Saying Goodbye to Rogers Park One Day at a Time

I have been living in Rogers Park for almost 4 years now.  In May I will be moving to Reedsburg, Wisconsin to be the Residency Manager at The Wormfarm Institute until the end of October.  Jacob will be moving to New York in May to pursue his Illustration career.  A long distance relationship will not be easy but I know we are doing the right thing.  

Lake Michigan is 4 blocks from my apartment.  It is one of the many perks of living in Rogers Park.  I have always been interested in the rocks at the lake for their many shapes and earthy colors.  Gradually, I have accumulated a large collection.  But now that I am moving, I am trying to get rid of as many things as possible.  I have made many paintings inspired by my collection.  Their colors have greatly influenced my choice of colors in my work.  I have done so much with them that I no longer need them.  It only felt right to give them back to the lake.  

The 4 year collection.  I have spent many hours sifting through the sand finding rocks that seemed different from the rest.

I have tried to make many painting to describe the beauty of their colors and shapes and none of the painting have ever seemed good enough.  Using the actual rocks instead of trying to paint them has finally become what I have been trying to do for years.  

The Clutch Gallery, Beach.

Beach in Clutch Gallery!

Clutch Gallery!

My piece, Beach, will be inside (and out) of the
Clutch Gallery till May 1, 2012.

Beach is a collection of earthy hues that are found
in the rocks of Lake Michigan.  Beach celebrates
the complexity of organic colors and the subtle
differences in tones from stone to stone.  At first
glance it appears to be one color, but when
we take a closer view the rock is made up of a
wide spectrum of colors. The shapes in Beach
are single colors that have been dissected from
a small number of rocks. The viewer is invited to
search through the hard shapes in Clutch and
choose one to take from the cluster of hues. 

These are examples of taking many colors from

one rock.  The rock is the top left one. 

Check out Clutch Gallery on Facebook!

Clutch Gallery!

I have the amazing opportunity to install my work in Clutch Gallery for the month of April.  Clutch Gallery is a clutch purse with four white walls inside of it.  Emma Robbins, the current curator of the gallery, carries the purse with her and shares whats inside with others as she goes about her day in Chicago.

I have had a while to think of what I want to do with Clutch.  This is a chance to do something very different from what I usually do.  I was excited that I would be making artwork strictly for Clutch and that it would be displayed for a month.  This meant my piece could be touched without worry of it being ruined or gooey by the time I get it back.

I love going to the beach and sifting through the sand for the perfect rock and collecting every color Lake Michigan has to offer.  For Clutch I wanted to place all those colors inside of it for an aesthetically pleasing view of earthy hues, just as I have done in the painting above.  But I wanted to mimic my ritual of choosing the perfect one.  So the viewer will be able to look through these hard shapes, touch every single one if they choose, pour the contents out onto a table or floor if they choose, and take the one they choose.



I am sculpting them out of paper-mache so that Clutch doesn't weigh Emma down too much!  Once they dry I am painting them with watercolor.  I have many more to make!

Follow Clutch on Facebook.

I have been accepted as an Artist in Residence at Wormfarm Institute!

I found out a few days ago that I have been accepted to be an artist in residence at the Wormfarm Institute from May 20th to June 15th in Reedsburg, Wisconsin! I am so excited. I will have a month to work on a farm and create some new artwork. This will be my first time away from home for a long period of time without friends or family. The residency will be an amazing growing experience for me. I will blog about my days there too!

I started the day out right with some Mango Sticky Rice! :0 ) I have tried 2 recipes so far that weren't quite right and finally the third recipe is perfect! Here is the recipe. The only thing I did differently is add a pinch of salt to the sauce and add some mint to the plate. Also, if you never have had this before, I recommend putting the mango in a fridge, it's super yummy to eat warm rice and cold mango together!

A rock painting I finished. I wanted to study the many colors I was seeing in the rocks at Lake Michigan, the shape was less important. This is 10.5 x 13.5 inches, watercolor and acrylic.

I painted my duck eggs I bought from King's Hill Farm. I loved the pristine shape of the eggs and the varieties of colors and sizes I saw in my dozen. But the painting did not turn out as nice as thought it would. I still liked the eggs though so I cut them out and created the piece below. This piece was 11 x 14 inches, watercolor, marker.

I hand sewed the watercolored eggs onto the fabric (something I have been wanting to try for a while now) and it worked wonderfully. I can't wait to do more with paper and fabric. This is 23 x 23 inches, fabric, watercolor, marker, paper.

Chinese Scrambled Duck Eggs, Beach, and Squirrel Eating Toast...

For breakfast today I made Chinese Scrambled Duck Eggs with Kimchi, and Spinach!

Chinese Scrambled Eggs

1 egg

1 tsp low sodium tamari or soy sauce

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1/2 TBS chives

Yesterday morning I went to the beach (and that is where I am headed after this post!) to enjoy the sunshine.

Since vegetables and fruits will be growing soon, I have started to read this wonderful book my Grandma gave me called Preserving Summer's Bounty: A Quick and Easy Guide to Freezing, Canning, Preserving and Drying What You Grow. Sometimes too many vegetables come in and I have no idea what to do with them all so I am trying to learn how to preserve them. I will be sharing what I learn as I read it.

"Once plucked from the plant, fruits and vegetables stop growing, but respiration and enzyme activities (which add up to aging) continue. The physical and chemical qualities deteriorate rapidly. As a result, appearance and flavor fade, and the nutrient content decreases, particularly fragile vitamin C. " (pg. 6)

That is why we should eat more fresh veggies from farmer's markets or our own gardens for better nutrients and quality.

I found this amazing rock that had broken into many pieces in the sand. I took every piece home with me and painted the painting below.

Seagull feets!

...and squirrel eating toast....