Back to the Studio

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It was a summer that I did not venture into my art studio, and yesterday I realized painting is what makes my heart sing.  That and some great Rhythm and Blues music in the background make for a wonderful day.

Two days ago I picked up a piece from a wonderful Interior Design Studio in Edmonds that sells quite a bit of my work.  The owner took me to house she is redoing and asked if I could do something for the living room to put above the fireplace. The colors were rich grays, taupes, bronze and a little bit of yellow green.  This piece is 30″ x 60″ and painted over a previous piece I had done a long time ago. Purple Abstract 30x48

It was done in a time when everything I did had some purple in it.  In the last couple of years I have finally grown tired of purple. I find painting over a previously painted abstract gives depth and life to a new painting.

In this case, since it was already framed, I just used green guerrilla painters tape to cover the frame, so did not have to remove it and could get right to painting.

Whenever I do a bigger piece, I make it so you can hang it vertically or horizontally. It is one thing I do to make it easier to use in what ever environment you hang the art.  In my own home, I may hang it one way for a while, then change 90 degrees in another place.  That way I don’t grow tired of the piece as quickly.

At the end of the day yesterday I felt this piece was complete and had a great start on a second piece.  I plan to spend a lot more time in my studio in the days to come.  It makes me happy!

Back to the Studio

And now for the closet

Yes, I should be in my Art Studio painting, but for the last several weeks I have been redoing my closet.  I admit it is a big closet, but I have collected stuff for years and years. In this home the closet had a few quick shelves and lots of baskets. Since I really could not afford a California Closet at close to $20,000 (That would be about three or four vacations), so I did a Closet Maid Wire closet and I am happy with the result. It is my personal sanctuary. I have photos of my sons when they were little and a few other things I love that are just not appropriate in the rest of the house.

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So in-between my jewelry collection are photos of my three sons when they were two.  It makes me smile knowing they are happy and successful young men now.

My hat boxes were repaired and added to with labels on each box, so hats and gloves and stuff can easily be found.  It was fun to see what all I had when I had to dismantle and put back together the closet.  I found treasures and I found not so much treasures that went Goodwill.

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My “Angels Fly Because They Take Themselves Lightly” art piece is over one of my doors. A good friend of my late husband said that about him at his funeral and it always make me smile, knowing he is somehow watching over me and my wonderful sons.

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Purses and scarves found a new and organized home, right next to old family portraits. IMG_1394

My shoes are happy and I can see them all at last.  Yes, I do love converse tennis shoes and wear them a lot in Spring and Fall.  They are just happy shoes!

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Years of collecting what I call Junk Jewelry can easily be found and used!  The mirror will be painted white as soon as I get around to it.

Lots of great hanging space to short and long and way too many belts for a waist that was always much smaller than it is now.  One of the joys of growing older and loving to cook and eat.

A lot of these ideas can be incorporated into a smaller closet.  I have lots of extra room now and really don’t buy many new clothes.  If you see the mirror on the right, it is on a sort of secret door that goes into a shelved 5 x 5 room with floor to ceiling shelves for Christmas Decor, luggage and other “stuff”.

What else can I say, but now my closet makes me smile in the morning. Too bad I don’t have to get dressed up that much anymore.  Where do I wear all this stuff?  I am not ready to get rid of everything, so I just go in my closet and smile and know I can wear fun stuff!

And now for the closet

30 Design Mistakes You Should Never Make from Houzz

This article came on my newsfeed this morning and I thought it was very interesting.  While I agree with most, I do not agree with all. There are as many opinions about design as there are people with opinions. 

Drop the paint can, step away from the brick and read this remodeling advice from people who’ve been there

April 21, 2016
There are a million and one things to consider when taking on a remodeling project. Some of those decisions have the potential to significantly impact your home — and in turn your emotional well-being — for years to come. It doesn’t matter how functional your new kitchen is, for example, if you hate the flooring material you chose. It’s going to eat away at you every single day.

In hopes of preventing these situations, we asked readers for design advice on things you should never, ever do during a remodel. Their suggestions are quite revealing, and worth considering. But remember, the thing about advice is that you don’t have to take it. After all, the main takeaway message here should be that no matter what, it’s your home. And you should do whatever you want. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you.

30 Design Mistakes You Should Never Make from Houzz

Oh where do find a Hat Box ???

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When I was young and thought I was quite fashion forward, I collected hats to wear with every outfit I had in my closet. We often attended the track at Del Mar, where we were members of the rather “elite” Turf Club. It was my late husbands favorite way to entertain and it was my favorite excuse for a new outfit with a matching hat. Even though I no longer have any of the dresses that go with the hats, I still have the hats.

I have loaned the hats out for several fashion shows over the years, as they have now become almost vintage, just like me.

