diversifying my medium

Hugging the boys goodbye as they set off for their time in Michigan and keeping the car pointed south at a consistent 75mph I begin my five plus hour drive to the Oregon coast. I adore Oregon. I spent the better part of motherhood in the southwest quadrant of Portland and left behind a lifelong friend; ensuring frequent returns to the area! This trip takes me further south, and west, to Otis; a mini town just inland from Lincoln City. Sitka Center for Art and Ecology has been a landing point for my workshops for the past few years: Encaustic as well as the last of my Watermedia Extravaganzas have tripped a few breakers at Sitka. Nestled into the evergreened foothills of the coastal range, Sitka bodes an amazing backdrop for concentrated, engaging art experiences. As a bonus you can walk down the winding entry road to the trail head and your feet take you to one of the most beautiful vistas overlooking the Pacific Ocean I have ever seen.
For this trip I am here to take-not just give~ :)
I believe and advocate that encaustic supports the inclusion and companionship of every other medium out there. It’s the ‘No one left behind’ theory of encaustic! I intend to continue to prove this summation by adding bindery to my repertoire. I have had a lifelong fascination with books, paper and the written word. It is about time I investigate creating them myself and discover the possibilities in their marriage to my encaustic work! So I divert my attention from the stretching of my heart strings to accommodate Brian’s move to Michigan and delve into book binding and the lush love of paper, book board and waxed linen thread. I can already feel the beeswax playing with the pages…. in love. trish

change is a comin'

S is for Sad......and for the mysterious appetite that often surges in us when our hearts seem to be breaking and our lives appear too bleakly empty. Like every other physical phenomenon, there is good reason for this hunger, if we will be blunt enough to recognize it."
--M. F. K. Fisher, An Alphabet for Gourmets

The most beautiful sound caused me to catch my breath as I scraped warm wax from a board this evening. A magical, simple pleasure that made my mind and heart travel back fifteen years to a time when that sound belonged to a much smaller incantation of the one I'd just heard. Back to the easy days of holding small hands crossing the street, catching 40 pound bodies as they plummet down the park slide and cutting crusts from peanut butter sandwiches. To a time when the tugs at the heart were associated with fleeting desires to have them stay this way forever-to never grow up and to continue to delight in the innocent pleasure of the sway of a lazy sprinkler on a hot summer day. The sound was so familiar to me that on many another day, with different tasks filling my minutes and engaging my brain, it has gone unnoticed-simply continuing its bounce off the wall and up the stairs to dissolve in the beeswax fumed air of my studio. But this evening it captured me. Grabbed my heart and filled my thoughts with smiles. A laugh: The free flowing, still innocent laugh of a child. Deeply resonating in its post-pubescent growth and full of presumed-self knowing that would daily be challenged by this worlds rough edges; the laugh was still mine- still his. Still held the timber of the three foot tall, chipmunk-cheeked youth slipping through spring-mud filled grass. It captured me now for the bittersweet warmth of its existence-soon to be gone. Soon to exist in the vacuous silence of my reminiscing alone. Exist only in the memory of its once innocent flutter from the sofa, up the stairs and to my concentrating ears and mommy heart. feed the hunger. in love. trish

Brian's favorite rhubarb berry crisp
'crisp':

1 c flour

1c brown sugar

1 c quick oats

1 t cinnamon

2 sticks butter, melted and cooled

Mix the crisp ingredients until crumbly. Press 1/2 the mixture into a greased baking dish. Spread 4-5 c chopped rhubarb and assorted seasonal berries over this base. In a saucepan blend

1 c sugar

3 T flour

1 t vanilla

1 1/2 c water

Cook this mixture until it thickens (about 5 minutes) then pour over the fruit. Spread the remaining 1/2 of the crisp over this layer and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Allow to cool and dig in. It only gets better with time~and a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream!

I make this for Brian, exclusively. He can eat a 10x14 dish of it in three days easy; that's if he's pacing himself.

what is one thing you think of that always makes you smile?

My 13 year old asked me this last week. Remember, I have all boys. That makes it my 13 year old SON asked me this last week. Is anyone else raising their eyebrows in amazement?! And, from a mother's point of view, how freakin' precious is this!!?

I have been told he has an old soul. He can ask things, and give his interpretation of situations, with more maturity and human understanding than the best of the 'grownups'. He has left me slack jawed in awe on many an occasion. Don't get me wrong; he'll leave the frig open and track mud through the house with the best of them!

Patrick is my fourth and youngest child; therefore the one to get my name, so to speak, since a girl was not in the mix. I never pined for one mind you-I haven't spent a day wishing for a girl since laying on the ultrasound table for the third time and hearing, yep there it is!~I adore the name Patrick and it was fun to name someone after me~

I answered his query with the first thing that came to mind; my boys. But it stuck in my head that that just isn't quite it. I mean, really, do your children make you smile all the time?! I think not! Children bring more blistering frustrations and sometimes even love testing dilemmas than any other relationship can even come close to. So I had to rethink his line of questioning...

