It's All About Soup ~ Look There's a Chicken ~ Art Journal Pages

7" x 10" Watercolor sketch of some diet soup ingredients for the Artist Food Network Blog. There you will find the recipe if you want a low calorie soup recipe. This is not a new recipe but one that goes under many names such as the cabbage soup diet and I don't play by the rules either. I'm a diet cheater as if I get a chance to go to I Hop for pancakes or Hoffbrau for a steak, I'm outta here. I'm not recommending it but just saying this is what I'm doing and I've lost a few this week but it's more a "supplemental soup" than being very strict on the program. There has to be a goodbye to December's chocolate and pizza festival and I don't want to be this fluffy in 6 months.

Journal Page 56

Cleaned out another spot. Family Christmas Party and there is always food. Something new in my journal as I wanted each person there to "sign my book". What fun to look back and see that Gracie was making a backward 5 and she chose to write Gracie instead of Grace. I decided to draw my gifts instead of name them.

Journal Page 57

More gifts, more drawing and another reason I'm enjoying keeping an art journal for drawing practice and taking a closer look at objects and there is a great benefit in jogging a foggy memory. Don't you like the ornament with the woman clasping a book to her chest? It's very suitable for an ex-librarian and a lover of art books and yes, the rear view mirror chimes are hanging in my car accenting the left over Colorado french fries from our speedy trip the 14th.

Journal Page 58

I took the advice written on a gift from the previous page, a bracelet that said " Seize the day and make the most of your life." I seized it to journal and blog and stay in my bathrobe. I made a pocket from an envelope to secure the Christmas letter and attached the card on front.

Journal Page 59

Party time is over and time to reflect on the possibility of losing weight and limiting it to one English pea a day, doing some Google searches and looking at diet books, taking off to Walmart to buy some healthy groceries and finding a book I wanted to read, "23 Minutes in Hell", so I went to Luby's bought soup and came home and read the book and made soup on Sunday. The book is written by Bill Wiese and is a sobering book and more gripping than making soup.

Finally on Monday I got to go paint with 5 Canvas by Canvas members and it was mostly talking over each other and interrupted conversations when we began to say "Look there's a chicken" after I repeated the Bob Burridge joke from the Corpus Workshop. Bob was delivering a lecture on color in the 2nd story art center, surrounded by glass windows overlooking the bay when he blurted out, "Look at that orange barge on the blue horizon" then laughed and said, "I don't have ADD" and "They said I have ADD - they just don't understand OHHH, there's a chicken" and boy, oh, boy can I relate to this statement after not seeing girlfriends for several weeks and we're all a little ADD when we reconnect.

We decided that we needed to go check out Brad Pitt in the Benjamin Button movie but first an I Hop fix. One of my CBC friends described the movie as from "Depends to Pampers". After two days of fun, then computer problems, a grandson fix and I paid him in food and gas money. Vista and I do not have a good relationship.

Journal Page 60

There is "Change" in store for 2009 and we will continue to reach forward to what lies ahead. No resolutions but thoughts about trying to get my house under control, taking care of buisiness, painting more and walking (just remember to carry my id!!), and listen to my dowloaded Thru the Bible series while I walk.. Just for Today.

May you have a blessed New Year.

