can't get enough of the fall

If this is the fall... can't we call spring the rise?

baby is a coming!

upholstery project

What can't you do with a $10 chair...

jarryds Halloween party

I made applepie muffins for the party~

Jarryd's home was decorated SO spooky! Everything from the decorations

to the food was just Perfect!~

still life

I am becoming mildly obsessed with fruit photographic still life's. The farmers market guys think I am the nutty curl haired lady comparing 30 tiny pears looking for the one with the best photogenic qualities.

When you are an art student, still life's became the foundation of all your fine art practices. Charcoal, paint, pencil they breakdown of apples and pears in a space teach your hands and eyes the fundamentals of objects which are occupying a space. Understand this and you begin the process of mastering that concept.

If you think them boring try a peek at some of the simple fruit still lifes of Paul Cezanne. That french guy could take a sheet draped in oranges and explode the canvas with more colors than you ever thought possible on some plain old orange. He was the Valentino of color.

make-up cookies

want a cookie?

Sk does...

Jarryd does...

Mmmm make up cookies!

Well.... they are really made up cookies... anything that resembles a cookie

that is in your cupboard... these came out a bit... muffin like.

but yum~

tolerance

Tuckie is a pretty tolerant guy. A camera shoved in his face any time he is looking 

remotely photogenic and I am clicking away like a loon. 

~♥ little blue ♥~

crisp fall air~ with a dash of old art

sexy skeleton

5 min self portrait

no I am not completely nuts... this was an assignment.

ink wash drawing and you must have something on your head, something in your

mouth and something in your hand.

Ok well 45 degrees is pushing the crisp factor...

Found some of my old college art which has made me a bit sad... think how good I would be now if I had kept at it every day...

rain don't stop

I have decided it would be best for the rain to just keep going. Never mind the floods it would cause or the hassle for most of the metropolitan workforce. I am looking at the rain and imaging that it would bring the wide spaces of prairie and land to me if it would just keep raining. It could take the cars upon cars of cars and trucks and bikes and things and people and move them tidily somewhere else.

And maybe in the spring the grass would come and roll over the hills and surround the trees the rain didn't take. And maybe it would be all I could want.

"TUCKER!"

flick of an ear

"Tucker?" raddle treat-bag

happy birthday kari cupcakes

rain

Everything is energy in one form or another. Its raining today, its pouring. All the energy it takes to create the rain must come from people... why else would it make you want to do nothing more than curl up under your covers and fall into a deep settling sleep... with a smile on your face. 

new hair

Every woman loves having her hair cut. If you don't... then you haven't found the right match between you + salon + stylist. I urge you to keep looking. 

I love the feeling of lightness that accompanies the soft swoosh of scissors. I love the soft piles of hair that fall to the floor, I pretend that I can remember them when they were new and close to my head. How over the months they were present for all the moments of my life in between until they are only fluffy cut mementos of the years of baggage that  I can now leave behind.

sawdust bunny

the gourds... revisited

mason jars

This past year I have developed a mild obsession with mason jars. New and old, big and small. 

I put everything in them. Candy in the old-zinc topped ones and flour, sugar and walnuts in the new ones. 

I have yet to advance to the stage where I use them for their intended use... my Aunt Carrie has no such problem and a few weeks ago gave me a gorgeous jar of summer peaches. 

And now thanks to Tracy Porter's blog: 

(http://tracyporter.com/blog/eating-gathering/tracy-porter-rustic-peach-galette)

I have the most yum yummy recipe to use them in. 

TRACY PORTER RUSTIC PEACH GALETTE

DOUGH RECIPE
1-1/4 C. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 C. ice water

PEACH FILLING
1-1/2 C. sliced peeled peaches
4 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

FINISH
1 egg + 1 Tbsp. water
4 Tbsp. Turbinado (sugar in the raw)
1 Tbsp. butter

WHIPPING CREAM
1 quart heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Whip until you begin to see soft peaks… luscious!!!