A few days later a more appropriate response struck me, and an ironic one at that. What always makes me smile when I think of it is the time he and I spent eight days in Children's Hospital. Wow. See the irony?! And three of those days were in intensive care. While the time there was painful, scary, frustrating and all around gut wrenching, the memories I carry from it are of a connection. He and I spent eight days joined in the single biggest event of his life; eating, sleeping and even breathing just inches from each other every moment. But when there were minutes not filled with needles, tubes and tests, I would push him on his IV pole through the halls-take pictures standing next to all of the animal sculptures-and when he started building his strength, try to do wheelies through the vacant halls in his wheelchair. All this went down four years ago in May. He and I spent Mother's day looking out the window of his room and testing the wheel chair on a newly discovered hallway with an incline :)

That time at Children's matched that of giving birth to my third son and soon after being frantically wheeled to surgery for blood transfusions and strange lasers. Scary. Nay, terrifying. But when you come out on the other side of things like that, able to smile, reflect and be oh so grateful for the minutes that have come after, even the terrifying can make you smile. in love. trish

ginger

Besides my fetish for ginger redheaded boys, my sons!, a ginger fetish rests heavily on the pungent rhizome as well. When I am not cooking or baking for the aforementioned boys, I love to pull one of the many incantations of this spicy reed to the counter and mix its hot-sweet spiciness into the dishes I am preparing. My current addiction is in the breakfast bowl. Spicy ginger granola has gone through many transformations since I discovered the original base recipe in an Eating Well magazine several years ago. The best way to eat it is with fresh yogurt-I tend to go with Nancy's Nonfat
Organic if I haven't created a batch myself (insert eye rolls here, I know....truly it is easy and so much better than the store version!) Milk is a tasty alternative as well-cold or warmed in the microwave! Experiment and find your personal favorite; and share them here so I can expand my repertoire!
Spicy Ginger Granola
5 c rolled oats- Bob's RedMill has a nice version
1/2c coconut-again, Bob's RedMill has a tasty unsweetened
1/2 c honey
1/2 c maple syrup
1 c dried fruit-I love Trader Joe's berry blend
1/2 c crystallized or dehydrated ginger, chopped to your liking
1 c almonds, chopped to your liking
In a saucepan over medium heat blend the honey and syrup until bubbling. Turn the heat to low and simmer, stirring frequently, for five minutes. Meanwhile in a mixing bowl blend oats and coconut. Once the honey blend is finished, pour over the blended oats and coconut. Pour this mixture onto a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from the oven, add the dried fruit, ginger and almonds and stir to blend. Return to oven and bake for another 12 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven, allow to cool on sheet then put into air tight container and eat it up within two weeks! Many variations of the granola can be concocted. Enjoy experimenting and finding your favorite.
More ginger to follow. It's all so good! in love. trish.

where I am at

This week is filled with many commitments, deadlines, 'To Do's' and 'must take care ofs'. I am tackling them all, one by one, a little bit here, a little bit there. I have pleasingly found my way around multitasking; even when my list for the week takes up two pages, I can walk into it calmly and with assurance that the final bullet point will receive a definitive line through it by the end of day on Friday. I think this calm comes with age-read 'maturity', and a gentler sense of what is necessary and pressing in a day. It comes with age, and perhaps being a woman-or more precisely, a mother! Hang ups over undone laundry, dusty coffee tables and muddy footprints on the entry rug just don't matter the way they did when I was a new cohabitant in a household sharing relationship. So what have I been up to? Where am I at in this week of doing and taking care of? Yes, baking cookies sits squarely on the 'to do' list. Maybe not a priority in your household, Keebler does a fine fudge stick after all, but here, with the teenage boys who can eat a package of Girl Scout cookies single handedly before their brothers come home to find evidence of their existence, I bake cookies. Cost effective, makes the house smell outrageous, and dang, they taste so good! Nothing like a homemade chocolate chip cookie. And a bonus; if you haven't gathered this fact yet, more than half the 'yum' for me happens in the making of what is needed or desired-Gotta bake! Gotta paint! Gotta garden! And even, gotta clean those windows! Sick, I know. Back to those cookies....

The cookie jar sat gaping open, it's interior filled with the hollow space of emptiness as I came through the door from a weekend away in Portland. It sat as simple proof that should I turn to open the frig, I would see a full pan of lasagna left sadly untouched on the center shelf. Cookies are so much more convenient, tasty, and do not require a plate or reheating in the microwave. Unless of coarse you desire that gooey, melty chocolate chip bite of cookie goodness....I digress. I knew cookie baking was on the top of my list for the first of the week. Pulling out the favorite recipe first thing Monday morning, I created the delectable morsels featured above. If your taste buds scream for a thin, chewy, gooey chocolate chip cookie, read on and set your oven to 300 degrees. These, quite simply, rock.

