Kaleidoscopic Curiosities

a colorful day with Traci Bautista

Yesterday my pal Elizabeth and I spent an inky, painty, laughter-filled day at Violet's Rubber Stamp Inn in Ventura, making Traci Bautista-style stained and collaged papers.

Fun!!

I love any painting process that doesn't involve paintbrushes, and this was dunk-and-wring all the way. Of course, my hands are now dyed a lovely shade of teal and all my dark green fingernails had to go! (Too bad Halloween isn't this week, I'd fit right in.) My fusion dyed collage papers are further proof that leopardprint  is the new neutral and goes well with anything.

Now I'm on a hunt for all the amazing types of pens Traci uses to doodle on her artwork. The various Sharpies and Gelly Roll pens were easy to locate but I am still looking for those Foohy kids gel markers and the awesome graffiti paint sticks. Anybody know an online source for either??

cheesy comfort

It’s Friday, yaaaaaaaayyyyy!!!! This week has been brutal at work and at home, so I decided it was time for some good old fashioned comfort food. I adore mac & cheese but have been disappointed with every recipe I’ve ever tried because nothing is as creamy and delicious as Stouffers. But poking holes in the film covering and pushing a few buttons does not make me feel very nurtured or domestic...

Finally I’ve found a recipe that comes close! My only regret is that I had to ask a supermarket clerk to point me toward the Velveeta, which was perhaps my most humiliating moment in recent memory. Who eats that stuff? And it’s so expensive, my gosh! But here’s a tip: don’t skimp on the processed pasturized cheese food product. The first time I made this recipe I bought a brick of the store brand stuff and it was vaguely gray and I could not bear the thought of eating it. Splurge on the real, artificially orange Velveeta, you’ll be glad you did. In fact, the original recipe calls for eight ounces of Velveeta which is half of a small-size brick, but honestly, what are you going to do with the other half of it? Unless you have some salsa, chips and a microwave standing by, just go ahead and chuck it all in. Mmm, cheesy!

Here’s what you do. Cook 10oz of elbow macaroni in salted water.

While the mac is boiling, combine a can of evaporated milk, a can of cheddar soup (I know, I’d never eat this stuff either but hang in there, this is worth it), a cup of shredded sharp Cheddar, three beaten eggs, a splash of Tabasco if you are a spicy chica and some seasoned salt and white pepper.

When the macaroni is al dente, drain it, return it to the hot cooking pot and toss in half a stick of butter and anywhere from 8 to 16 ounces of cubed Velveeta. Yeah, baby! Stir it so the “cheese” and butter melt into a  reassuring goo, then pour in the wet ingredients and mix vigorously to combine. This is your cardio for the day and will help to offset the negative health effects of this dish.

Pour the mixture into a well buttered baking dish; if you like the crusty part of baked mac & cheese use a 9x13 pan to get more surface area, but if you are all about creaminess use a couple loaf pans so the mac is deeper. I compromise and use my grandma’s old meatloaf pan which doesn’t quite hold the whole recipe, but that just means this is THE perfect potluck recipe because I can bake the extra mac & cheese in a couple ramekins and eat some while it’s piping hot AND have private leftovers AND still arrive at the potluck with a whole tray of trashy deliciousness, totally intact.

Top the mac & cheese with another cup of shredded sharp Cheddar to give it a veneer of legitimacy and bake the whole shebang at 350 degrees for about half an hour. I think you are supposed to put foil over the pan for the first little while but my foil is always in my studio space when I want it in the kitchen, so I forego that step. It works out fine either way. If it looks like it is browning too quickly, reduce the heat to 325 and cook it a little longer. Do you get the idea that I am a loosey-goosey chef? It’s true but I like it that way, and my food hasn't killed anyone yet.