Preheat oven to 400F.

Place flour, salt, and sugar into the bowl of a food processor. Process for a few seconds to combine. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles small pebbles… about 10 seconds. With the machine running, add in the ice water slowly. Keep machine running until dough just holds together. DO NOT process for any longer. Turn dough onto a floured work surface, flatten into a disk, wrap with plastic, and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Boil a pot of water. Score bottoms of peaches, add them into the boiling water. They should be pulled out in about 30 seconds and immediately submerged into an ice bath. The peels should slip right off. Slice peaches and place in a bowl along with all peach filling ingredients. Combine well and set aside.

Roll out dough on a floured surface until it is about 1/8 inch thick. Place dough onto a parchment paper covered baking sheet.

Plunk peach mixture into the center of the dough, keeping about a 1-1/2 inch border. Bring border dough up and roughly pinch it together. (No fancy business here… this is rustic.)

Brush dough with the egg wash. Sprinkle entire galette with the Turbinadosugar. Dot peaches with butter.

Bake for 40 minutes at 400F on the middle rack.

I am in love... with Nikon...

Four months ago, per my request... I had a camera purchased for me for work use. 

Cameras are expensive. They come in so many different brands, colors and experience levels, that when you view them in row upon row on pricey lens, bases and accessories that the experience of shopping for one can be daunting.  

Lucky me Indianapolis has a wonderful store called Robert's Photography (www.robertsimaging.com). Here you are exposed to a bevy of experet opinions, products and just plain nice people ready to geek out along side of you about photography...

Since my sleek and sexy Nikon D60 limited gold edition has entered my life... thing just haven't been the same. 

I am in love... with a photography.

More and more I am falling in love with photography. 

I am a graphic designer by day and some of this happened out of necessity when I am looking for visuals for my work. Some of it happend the day I bought a old Kodak Duaflex for $10. 

Photography is newest artist expression in my repertoire. From my back ground of painting, drawing, ceramics and printmaking, photography has been a bit later to come into my life. 

* all images were taken on a Nikon D60

Everyone has a Geeg... right?

It is the wee small hours of the morning, a Sunday morning to be exact. A particular quirk of my character includes a few stead fast rules for Sundays. In additional to being just plan GOOD rules they also help my keep head on straight for the week. 

These rules are:

1. Sleep in. 

Sleep in as long and your body will allow you to, which as we grow older we loose that awesome skill of youth that allows you to stay in bed until 4 p.m. on a Sunday. 

2. Don't wash your hair on Sundays. 

My hair. I could have a entire blog devoted souly to that topic. As it is I will just tell you that I have curly hair and for the few that understand... washing, drying, and styling it becomes a huge undertaking. Which on a Sunday I would just as soon not spend 2 hours (and hour of which is drying it upside down) working on. 

As it stands I am breaking my rules... again... to drive to Richmond, IN. My great friend, neighbie, artist and common partner in crime, Sarah Kate is taking myself and our friend Kari to spend the day at the small towns street fair with her Grandmother more commonly referred to as "Geeg". And Geeg is really fun, all sass and spice and grandmotherly nice. 

So I will break my rules, take in the autumn while I can and take some time for friends. 

~Kelly 

Tucker found the new fall gourds fairly quickly today... and they made quite an impression. 

For the better part of an hour he went from my side to the gourds and back again. Alternating his affection between head nuzzles for me and head nuzzles and small nips to the gourds. 

~Sometimes it would be much easier if my own affections were so easily slighted. 

cats and gourds

salutations

Hello and welcome to my blog! I am a graphic designer and artist from Indiana, who wanted a place to showcase my creative pursuits.

My hope is that you enjoy my work and come back to see what's new.

~kelly

A deep breath of autumn air in to take in the first few days of fall.

I love this time of year, the smell of smoke in the air from leaf piles. Pumpkins and gourds, sweaters get shook out and boots emerge from summer seclude.

I hope you all take the time to smell

the leafs.