From studio...

...to kitchen, summer is one colour hit after another here.

In the studio, I'm working on a scratch-back piece of claybord, liberally covered with alcohol inks...and it's taking forever  (Alice, I'll get you back for this madness!).  Note the subtlety of the colour combination.

 In the kitchen, I'm seeding mashed raspberries for later use.

Back to the studio, where I'm experimenting with heavy acrylic gel, squished through a stencil over a plastic wrap background - yummy effect.

In the kitchen again I'm stirring chocolate and some of that raspberry puree together to make some chocolate raspberry sauce.  WARNING:  Yummy to the nth degree, and very addictive.

This 3 x 3" miniature painting includes a Gelli printed background, a sticky dog-hair removal strip used to clean up the Gelli plate, and a paper towel that soaked up a beet juice spill in the kitchen...nothing goes to waste in either location!

The first batch of salsa came out of the garden this morning;  unfortunately it doesn't come ready-chopped or -canned.  

 Back in the studio, I played with Carolyn Dube's colorful twist technique just for fun.

 Even the pantry gets in on the act, as the sauce section starts to fill

and compete for space with the jam section.

Watch this space for further additions by summer's end, since the tomatoes have barely started to come on.

Meanwhile, I steal as much time as possible in the studio just to keep my sanity...bless those Gelli plate inventors!

I tell myself I'm getting my exercise climbing up and down the stairs between the kitchen and studio. What stories are you telling yourself about your summer?

Salsa time...

My all-time favourite scent of autumn is that of simmering salsa or spaghetti sauce, and this year is no exception.  It was made especially colourful this year using John's heritage tomatoes.

Starting with fresh garden onions, garlic and peppers, the first layer of tomatoes begins to fill the pan.

The second layer gets mixed in,

the spices get added,

 the pan gets larger, more tomatoes are added (ranging from yellow to zebra green and black to orange and a few red),

and the cooking begins.  This year I added hree cans of tomato paste to get that luscious red colour that one expects of salsa.

The results are more delicious than ever with these richly flavoured tomatoes.  I know both the colour and taste will go down exceptionally well in February!

Hot Mama Salsa

Are you wondering why this blog is featuring garden colour right now?  It's because the studio is still in a shambles as the bathroom is being renovated.  More about that later, but it's the garden and kitchen that provides my daily colour fix these days!

By the way, if you're looking for art classes this fall and winter, check out the listings on the right hand side of the page - between Creston, Wynndel, Cranbrook, Kimberley and Claresholm, there should be a place for you!