Archive for the ‘Daily Art’ Category
Random Recipe: Mulled Wine
Wednesday, December 26th, 2012
Happy Boxing Day! Yesterday I made mulled wine for the third time this season, and I thought I’d share my recipe with you all, in lieu of actual content. There’s as many recipes for mulled wine as there are people who make it, so make sure to tweak this to your own preferences. And yes, I got lazy and used a photo instead of drawings, because, Christmas.
Amy’s Mulled Wine
- 1 bottle cheap, sweet red wine (I’ve used various, but Yellowtail’s Sweet Red Roo worked well this last time)
- 1 orange
- 1 apple
- 1 pear, still crisp
- about 1/3 cup turbinado sugar, which I am perpetually too lazy to measure
- 2 sticks cinnamon
- 2 cloves
- 4 cardamom pods
- 5 slices candied ginger
- 2 dashes nutmeg
- 1 dash allspice
Chop the apple and pear into bite-sized pieces, and slice up the orange however you prefer, and crack the cardamom pods. Dump everything into a pot and simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally, until it tastes awesome, usually about an hour to an hour and a half. Don’t let it boil. Drink hot, with some of the apple & pear floating in your cup.
Don’t throw away the leftover apple, pear & ginger, which have now become a wonderful dish of stewed, spiced fruit for later, though the orange can go and you really don’t want to accidentally bite down on the cardamom pods or cloves.
Enjoy during the long winter! 1 bottle of wine yields about 2 cups of mulled wine, so double or quadruple as needed for gatherings.
Categories: Daily Art, Words Words Words
Tags: recipe, words
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Christmas Dusk
Tuesday, December 25th, 2012
Christmas Dusk watercolor by Amy Crook
The sky shimmers between a dusky silver-grey and a lighter blue-violet, fading lighter as it gets closer to a horizon filled with cheerful Christmas trees in all shapes and sizes. The moon is just visible in the sky at the end of the day, helping to light the way of anyone heading to and from their festivities — or their normal, everyday days.
Happy Christmas to those who celebrate, and to those who don’t, here’s to seeing it all vanish again in a week!
Christmas Dusk, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: christmas, iridescent, moon, nfs, tree, watercolor
Fairytale Sky 6
Monday, December 24th, 2012
Fairytale Sky 6 by Amy Crook
This sixth Fairytale Sky painting was another Christmas gift, it seems to be a trend this year! This one’s for a good friend and patron of mine who bought the 1st and 5th paintings out of the series, so it seemed only fitting to paint one specifically for her (as she puts it) “Wall of Amy.” The swirling clouds in this one go from pink to purple depending on the angle, shimmering with a mysterious iridescence that’s just faintly echoed in the moon.
Fairytale Sky 6, 6″x4″ watercolor on paper, nfs.
Fairytale Sky 6, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the way the colors shimmer on the black paper, silver for the stars and pink-purple for the spiraling clouds.
Happy Christmas Eve, or at least Happy Monday. Watch out for wayward Skellingtons impersonating Sandy Claws tonight. ♥
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: black paper, fairytale sky, iridescent, japanese watercolor, moon, nfs, watercolor
Christmas Palette
Sunday, December 23rd, 2012
my holiday palette for a festive season
It seems like most of my “slice of life” posts this week have been art-oriented after all, but it’s been an art-focused sort of week (at least when it wasn’t focused on the sort of client projects that make terrible photo posts).
I wanted to paint something Christmassy to post on the day of, and this is the palette that was left when I was done with Tuesday’s (tentacle-free) art. I used my ridiculously awesome scented Christmas watercolors, so my art table smelled of pine trees as I worked, and then peppermint afterward. And of course I watched Nightmare Before Christmas while I was painting, just to get in the proper spirit.
Soon. Soon!
(And for the record, no, the paint doesn’t still smell of pine once it dries. Alas.)
Categories: Daily Art, Words Words Words
Tags: words
Sherlock on the Light Table
Saturday, December 22nd, 2012
Sherlock on the light table getting wallpapered
I love the wallpaper from this particular wall in 221b Baker Street, ridiculous velvet flocking and all, but it’s definitely not something I’m inclined to draw freehand. I used this same method with the light table to do the wallpaper on my Baker Street Tinies: B is for Baker Street, interior, except there I used a very fine pen for the messy crosshatching. Here I used a brush pen to scribble in the basic shapes. It made sort of a cartoon parody of the original design, much like sulking Sherlock there is a cartoon parody of Benedict Cumberbatch’s iconic portrayal.
I used heart-shaped post-its to hold down the page so it wouldn’t damage the drawing or go slipping all over the place while I worked. I use the same silly hot pink post-its to put handwritten thank-you notes in all my Etsy packages for that extra bit of appreciation.
Now that the holiday madness has quieted down a bit, I’m back at it with art, so next week you’ll definitely have a few new pieces of art to look at. Plus, my Valentines will go up, so you can take a peek at this year’s new designs.
Have a great weekend!
Categories: Daily Art, Words Words Words, Works In Progress
Tags: wip, words
It’s beginning to look a lot like…
Friday, December 21st, 2012
Presents!
I was going to take a photo of the mulled wine we made tonight, but I got too distracted drinking it! So, instead enjoy some of the lovely wrapped presents awaiting their chance to go visit my clients (and never return, heh).
Categories: Daily Art, Words Words Words
Tags: words
Weds Night Gaming
Thursday, December 20th, 2012
I won at Eclipse, yay!
So, if you didn’t already know I was a complete nerd, here’s another brick in the wall. Every Wednesday evening that we can manage it, my BFF and I have a quick dinner and then head over to Endgame in Oakland for their Open Boardgaming. The crowd there is largely into the sort of games most people have never heard of, but which I greatly enjoy. This isn’t Monopoly — for one thing, there’s usually a much steeper learning curve (and a bigger price tag).
We played Eclipse ($100 and well worth it if you’ve got the cash and nerd friends to support it — this is not my copy, heh) tonight with 4 players, which took about 3 hours total including the 30 minutes Jeff spent teaching us the rules at the start. We explored space, colonized planets, and kept our space empires from going bankrupt in our quest for victory points. I played black, and as you can see we started out in four different quadrants and explored towards the middle, and out to the edges. And I won! Mostly because I built 3 monoliths, yes, just like the ones you’re thinking of. They’re worth points in this game! Also, my supernova exploded, but not until the end when it didn’t matter. Whew.
I hope you’re finding time to do the stuff you love to do, with the people you adore, too!
Categories: Daily Art, Words Words Words
Tags: nerd, words
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