Joe Fettingis Watercolor Workshop ~ VerveEarth

This is a work in progress (WIP) I started today in the Joe Fettingis Watercolor Workshop given by SWA. The eyes look a little squirrelly because I just removed the masking fluid showing the white of the paper and no one's eyes are ever that white. This painting will get more attention on Wednesday.
I have posted a slide show of some of the images of Joe's painting in progress and some of his framed pieces he brought from Indiana in his car. I wanted to share his lovely work and he will have to forgive me for the horrible glare on most of the pieces and then I tilted the camera to remove some of the glare. It is a real treasure to find so many original works of art on view by the workshop instructor.
"NOW WATCH THIS. HERE WE GO".
This is Joe's clarion call to us to assemble, get quiet, and begin to work. If you've ever taken one of his workshops I'm sure you know the drill. He is a real task master and told us if we needed to visit do it at lunch because he was there to teach and we were there to learn. And learn we did. Most of the workshops I've taken the instructor usually demonstrates in the morning and the students paint in the afternoon. Joe breaks down the painting process in several small demos during the day and we return to our "studio" to paint what he has just taught and I've found it to be a very effective way of learning. He gives us small things to learn and breaks the learning down into small bits and while we are applying the technique he is walking the room answering questions and giving more instruction. He provided our reference photo material, a dramatic lady with a large black hat and we all worked on it together. By 4:00 today as I walked the room and looked at each person's work, I was very impressed with the results. We should get this project finished Wednesday morning and begin a horse in the afternoon and I've never painted a horse so this will be fun.
Today we concentrated on techniques of paint application, values, moisture, color and composition. Joe's materials are discussed on his web site where he maintains The Smallest Brush/Colors Art Store in the Universe.
The Maimeri colors he uses are listed on the order form.
VerveEarth.com or Verve Earth
I've listed my blog on this very cool new site as bloggers are telling the world's stories as they happen and Verve Earth is meant to be a canvas for their voices. Travel the map/world and see a site that interests you. After you are registered you can add the destination to your favorites. On the left side is a zoom level and more content can be found by zooming in or you can do a search by typing in a city. I've had some trouble with their search button so just press enter on your keyboard. Type in Arlington, Texas and you should find Nancy Standlee Art Blog and the Artist Food Network that belongs to Canvas by Canvas (the collaborative group where I belong).
Enjoy the slide show below. Mouse over for captions.

Steve Rogers Workshop ~ Wednesday, Day 2 ~ Fort Worth, Texas ~ Myrna Wacknov

SEE SLIDE SHOW IN SEPARATE POST BELOW.
It definitely feels strange to be out on the Interstate by 8:15 a.m. fighting the traffic and today was not typical Texas weather at all. It was more like Seattle – cool, misty and a little foggy but any day is a good day when you’re on your way to a workshop. This is Day 2 of the Steve Rogers Workshop. Today Steve gave us his spin on color and complements and the demo was on painting reflections in water. He suggested we might want to lightly draw in our reflections and practice on a piece of scrap paper before actually painting on our work. If you'd like to see a list of materials and colors we are using, click HERE.
He told us about “The One-Hour Watercolorist” by Patrick Seslar. Patrick states “Plan your work, work your plan, and KISS (keep it simple)". (Click on my Amazon link to read more about the book.) Steve’s wife, Janet is included in the book and a painting of Steve’s similar to his Monday night demo is on page 90, St. Martin Beach and I had forgotten I had the book, but I did find stickies marking the page to return sometime. Janet has a portrait demo, Cassandra. Yes, I will take my book to get it autographed Thursday.
My painting: ½ sheet 300 lb. watercolor paper, 15x22, shows my wild sky and water. Now after looking at it on the computer I need to bring the horizon line down on the left and make it darker. I don’t think Steve has any competition from this artist.
I went to Joe T. Garcia’s after the workshop – my very favorite place to eat in the entire world with cheese enchiladas with all the trimmings and eaten on the beautiful patio garden. While sitting there I had great views to the left and right and the slides are included and looked over the day's painting notes.
Now to find another boat to paint for Thursday.
I’ve had a few minutes since I returned from Lubbock to check out a wonderful blog, Creativity Journey from Myrna Wacknov. I discovered her work in the October 2007 issue of the Watercolor Magic magazine. The article, Face Forward, shows how she uses color and expression for her poignant portraits. A bonus is the step-by-step guide that shows how to use Photoshop Elements with the portraits. Click HERE for the guide. She issues a drawing challenge each Friday and I've already ordered the drawing book she recommends and it's on the way. She issues a painting challenge at the beginning of each month. We have become “web/email” friends (someone should come up with a name of the online friends you have but have never met face to face) - what about I-Buds - and she posted an apple pie recipe in the Canvas by Canvas groups’ Artist Food Network. Great news for her and her fans is she was selected to be featured in the March 2008 issue on “Fabulous Artists over 60”. There were over 500 entries. Congrats, Myrna, way to go and I will be watching for the magazine.

