Sea Horses

Sea Horses ~ pastels

Sea Horses is a creation that works in both normal view as well as upside down, because some of the sea horses are suspended upside down.  Try looking at it in both directions.  The sea horses are in bright colorful shades while a backdrop of coral is captured in tones of soft pastels, supporting the highlighted pop of color of its cozy cohabitant.

Solitude

 Solitude ~ pastels

Art is something that has always been an inspiration to me.  At different points in my life, it has been a tremendous means of creative expression.  I have created with art at times when composing at the piano has either needed to put to rest for a bit, or when it is the most easily accessible to me, like when my kids are occupied with a TV show.  I can sneak into the living room and quietly do something creative for a few minutes at a pop.  The vibrant golden color of the character's hair is symbolic of how golden solitude can be, and how we often need solitude in order to feel this vibrancy.  The disproportion of the shape of the eyes however, is symbolic of how solitude without interaction with others can cause us to feel an imbalance in our lives.  We need both solitude and interaction in order to feel fulfilled and complete.

Musical Display Plate

I made this musical plate during the winter holidays in Seattle Washington 2013.  First I drew a musical abstract image onto drawing paper.  I then traced the drawing with carbon paper, which enabled me to paste it directly onto the plate.  The final step of this stage was to paint the plate.

 

The plate before getting burned

After glossing and burning the plate the colors are rich and vibrant.

You can view it from any angle you choose.

Stuffed Bell Peppers - Filling Our Year With Good Stuff

Last Friday, for Valentine's Day, I decided to cook instead of going out to dinner with my husband.  It took me up until the day before to figure out what I wanted to make.  I decided to make one of my favorite dishes - Stuffed Bell Peppers.  I don't follow a recipe, and every time I make it, I try different versions of it; sometimes with ground beef, and sometimes with ground turkey.  Since we've been eating much leaner lately, I opted to go with the ground turkey.  In the past, I have used rice inside the peppers and also served the peppers over rice but this time I decided against any rice inside the peppers, and served the peppers over Spanish yellow rice - Yum!!


Here's Friday's Version of Stuffed Bell Peppers:

1.  Saute sweet onion and garlic with olive oil.

2.  Add ground meat and stir over medium heat until the meat browns.

3.  Add some finely chopped parsley.

4.  Add a can of stewed tomatoes with any seasoning you like.

5.  Add some lemon juice and cooking wine like Marsala or Sherry (I used both).

6.  Add Lawry's Seasoned salt - I don't do measurements, I just taste as I go and flavor to my liking.

7.  Cut the tops off some multi-colored peppers and clean out the insides - save the tops.

8.  Fill the peppers with meat to the rim and place tops back on.  Rub a layer of olive oil on the baking dish (I used a square glass so that the peppers could be closer together and stand up better).

9.  With leftover filling, cover the bottom of the baking pan evenly to balance the peppers - standing up.  Cover with foil or a baking dish top and bake for an hour on 350 degrees.

10.  Towards the final 20 minutes of your baking time prepare any type of rice you'd like to enjoy with this dish - I did yellow rice this time, but I have served the peppers over white rice before as well.  If you do the yellow rice, be aware that some packages are pre-salted, so you may want to go light on the seasoned salt for your meat preference.  Serve with a nice glass of wine, and enjoy!! 

Let me know if you try this recipe and if you enjoyed your experience.  If you've made this type of dish before, feel free to share your favorite recipe with me.

Cheers, 
Lily

Seaweed

My acrylic paintings are some of my earlier works from around the year 2000.  Seaweed was my first painting done with acrylics.  I started painting it during the time that I was absorbed in my doctoral comprehensive exams, back in 2002, in Music Composition and Theory.   I needed to have a creative outlet that was not the same as the one I was dealing with all day long.  The painting emotes the state of mind that I was in.  The interlocking weeds capture all of the details that I was memorizing and all of the information that was being compressed into my then very busy head.  From the beginning, I naturally liked the idea of a still image with an illusion of being in motion.

Seaweed ~ acrylics

The seaweed interlaces to form a multidimensional denseness.  Silver and copper metallics give a pop of highlight to the more muted tones of beige and lighter purples.  Dark purple gives a contrasting effect by providing a focus to the eye.  The dark purple seaweed intertwines upwards, resembling hands and fingers trying to break out of the interlocking density, unraveling from it and pulling themselves upwards and out into the light.