You can dress this up by adding some dry or prepared mustard to the wet mixture or topping it with buttered bread crumbs. But don’t get too fancy with it—there's no point in putting lipstick on a pig. Eat it up, yum!

recent little crafty things

I wish I had more artwork to show for the last couple months! The truth is that I’ve been preoccupied with keeping tabs on my mother’s hospital care and running ARTitude Zine so while I’ve got a million ideas inside my head and mountains of materials underfoot, I’ve got little time to spend on actual creative output. But I am grateful to be one of those people who can derive satisfaction from experimenting with recipes and daydreaming, and I am a born observer so my well rarely runs dry.

Yesterday I unearthed some balls of nice yarn I probably won’t ever get around to using so I’m going to collect small goodies and make a couple more Magic Yarn Balls to give as holiday gifts. I  participated in a swap of them in July and now they’ve become a way of life, practically. They are fun to make and fun to receive! To make a Magic Yarn Ball, gather half a dozen or more small inexpensive yet precious things—a petite (sealed) pot of yummy lip balm, tiny “worry dolls,” a pair of beaded earrings, a festive hair scrunchy etc.—and wrap them up in a big ball of yarn, about 100 yards or so.

This one (I know the recipient already opened it so I'm not spilling any beans here!) holds a pair of blue and white gingham shoelaces, some Hello Kitty bandaids, a pair of groovy floral socks and a small silk Japanese good-luck cat, among other goodies. Maybe some fancy old buttons, too... I don't remember.

You may have seen something similar made with crepe paper streamers instead of yarn, and frankly I’d love to add a bunch of crepe paper streamers to my collage pile... I guess yarn is the grownup version of this gift, but it takes you right back to childhood when you unwind one!

The other thing I made recently are these calaveras, or Mexican sugar skulls for a Day of the Dead swap. They’re rock-hard thanks to the addition of meringue powder and water, and they’re decorated with equally durable royal icing. I am not much of a cake decorator but it was fun to squirt icing around and just doodle. When I’m playing with a piping bag it’s easy to make marks, so why is doing it with a pen or paintbrush sometimes so daunting? Perhaps I should just think of all creativity in terms of playing with icing and see what happens.

a magical outing in los angeles...

I hesitate to use this space for announcements of this kind, but I can't resist spreading the word about this one. If you are in the Los Angeles area and are looking for something to do this Sunday, October 22, you might be interested to know that the Mosaic Tile House will once again open its doors to visitors. This is an actual home, not a store, lived in by a couple artists who have tiled nearly every inch of the house, the yard, the porch, etc. It's a wonderful place to visit and I'm thrilled to have another opportunity to do so -- they used to have an open house nearly every Saturday but now it's only a couple times per year.

The photo on the left is their front yard, how cool is that? (Click on the photo to enlarge it.) There's something magical about how those robust fruit trees erupt from the hard, shiny surface of the mosaic. I'm tellin' ya, take your camera, take your journal, find a cool tile bench in the shade and stay a while.

This event is their Fall Art Show (Gonzalo and Cheri are both painters, and Cheri makes tiles and Gonzalo breaks them and makes mosaics on everything that isn't moving) so you might just pick up some holiday gifts, and you will certainly leave with inspiration galore. You just can't visit this place without being uplifted! The tiled interiors are funky, the tiled exterior is magical, their studio space soars and their garden enchants. The bathroom is pretty cool too.

The open house is from 11am to 5pm and the Mosaic Tile House is located at 1116 Palms Blvd in Venice, CA (between Lincoln Blvd & Penmar Ave). If you are on Lincoln Blvd, look for the bright royal blue building a little bit south of the 10 (I think it is some kind of fabric store) -- that is their street. Their phone number is (310) 399-1469 in case you get lost.

troubleshooter RIP

I had big plans for last weekend, oh boy! Instead it was a drama of tragic proportions, because the Troubleshooter Swap Meet was canceled—possibly forever!(Cue the horns and tympani: dun-dun-DUNNNN!!!)

For the past fifteen years, my dear dad and I have looked forward to the first Sunday in May and the first Sunday in October because those are the days on which the Troubleshooter Swap Meet was held. Over the years, various other beloved friends and family members have accompanied us, but Dad and I are the hardcore cases. We’d get up super early and pay extra to get in when the antique dealers got in, to start pawing through the treasures before they let the general admission riff-raff in at 9am.