I will never forget a few years ago, I dressed up as Marilyn Monroe for a Halloween Party, with the chiffon dress, gold heels and a beautiful mink coat my late husband bought for me when were going to move the Pacific North West.

Arriving at the party, someone asked me: “Where did you find that gorgeous vintage coat?”

I looked back at her and said: “Oh Shit, I am old!”

We all laughed, but that is a little how I feel about my hat collection.  Thirty-five years ago, I most likely paid well over $200 for each hat and at the time I had about forty of them. I still have about twenty and the boxes were starting to fade and fall apart.  I started looking on Amazon and Ebay, only to see that the price of Hat Boxes, like most other things had gone up.

The two hat boxes in the worst repair could use a new look. Straight edge, cutter, great glue, some nice wrapping paper and ribbon could save the day or at least two of the hat boxes.

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A little time and energy and they look like new. I found some of sewing supplies worked easily to make this happen. The straight edge used mostly by quilters, made it easy to cut a straight line and rolling scissors made it easy to cut a circle using the hat box as the pattern. On the polka dot one, I just repainted the edges with a magic marker, but on the striped one I had to add ribbon, as the edge was totally worn out.  I think it worked well.

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One of the boxes still had the price tag on the bottom and even that many years ago it was $25. They are far from perfect, but sure look a lot prettier in my closet than they did.

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The closet is a work in progress, but I think the repaired and new (found at TJMaxx) are a nice addition to closet.  I will post a few more photos of my closet and you will begin to see that I am a avid collector.  I love not only hats, but belts and shoes and what I call junk jewelry.  It will all have an organized place in my new aqua closet. I will share as it is completed.  Right now everything is in my bedroom.  Oh my!  IMG_6442

I figure a light aqua blue/green is a happy color and that is what I want to feel when I go in my closet.  Hope I might inspire you to reorganize and see what you can do to make your closet a happier part of your house.

 

Oh where do find a Hat Box ???

Pizza Pizza Pizza

Everyone loves pizza, but what is interesting to me is that everyone seems to like it a bit different.  My husband and I loved the pizza we ate in Florence, Italy.  It was simple, with not a lot of ingredients, thin crust and totally delicious.

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I found this photo online and it is an example of that perfect pizza we found in Italy. I eat gluten free 99% of the time, but that one night in Italy I ate three pieces of my husband’s pizza.  I had ordered a salad, but I guarantee his pizza looked a lot better than my salad.  I savored every bite and unsavored it about three in the morning when I woke up quite ill.  But I still loved that pizza and going forward eat in a lot more moderation.

I have been trying to made a good pizza crust for a while.  I have used Paul Hollywood’s recipe and America’s Test Kitchen.  I sort of combined the two to some success.  I am realizing there is a real art to making great pizza.

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With this pizza I used a pizza stone with a pizza dish on top.  I heated the oven to 550 degrees (blew out the fan) and added the pizza.

Lesson here:  Maybe a little lower temperature is okay, roll out the dough thinner and add the basil after the pizza is done.  I used a fresh mozzarella, but not the best I could find, so next time I will find a buratta  mozzarella, as it is softer and much more flavorful.  I always make my own sauce, but find it is better if I use fresh tomatoes rather than low sodium canned.  I have a wonderful herb garden on my back porch, so always use a variety of fresh herbs.

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The next pizza next pizza I attempted I used my new cast iron pizza pan described by America’s Test Kitchen as being the best.  For this I decided to use up the rest of some sausage from the night before.  I had to wait for a turn in the oven, and the pizza dough kept rising.

After the fact I watched a video on how to use this new cast iron pan.  I did not want to take it out of the oven, so attempted to put the toppings on while it was still in the oven. This is where I say: “failure”.  The crust was messy, too think and had a rather odd shape.  Next time, take the pan out of the oven and add toppings.

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The bottom of the crust on this pizza was perfectly cooked, but it sat out a little too long, so it grew in the heat of the kitchen.  I also discovered that I really don’t like sausage on my pizza, or mushrooms.  Lesson learned: Get it together faster, keep it simpler and take the dang pan out of the oven to add toppings. BTW we threw this one out.  One taste was enough to know neither of us liked it much. Crust was great, but toppings were too much. Great way to ruin a yummy crust.

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This one was our favorite, even though cooked on just the pizza stone and not the cast iron.  I do admit, I kind of messed the only one cooked on the pizza cast iron.

Conclusion of this experiment: Make the dough as it tells you in either recipe, divide it in thirds like it tells you and unless you are cooking for several, freeze two of the pizza dough balls for later.  Every recipe I have tried makes way too much pizza dough for two people.