Other blogs where I post:

· http://artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com/
· http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com/
· http://myspace.com/nancystandlee
· TO VIEW MORE PAINTINGS OR PURCHASE: Go to Paypal on http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com/
· Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

SOLD ~ Port Bolivar Redhead ~ BlogRush ~ Galveston Vacation ~ Nancy Standlee Art Blog

SOLD to an art collector in Fort Worth, TX.
6" x 6" Acrylic on Canvas Panel
This was painted during Canvas by Canvas painting holiday at Port Bolivar, near Galveston. Betty, a CBC member, has posted some slides on the Canvas by Canvas Blog.
Good news on sales (my Pigasus sold) yesterday by another member, Connie.
BlogRush
I've discovered BlogRush this morning. I love my blog because I didn't have the time to set up a website and our collaborative group already had one. I didn't have to learn HTML and Blogger is very easy to setup and post. The hard part is getting people to visit your blog and promoting your site. This new tool, BlogRush, should definitely add to your marketing arsenal. It has the ability to grow your traffic exponentially, and the potential to bring a flood of traffic to your blog. The very best part is it's free. I've place the BlogRush icon on my Art Blog, the Artist Food Network, and Canvas by Canvas Blog so if you're interested in finding out more about and possibly joining click on the symbol and you will find instructions and a video.

· http://artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com

· http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com

· http://myspace.com/nancystandlee

· TO VIEW MORE PAINTINGS OR PURCHASE: Go to Paypal on http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com

· Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

Red Watermelon ~ Poppy Seed Dressing ~ P & M Festival ~ De Leon, TX. ~ Art Blog Collage Painting ~ Nancy Standlee

$55.00
9 x 12 Acrylic collage on gallery wrapped canvas,
1 3/8" depth profile
(Originally posted on the Artist Food Network)

Watermelon is one of the world’s most perfect foods. I served it to daughter’s family about a week ago and had it sliced when they arrived. Upon seeing the table my daughter quipped “Oh, I see you’re using your redneck placemats today” referring to the newspapers I had spread out to catch the drips. I started really looking at the arrangement with the red watermelon and black and white of the paper and I grabbed my camera and started shooting. I liked the look and decided to use a piece of newspaper for a collage. I've painted over it so not too much of the paper if visible but it is below the watermelons. I used the Fort Worth Star Telegram but as an afterthought, I should have used the De Leon Free Press. This is the result. Watermelon can stand alone. It doesn’t t need any special presentation. Some foods need ornaments and garnishes and sauces but with watermelon you just need some watermelon and a place to sit.

That’s what will be going on at the De Leon Peach and Melon Festival this weekend of August 10, 2007.

The Annual De Leon Peach and Melon Festival is one of America's premier family celebrations, with truly something for everyone who comes to this small town in the heart of Texas' melon country.

Over the past 92 years, the celebration has become a tradition for local residents, as well as for the 20,000 annual visitors the Festival brings to this community of just over 2,400 persons located 90 miles from Fort Worth, Waco, & Abilene equally.

The four evenings of the first week of August showcase entertainers, unique family events, a Street Parade, an old-fashioned carnival, and lots of good-tasting watermelon, Arts and Crafts Exhibits & local food vendors. Auxiliary events connected with the Festival include an earth-shaking tractor pull, one of Texas' best bike rides, a sanctioned "42" Tournament and a downtown celebration.

I enjoy meeting at the elementary cafeteria on Sat. morning at 10:00 for an all school reunion and discover who is the oldest ex-student there or one who has traveled the farthest. We sing Oskee-wow-wow De Leon (that will have to take a separate post!!!) and recognize the 50 year class and they get to sit on the stage. In the afternoon there is a seed spitting contest and then.. ...hold on, you go downtown sit in a folding chair if you have one, on the curb if you don’t and watch as the big trucks and trailers bring in ice cold watermelon that are yours for the stroll over to the middle of the street where you are handed one from one of De Leon's many gracious P & M volunteers.

Return to your spot and good for you if you brought some silverware and your salt shaker but dig in and keep eating until all of the melons are unloaded. Later you’ll have to scatter because the firetrucks will slowly pass by and spraying away those stray chunks and seeds and juice.

If you enjoy this kind of small town hospitality and are considering a move or a holiday, check with the Chamber of Commerce. I graduated high school in 1954 and I don’t know very many but our class of about 33 try to get together sometime during the yearly festival. One precious thing about my classmates is their lovely spirits haven't changed but our bodies are betraying us but I still see them as they were and I even remember their handwriting. It was a typical small town experience back in the 50's where everyone knew you were Boss and Marie's daughter and they could and would be reached if necessary. It is one trip I look forward to in August. You plan your trips carefully in Texas in August. When my father was living, he would go early on parade day and park his pickup under a shade tree and later we'd join him and sit in lawn chairs in the pickup bed for the best view and time in the city. I'd insist he "make the drag" before traveling up the street a few blocks to home just to make sure I got to wave and yell at anyone I might recognize. The DeLeon's motto:

"Busiest Town - Friendliest People"

Now for the recipe. I know I said watermelon can stand on it's own but if you want to dress it up a poppy seed dressing could be added to a mix of summer fruits of watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, grapes, or pineapple chunks. To see my poppy painting click HERE.