Then we’d hightail it to Felix Continental, the Cuban sidewalk cafe in Orange for plantain omelets with green salsa and chewy deep-fried nuggets of pork (could breakfast get any better?), and regale each other with tales of our intrepid bargain hunting and lurid descriptions of the weirdest items we saw. For years my friend Maria had her eye on a poorly taxidermied coyote in a fancy display case and I pined over Suzette the (broken) Fragrance Poodle atomizer that showed up for three or four Troubleshooters in a row—but come on, $28 for a non-functioning perfume dispenser? Even if it IS shaped like a poodle named Suzette? Sorry, but a girl has to have some standards.

Dad and I made up elaborate stories about unfortunate paintings we saw at the Troubleshooter, like the one that was probably supposed to depict a cozy winter scene but to us it looked like the isolated log cabin was engulfed in flames, oh the horror! And there was a painting of a cow with its head poked through a fence, grazing, happily oblivious to the fact that she’d been grazing so long there was no earthly way her fat head would fit back through the fence and she’d be trapped there forever grazing the same barren patch of land, bwahahahahahaaaa!!!

I can’t begin to list the wonderful and amazing “art supplies” I found at the Troubleshooter over the years. My best score? A baggie containing seven complete pairs of very old dentures for only 50 cents a pair. I know!! You envy me. It’s not your most attractive trait, but I understand. I still haven’t figured out how to get the pink plastic gums to relinquish their pearly whites without damage but when I do they’re going to look spectacular in an assemblage, and in the meantime they are certainly a conversation starter.

Last time I went home with two whole rolls of gorgeous old geometric wallpaper ($20!), three dozen of those pleated aluminum stars that added sparkle to yesterday’s Christmas trees, red plastic 2” tall marquee letters (several alphabets worth!), and some sparkly (!) resin autumn leaves that were supposed to go into the Autumn ARTitude Art Challenge winners’ collage packs, but I totally forgot until just now. D’oh!!

The point is, the Troubleshooter has been not only my best and favorite source of weird-ass creative materials but also a family tradition to rival the most Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving. We shall miss it.

More from Kansas City

These dark photos were taken at T-Rex, a dinosaur themed restaurant in the KC area. The decor was amazing and the food was surprisingly good.

We were seated in the undersea portion of the Mesozoic era; the giant tentacles you see here belong to a  massive purple octopus that hovers over the bar.

Don’t you love the jellyfish lamps? I  spent half the meal staring at them and trying to figure out how to make one for my bedroom. I’m thinking some type of papier mache using Diamond Glaze instead of paste, but I have no idea what to use instead of newspaper, to get that amazingly clear appearance... maybe cellophane gift wrap? Hmm, it's sounding more and more flammable by the minute. Maybe I should just save my energy and save my spare change (ha) to buy a Chihuly instead.

Upstairs is the arctic region complete with woolly mammoths, giant insects and "real" snow (weekends only).

Before traveling to Kansas City I did some research and decided that what I really wanted to see in Kansas was the World’s Largest Ball of Twine. Turns out there are two of them and they are embroiled in a bitter feud, and they are rather far from Kansas City in any case, so they must wait for another time.

As a consolation, Jennifer took me to see the World’s Largest Badminton Shuttlecock! Yup, it’s pretty damn big. I think it is on the university campus somewhere. Well worth a visit if you are fascinated by pointlessly large objects.

On the facade of the  building upon whose lush lawn the World’s Largest Shuttlecock rests, I found the text shown below. In case you cannot read it, it says: Art deals with things forever incapable of definition and that belong to love, beauty, joy and worship. The shapes, powers and glory of which are ever building, unbuilding and rebuilding in each man’s soul and in the soul of the whole world. (Edward Austin Abbey)

Another art message found me the next day at the Crayola store, in the form of one of those wonderful Fred Babb t-shirts (left). Word, Fred!