My recipe for the red sauce is as follows:

  1.  Chop a bunch of tomatoes and I leave the skins on
  2. Chop up some very fresh garlic
  3. Add a little good quality EVOO
  4. Grab herbs or buy them and add them to the pot
    1. I like oregano, thyme & rosemary
  5. Cook for a while
  6. Add a teaspoon of sugar
  7. Puree till finely blended and add however much salt & pepper you like

Paul Hollywood’s Pizza Dough recipe:

Ingredients

  • 250g/9oz strong white flour, plus extra for flouring (in the US use bread flour)
  • 5g/¼oz salt
  • 30ml/1fl oz olive oil
  • 5g/¼oz fast-action yeast
  • 180ml/6fl oz water
  • semolina, for dusting (optional)

    Ingredients

    For the pizza dough

    Method

    1. For the pizza dough, mix the flour, salt, olive oil, yeast and water together in a bowl.

    2. Turn the dough out onto an oiled work surface and knead for 5-10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Cut off a small piece of the dough and stretch part of it as thinly as you can. If you can see the shadow of your fingers through the dough – the light should shine through the dough like a window pane – without the dough tearing, it is ready to prove.

    3. Shape the dough into a ball and tip into a bowl.

    4. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise for an hour.

    5. Divide the mix into three balls. Roll out on a floured surface into circles. Place each circle on a flat baking tray or a plastic chopping board dusted with semolina (so the pizza can be easily transferred to the oven later).

    6. Place a pizza stone or an upturned baking tray into the oven and heat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7 (in a non-fan oven).

     

    America’s Test Kitchen Recipe

    1 ¾ cups water divided, 1/2 cup warm, remaining at tap temperature
    2 ¼ teaspoons dry active yeast (1 envelope)
    2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for brushing dough
    4 cups bread flour
    1 ½ teaspoons table salt
    vegetable oil (or cooking spray) for oiling bowl
    semolina for dusting peel
    2 LARGE, 4 MEDIUM OR 8 INDIVIDUAL PIZZAS

    This dough can be used for any size pizza with thick or thin crust; simply adjust the cooking time to fit the pizza. Make sure you heat the oven to 500 degrees for thirty minutes before you start cooking. Your tiles or stone need at least that long to heat up; if they’re not properly heated, your pizza crust will be thin, blond, and limp. Once the dough for the crust has been topped, use a quick jerking action to slide it off the peel and onto the hot tiles or stone; make sure that the pizza lands far enough back so that its front edge does not hang off. For a cornmeal-flavored dough, substitute three-quarters cup of cornmeal for three-quarters cup of the bread flour. Editor’s Note: This recipe was updated in 1997, when we found that adding more water resulted in a tastier pizza. This recipe contains a total of 1 3/4 cups water, while the original that appeared in the magazine in 1995 contains 1 1/2 cups.

    1. Measure 1/4 cup of warm water into 2-cup measuring cup. Sprinkle in yeast; let stand until yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes. Add remaining 1/4 cup warm water plus remaining 1 1/4 cups tap water and olive oil. Meanwhile, pulse flour and salt in workbowl of large food processor fitted with steel blade to combine. Add liquid ingredients (holding back a tablespoon or so) to flour and pulse together. If dough does not readily form into ball, stop machine, add remaining liquid, and continue to pulse until ball forms. Process until dough is smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds longer.

    2. Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface; knead by hand with a few strokes to form smooth, round ball. Put dough into medium-large, oiled bowl, and cover with damp cloth. Let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

    3. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface and use chef’s knife or dough scraper to halve, quarter, or cut dough into eighths, depending on number and size of pizzas desired. Form each piece into ball and cover with damp cloth. Working with one piece of dough at a time, shape as shown in illustrations below. Transfer to pizza peel that has been lightly coated with semolina, brush dough very lightly with olive oil before topping and cooking.

    4. Use the following guide to determine cooking time for pizza crust with topping but without cheese. All pizzas need to be cooked an additional two or three minutes after adding cheese, or until cheese is completely melted.

    THIN CRUST

    14-inch pizzas (Master Recipe makes 2) – 7 to 8 minutes

    12-inch pizzas (Master Recipe makes 4) – 5 minutes

    8-inch pizzas (Master Recipe makes 8)- 3 minutes.

    MEDIUM-THICK CRUST

    12-inch pizzas (Master Recipe makes 2) – 9 to 10 minutes

    8-inch pizzas (Master Recipe makes 4) – 5 minutes

    6-inch pizzas (Master Recipe makes 8) – 4 minutes.

    So there you have it, probably too much information about making a simple pizza.  I find using the best ingredients and doing lots of practice runs (and I am definitely still working on mine) will give you the best results.

    I remember reading Malcolm Gladwell’s book telling you it takes 10,000 hours to be an expert at anything and am hoping that does not apply to making the perfect pizza.

    Happy eating.

Pizza Pizza Pizza