POPPY SEED DRESSING

• 1/3 TO 3/4 cup of sugar
• 1 t. ground mustard or prepared mustard
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/3 cup cider vinegar
• 1 T. onion grated
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 t. to 1 T. of poppy seeds, or to taste
• Whisk together all ingredients except the poppy seeds or put in a blender/food processor
• If using a processor, blend ingredients and add oil slowly and add seeds after blending
• Keep refrigerated. It's also great with a spinach and toasted pecan salad.
  

Other blogs where I post:

http://artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com

http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com

http://myspace.com/nancystandlee

TO VIEW MORE PAINTINGS OR PURCHASE: Go to Paypal on http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com

Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

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Mango ~ Mango Salsa ~ Calorie-Count ~ Calorie Talk

$100 will be in the FWCAC during December.
9" x 11" can be cropped to an 8 x 10 to fit a standard frame
unmatted and unframed
Watercolor on 140 CP watercolor paper

(This was posted today on Artist Food Network)

I met my first mango in Barbados in the 80's and I've been in love ever since. Today's recipe will feature the mango in the BEST salsa ever. It is delish on a piece of grilled salmon or if you can take the calories, some tortilla chips.. I have a great recipe for salmon to post later and both foods are lower in calories. A cup of mango has about 100 calories plus 3 gms. of fiber, but you will not be able to prepare only one without some bites so buy 2 or 3 and I will usually add an extra one to the salsa recipe. Eat one..Add two.

Mango, Tomato and Avocado Salsa

1 or 2 mangoes, peeled and diced

1 avocado, peeled and diced

4 medium tomatoes, diced

1 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (canned is ok)

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice

3 Tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and refrigerate for about 30 minutes before serving or just go ahead and have a bowl of it now.

Why all this calorie talk today? The CBC girls were dining at a local barbecue hangout when we observed so many overweight people and then looked at ourselves and decided this was the summer to take action. Some of us are taking more action than others but since the committed ones threw $50 in a pool, weight control has become a little more interesting. We will know the outcome of our weight wars in September and I think I'm in a losing battle so I joined Calorie-Count this morning and set up my profile. There seems to be good support here and the means to enter a favorite recipe to give the nutritional count. I have added their tool bar and it is so convenient to add foods eaten and then the "Eat Meter" will register the day's food intake.

Other blogs where I post:
http://artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com
http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com
http://marketplace-daily-art.blogspot.com

