a week in color {№6}

we are in the home stretch to spring!  i really do like these transition weeks.  goodbye winter.  even though i love your crisp sunny days and coats and soup and stuff, i am ready to feel the warm grass on my bare feet.

you guys, i am addicted to image transfers.  the block above is my first piece where i am partnering my images with bold color statements.

a sweet breakfast table while on the road.  (red truck bakery, warrenton virginia)

yes.  spring is coming.

my collection of vintage art supplies continues to expand.  i see a giant collection photograph in the making.

the napping simon.

a week in color {№5}

in case you don't know, luca would like to remind you that a wire fox terrier won best in show at westminster this week.

that's right, top dog.

it snowed a bit this week. i'm trying to keep it all in perspective, but i am over this winter.  more on the way tonight.

yay.

i love a good sale.  and i could use a few rainbows.

new carnival letters for the gypsy hill meditation altar.  because this girl likes a little funk with her serenity.

a week in color {№4}

the gypsy bed mr. parks made for me.

sometimes when i get homesick, he takes me for roadhouse steak and blues.

i really really like stripes.  rainbow stripes, to be specific.

so....i ate a rainbow sprinkle donut immediately after yoga this week.  just felt like i needed to confess.

other times when i get homesick, i have to paint it out.

i want all of these recycled sari and jute rugs.

a few incredibly talented muralists are painting richmond.  this one is my favorite.  (but of course i have not yet seen this one.)

sunday grace

“i used to think i was the strangest person in the world but then i thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways i do. i would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. well, i hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it's true i'm here, and i'm just as strange as you.” 

-frida kahlo

a week in color {№3}

i am celebrating the end of january over here.  because it was ridiculously cold.  luckily, it was sunny most days despite the cold.  this helped immensely.

it also helped that i spent a lot of time in the art studio playing with paint and stencils and drawing and such.  i am taking mati rose's daring adventures in paint and i am loving it.  i especially love the weekly assignments to seek out color.

even on a brutally cold day (you guys, it was no degrees out.  NO degrees!) these happy prayer flags down the street kept smiling and waving.

learning new art techniques means more trips to the art store.  hello happy place.

when the virginia winter gets to be too much for this california girl, i make myself a cup of super spicy mexican hot cocoa, languidly peruse frida kahlo's unbelievably beautiful diary and daydream of the sun and the color and the spirit of mexico.

i was doing a bit of organizing and ran across the little yellow cloth bag of mia's old winnie the pooh game pieces.  a kind woman gave them to her while we were at a yard sale when mia was four or five (which was a good thing because i had no money to buy them at the time).  there was never a board or instructions, mia just made up her own rules each time we played.  these pieces are so old, they are made of wood and paper, absolutely no plastic.  i love this happy colorful memory.

it's time for soup

for me the only thing more comforting than wrapping my hands around a hot cup of soup when it's eight freaking degrees outside (this week in virginia we are between the second and third polar vortex of the season which are seriously testing this native californian's cold hardiness) is the actual making of the soup.  i am one of those people who gets all zen when it comes to chopping and dicing and sauteing and caramelizing and simmering.  i want to convince everyone to never ever ever eat canned soup again (because ew).  plus i love it when the kitchen smells like love.

lentil soup is pretty much my all-time favorite.  i also love a spicy spinach-white bean soup that i wrote about here.  either one can be made vegan or vegetarian or animal by choosing vegetable or chicken broth or even adding in some chicken.

french lentil and potato soup
use organic ingredients if you can, even the olive oil, butter and broth

one tbsp. olive oil
one tbsp. butter
one sweet onion, finely sliced
six cloves garlic, finely diced
two carrots, diced
one-half to two lbs. potato, diced (any kind of potato, skin left on.  i like sweet potato or fingerlings)
one cup french lentils, rinsed (green or puy lentils, they don't mush out like other lentils)
two 32 oz. cartons low sodium vegetable or chicken broth (or six-to-eight cups homemade stock)
two tsp. turmeric
one tbsp. herbes de provence
one tsp. roasted chili powder
one tsp. cumin
two bay leaves
salt and pepper

directions:

• heat olive oil and butter (you can use all oil if vegan) in large soup pot (you may need to add more, you want to cover the bottom surface of the pan
• caramelize onions on medium-low heat (about eight to ten minutes)
• turn heat up to medium-high
• add garlic and cook about three minutes
• there should be a tiny bit of oil still in the pan, if not add a bit along with the turmeric, hdp, chili powder and cumin; stir until spices are incorporated into onion-garlic-oil; season this layer liberally with salt and pepper
• add the carrots, lentils and potatoes and let them cook for a few minutes before you add stock (this is my favorite part, it's so pretty here because i used white, red and purple fingerling potatoes)

• add a bit of stock and carefully deglaze the pan
• add the rest of the stock, stopping at your desired spot on the stew-to-soup spectrum
• bring to a boil
• cover, reduce heat and simmer on low for twenty to thirty minutes
• potatoes and carrots should be soft, but lentils will still have a chewy bite to them
• salt and pepper to taste

curl up, get warm, feel loved.