It goes to show you that creative sparks are all around you if you just keep your eyes open. I went to Kansas City without my usual crafty work-in-progress because I knew I’d be busy proofreading. But I gleaned a ton of little ideas and snippets of design without even trying, while relaxing and playing with the boys and chatting with Jennifer about family memories and Project Runway. It had been a long time since I’d taken a vacation that didn’t include an art workshop. I must remember to make time for more periods of aimless replenishment like this one.

Kansas City travelogue

Today I downloaded photos from my brief trip to Kansas City last month and some of them gave me all kinds of creative ideas.

These buildings are in Kansas City’s Plaza, America’s “first suburban shopping district,” founded in 1922. Apparently some of the buildings are facsimiles of famous Spanish and Italian buildings? I don’t know, but they are spectacular and we visited on a day that was so beautiful  and clear, even a lousy photographer (me) could get terrific shots. Not sure what I’m going to do with all these gorgeous tile mosaics and reliefs but all kinds of possibilities are percolating in my fevered brain.

  I took this photo while enjoying brunch at a sidewalk cafe, the Classic Cup Cafe on W 47th Street. You’ve got to try the turkey hot browns! They’re like eggs benedict but with eggs cooked any way you like ‘em, perched atop sliced turkey, tomato and crisp, smoky bacon instead of that weird Canadian bacon stuff (no offense, you lovely Canadians, but it squeaks on my teeth, eh?). Slather the whole thing in hollandaise and plate it up with a side of perfectly browned diced potatoes and a cup of strong coffee. Yum! Turkey hot browns are a little piece of heaven, if you ask me.

Did you know that only Rome has more fountains than Kansas City?

looking for Lois

Does anyone out there know Lois Ramirez? She contributed a wonderful collage to the Autumn issue of ARTitude Zine, so wonderful it was chosen as one of the Art Challenge Winners! But she is not a subscriber and I don't know how to reach her. If you know an artist by that name, please ask her to contact me to claim her prize! Thanks.

did you miss me?

Sheesh, I don't know how it happened but I blinked and a month flew past. It's been a busy one, no doubt -- got the Autumn issue of ARTitude Zine mailed out to all subscribers and put the Winter issue in motion, among other things -- but that's still no excuse for letting so many other things slide. Did I mention that Mom had another surgery and I've got at least one small rodent gnawing my lungs from the inside out (or so it feels)?  Aw, I just thought of my friend Rita's rat Bernadette, who was homeless and had a tumor and Rita saved her life and has some very cute photos. Folks, this is the cough syrup talking, sorry!

  The upside of having neglected the blog for a while is that I now have a nice little backlog of stuff to share. Let's start with the zine, hooray! I'm just thrilled about how the Autumn issue turned out and I hope you all will enjoy it. I know some of you have already received it in the mail but most of you are still waiting. Please hang in there for another couple weeks, everybody! ARTitude is on its way.

Here are a few appetite whetting tidbits -- like this wonderful painting by Jill Jones. Jill is one of the most talented artists and writers I know, and I am thrilled that in this issue of ARTitude Zine she joins us as a regular contributor.

Her ARTsparks column is going to be a juicy one, folks, because Jill is also a talented and effective creativity coach and she's got a LOT of useful suggestions and perspectives to share. You didn't know your subscription to ARTitude was going to come with a side order of free coaching, did you? Talk about value!

In her first installment, Dancing With Creative Possibilities, Jill reflects:

"There is a philosophy that says opportunities present themselves when we are ready for them. Maybe that's true...but I suspect it's more likely that opportunities are actually there all along. We are the ones who must show up. When we finally present ourselves and open our eyes, we can see the opportunities clearly and take advantage of them."

Being a girl who hasn't been showing up for her darn blog, not to mention any number of other opportunities, these words really resonated for me. Read the rest of Jill's article on pages 8-9 and join me in renewing a commitment to Showing Up!