TO PURCHASE PAINTINGS: Go to Paypal at:
Nancy Standlee Art Blog

Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

Tomato Soup ~ La Madeleine's Tomato Basil Soup ~ Daily Recipes ~ Daily Painting

$60.00
6 x 8 Acrylic collage on canvas board
(This was originally posted on the Artist Food Network and is repeated here.)
Bonjour! Our CBC group met at Karen's for a painting weekend. I provided this soup that was a big hit and Cindy Campbell made some delicious cheese sandwiches to accompany the soup. This was in 2006 and the weather was cool and we photographed our food. Now Karen has recently moved back to town. We will all miss our visits to the country. She had a large home in the country with a special room with what I called the "Snow White Room" because it had all these beds lined up dormitory style for us to sleep in and didn't mind when we all set up to paint in her living room.
But if we need a quick Tomato Basil Soup we head to La Mad's in Arlington where we can enjoy great conversation and fresh, delicious food. This restaurant opened in Dallas in 1982 and is another Texas tradition and serves classic French country fare. Now there are more than 60 locations across the U.S.
La Madeleine's Tomato Basil Soup
Serves 8
4 cups (8-10) tomatoes, peeled, cored and chopped, or 4 cups canned whole tomatoes, crushed
4 cups tomato juice or part tomato juice and part vegetable or chicken stock
12 to 14 washed fresh basil leaves
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 lb. sweet unsalted butter
salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
Combine tomatoes, tomato juice or tomato juice mixture in saucepan. Simmer 30 minutes. Puree, along with the basil leaves, in small batches, in blender or food processor.
Return to saucepan and add cream, butter and pepper and salt and while stirring, over low heat. Garnish with basil leaves and serve with your favorite bread.
Nutritional analysis per serving from the 1995 Star-Telegram: 248 calories, 23 grams fat, 72 milligrams cholesterol, 457 milligrams sodium, 83 % of calories from fat.
If you like recipes, you'll like All Recipes. http://allrecipes.com/ I found this similar Tomato Basil Soup here and rest assured there are not many dishes out there you can't find a recipe for. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Rich-and-Creamy-Tomato-Basil-Soup/Detail.aspx and be assured if it's gotten 263 reviews and 4 1/2 stars it's a good recipe. But note it gives 1/2 cup of butter hence - more rich and creamy! Hint for printing: Go to advanced options and remove advertisements and add nutritional information.
And I hate it, hate it when someone thinks their recipe is original and won't share it. In my early wifehood (just arthood at present) a guest at a large dinner party served her tomato pudding and amidst the raves said "Oh, I don't give out this as it's an old family recipe that just stays in the family". #$%&#!!. It took me days but I found one similar enough. So much for the only one of a kind. This is just my feelings and I'm sure it's not shared by all, but I feel highly complimented if someone says, "Can you give me your recipe?". "Well, yes Ma'am, I sure can." In fact CBC feels so strongly about sharing, we're asking all our artist friends to share their recipe and their favorite painting so if you like food and art please send your friends an email telling them about us and what we're up to.
Paint Your Food, Eat Well, and Laugh Often!
Other blogs where I post: http://artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com/ http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com/ http://marketplace-daily-art.blogspot.com/ TO PURCHASE PAINTINGS: Go to Paypal on http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com/

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Lemons ~ Luby's ~ Lemon Pie

Lemons by Nancy Standlee
$60.00
Acrylic Collage on Canvas Board 6" x 8"
Something NEW...The Artist Food Network... a new blog for artists to share their recipes and their food paintings. You'll see I included a recipe with this painting and that will be the theme of our blog launched over the weekend. If you're an artist with a great recipe and a great painting of an ingredient of the recipe, or recipe related please check out our blog or send it to Artistrecipes@gmail.com and share it with us. You can read more about it on the blog site and you can subscribe to it by email. We hope you like the new blog and hope to see you there. This is a copy of my post that appeared on the site today.

Several of us painted today and when lunch came Cindy Yandell, Barbara Hackney, and I took off to Luby's. Luby's is a Texas tradition and their motto is "Tastes Like Texas, Feels Like Home." Texas families have been going to Luby's since 1947 and their headquarters are in Houston. There are always requests in the recipe section of the Fort Worth Star Telegram for a Luby speciality. That's where this yellowed copy of Luby's Lemon Icebox Pie came from. I thought it would complement my lemon collage painting. I love collage and attaching bits and pieces to my paintings.
I noticed that in this old 1995 copy the recipe called for raw eggs before it was recommended to be cautious in using them for people with a weakened defense system. When growing up the only way to make homemade ice cream was to use raw eggs and nothing beat a bowl of fresh peach or banana ice cream. There are many recipes to be found for a lemon ice box pie and they all will probably follow this one pretty close but now we see a short baking time. Make it if your hips can stand it.
LEMON ICEBOX PIE
1 can (14 oz. sweetened condensed Milk (Eagle Brand)
3 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (3 or 4 lemons) No bottled lemon juice!
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/4 cup sugar
One 9" graham cracker crust
1. Heat oven to 350 F.
2. Combine milk, egg yolks, lemon juice and lemon peel. Mix until blended. Pour crust and bake for 5 minutes.
3. Beat egg whites until almost stiff and add sugar, a tablespoon at a time, while beating until the whites hold a peak. Spread over the filling to edge of the crust.
4. Bake 12 to 15 minutes at 350 until the meringue is lightly browned. Refrigerate until served.

PS: Interesting find. I have the Luby's 50th Anniversary Recipe Collection cookbook and since I'm an Amazon affiliate I thought I'd check if they had this title in used books. They do. Click on my Amazon link "No image available" and you will soon be looking for the nearest garage sales for this loved cookbook. No I won't sell you mine. I couldn't live without the recipe for Date Nut Muffins.