet red pepper chopped

Butter

Olive oil

1 package savory sausages of your choice, cut into bite sized pieces (if you want a bit of spice, use a good Italian hot sausage)

1 clove garlic minced

2 large potatoes cut into 1 inch chunks

4 cups of chicken stock

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 large bunch Swiss chard roughly chopped

Salt

Pepper

Nutmeg

Put a large pat of butter and enough olive oil to coat the bottom in a large pot. Add the onion, carrots, celery and red peppers and sauté over medium heat until lightly browned. Add your sausages and continue cooking until they are almost cooked through. Add the garlic and potatoes and toss briefly so as to avoid scorching the garlic.

Add the stock and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to a simmer and cover. Let the soup simmer for at least ½ hour or longer, making sure the potato is well cooked. Shortly before serving add the chard and seasonings to taste. I like a lot of freshly grated nutmeg. It’s warming and brings out the taste of the chard. Simmer for another 10 minutes or so and serve with fresh bread. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Laura

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Today I received the latest issue of Robert Genn’s Twice Weekly Letter, a wonderful resource for artists who want the advice of a wise, infinitely experienced artist. In this latest letter Robert posed questions about marketing art and the current rotten economy. I left my response on his website, but I am sharing my thoughts on the subject here as well.

You can read the original letter and subscribe here:

The Painter’s Keys

Is it better to feel good or get good? My contention would be that feeling good follows getting good. And getting good has a great deal to do with acknowledging your muse. Of course you’ll still have to do the hard work involved in making art. Long hours and the willingness to get up every day and do it again till you get it right and even occasionally destroying a failed piece (which can be very satisfying and cleansing), are the backbone to any art career.

But…if you are making art and trying to keep marketing in mind while doing it, you are denying yourself the feel good part of the equation. It’s impossible to follow the muse when you are constantly drowning her out with concerns about selling; how to sell, where to sell, at what price, whom to sell to, what to say, etc.

Developing a ”signature style” and branding (seriously?) are buzz words used in art marketing, but we are not selling a better loaf of bread and the packaging won’t help if the bread doesn’t taste good. Your signature style comes from doing the work and listening to what your heart has to say. Making art not an intellectual exercise, it’s an intuitive process and all the decisions you make while creating should be informed by the muse (who lives in your heart) who will work with what skills you have gathered so far. Keeping your inspiration in sight will develop your signature style. Let’s call it auto-branding. No need to think about it, because it’s you and what you have to say through your art.

The gallery system has been much maligned of late in favor of this huge movement towards self-marketing, online sales and finding innovative ways to get you art shown and sold. And while some of these ideas can net you new collectors, in my experience they will still search you out through the gallery system. Very few collectors are willing to take the risk involved in buying art they have not seen first hand. They do exist and I am oh-so-grateful for the people who buy directly from me, but they are the special few.

It seems pretty simple to me…galleries sell art. That’s where people who want to buy art shop. If they want bread they’ll go to the bakery. So finding your market, cultivating collectors and all that can still be achieved through this system. As in any retail system there is a mark up. 50% of the price is going to go into the gallery’s pocket, but they will have earned it. Why? Because art collectors go to their establishment to purchase art. They already have the trust of the buyers. All of their time and energy goes into selling art.

However, all those online marketing efforts can still pay off by sending people to your website where they can find out who is selling your art. There is another major bonus to having an online presence. Collectors can contact you directly before or after a purchase. And that brings me back to feeling good. The best feeling of all, better than money, is the satisfaction and downright honor of having someone tell you why they want to live with your art.

The feedback I get from art collectors makes me truly happy. It is the biggest thrill of all. After all, the money is going to disappear, getting doled out to pay for life’s mundane needs, but the stories will stay with me forever and serve to remind me that the muse knows what she’s doing.

Cheers,

Laura

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I recently sold a painting entitled "In the Arms of Morpheus" and the collector who purchased it asked me if I would write down my thoughts on the painting for him. I was happy to do so and I am sharing it here in an effort to illustrate that inspiration can come from other art forms both ancient and modern.

A Plumb Bob is a weight that is suspended from a string or plumb-line. It's a tool that has been used since ancient times and is still used today. Without this little tool, the pyramids of Egypt would not have stood the test of time, the high spires of the worlds great cathedrals might have been crooked.

The line created by a plumb bob gives us a perfectly vertical line and so builders all over the world can be sure that what they create is straight and vertical. Land surveyors also use this tool and it has long been used by artists to find the center of gravity when drawing a figure.

That's a pretty illustrious history for such a simple tool. So lets hear it for plumb bobs in the toolboxes and art kits of people all over the world.

Cheers,

Laura

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Cheers,
Laura