Gooey Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 c margarine

1/2 c brown sugar

1/3 c granulated sugar

1 t vanilla

1 c flour

3/4 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1 c chocolate chip cookies

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. If you have them, I recommend using silicone baking sheets; everything just bakes better on them! Otherwise, lightly spray two baking sheets in preparation for the dough. Melt the margarine and allow it to cool slightly. Add the sugars and vanilla and blend well. Add the flour, soda and salt, blend again. Dump the chips into the batter, incorporate and grab two cereal spoons. Place level spoonfuls onto baking sheets-I make a dozen/sheet. This recipe makes a mere 18-24 cookies depending on how large your spoonfuls are, so you may want to double the recipe! They are so easy to make that I stick with a single batch so they are just so yummy fresh with great regularity! Bake at 300 degrees for 14 minutes (yes, 14. really) and remove to a cooling rack. If you are using silicone sheets, slip the sheet onto the rack and allow to cool off the the cookie sheet to ensure no more baking happens. Enjoy! (note: the recipe does not have eggs. What does this mean you ask?! The batter can be eaten before baking without fear of any strange illnesses taking over your digestive system....mmmmm)

This is the way the recipe is made when the boys are consuming. I have made them for a dinner party-cookies never go out of style, and used 1/2 white whole wheat flour and 1/2 AP flour, a hunk of Valharone dark chocolate chopped into tasty hunks instead of the chips, and threw in a handful of dried cherries. OMG, try it....

Cookie baking ceremoniously crossed off the list....

Next, while not on the weekly list, always on the life list; painting.

I have been jazzed in the studio. No other way of putting it. Geeked. Jazzed. Thrilled. Impassioned. Maybe crazy even! Define it how you will, I can't get enough right now, thank the gods. Beginning in frustration, trying to move from my proverbial bright, multicolored blending of wax, my Karon suggested I hold myself to two colors. Gasp! Just two?! So it was with trepidation that I removed all colors from my palette, picked through my blocks of encaustic, set up four sets of 'only two!' and began. The first week, diazinone purple and celadon green. The second week, kings blue and raw umber. This week, I've allowed leeway; okay, I'm cheating! artistic license-I'm working in colored papers and burnt umber. And, I am stuck there. Well, not stuck, but loving what is happening! Freaking over the results that just two colors can produce. Next in the lineup? sap green and quinacridone magenta then dianthus pink and neutral while-it wont happen this week-I have more to do with the raw and king!-but it will come, and I'll show you their results as well!

Okay,cookies and art-moving through the list quite swiftly! Need it be added that the laundry, dusting and cleaning of the fingerprinted appliances has happened in the in between of all the rest?! Three more lines crossed out....

I moved into this house one year ago today. I sold my big house on the hill, tossed stuff, packed, found this house, went through the paperwork hoops and moved in in three weeks. A crazy, frantic, tear spilling three weeks. One year ago now. I am amazed at the time that has passed and the place I've come to. So good, so rich and so grounding. The universe works in mysterious ways...

But where is this little ditty on my 'to do' list you ask?! Part of the list is left in my head. The part that reads-'count your blessings', 'thank you lucky stars' and 'don't forget what your knees are for chicka'! This little musing is on that list. Settling in was a very important issue for me one year ago. I wanted a foundation of calm for myself as much as for the boys. With boxes shoulder high through the entire house, we were cutting sideways glides down the hallways to reach bathroom, bedroom and frig. Blessed with a few days of time to focus on the task at hand without distractions of job, other 'to dos' or even the boys underfoot (they returned to the final month of school after the frantic day and a half moving process), I began unpacking the packed. Not until I reached the box containing my cars did I smile and breath a calming sigh. It wasn't the cars in and of themselves, as much as the sense of place they allowed. For some reason the pulling of them from the box and establishing their spot in the new kitchen (they'd sat on the island just above the stove top in the other home) settled the frantic and solidified the sense of place that has stayed with me since that day. A tiny, $.99 collection of blessings. There for me daily as a reminder of the simple, good, peaceful tidbits in life.

And while all this doing is happening? Never forgetting the eating. Eating, sleeping, painting, writing...life! My lunch yesterday; everything come from my CSA(community supported agriculture) box! Can't beat that! Have you ever tried avocado with mango? Or, mango with tomato? Wow. Again, a simple delight. The sun helped; I ate on the deck...

A messy, huge salad, but oh so satisfying-no, I didn't share with the rooster! He's awfully cute though isn't he?!

Today? More painting. I have some rare ironing to tackle, and I promised Patrick I'd finish our game of Risk. He's wiping me off the map....in love. trish.

coops and cribbage

AKA what are boys good for?! Don't get me wrong, that question goes way beyond my simple answer here, but I think boys are good for moving heavy things and playing games. In a nutshell. No cynicism; just plain fun! (more on the coop when the chickens arrive-isn't it adorable though?!)

Happy happy day :) Off to Seattle to do some gallery visiting and Happy Hour with friends. In the rain :0 never deterred....in love. trish