Mabel's Molasses Cookies

I am baking my favorite Molasses Cookies for Art Crawl. I found the recipe years ago in an older edition Better Homes & Garden cookbook. I saved a worn copy of this cookbook from being tossed when my mother moved years ago. I've since have started a small collection of old cookbooks. I love the ones from the 50-60's, because their illustrations are rather comical now--and they remind me of my childhood.

Now there is a painting to go along with the recipe! I had completed the whole painting, but was trying to come up with a plan for the background. I felt the woman looked very domestic and then creative inspiration hit! I decided to incorporate the cookie recipe in the background. I decided to name the piece Mabel was a Domestic Goddess (she seemed like a Mabel to me).

My creative wheels were still turning. I was thinking that this would make a great commissioned piece (and a great gift that will remain a keepsake for years to come!). If you have a treasured family recipe, I could use that recipe in the background. 

I am not trying to do portraits, but would certainly be open to some input on colors... Each piece would be unique. I think it would even be awesome if a broach/necklace with special meaning to the recipient could be incorporated in the piece (otherwise, I have a stash of vintage pieces).

What do you think? This piece is 10x20 (offered at $125). I was also thinking of offering it in a 12x24 size (offered at $150). I will have this piece on display during the Art Crawl and will be accepting commissions. Following Art Crawl, I may throw it out there on Etsy!


Let me know if you're interested! Oh, and here is the recipe:

MABEL'S MOLASSES COOKIES


Mix together thoroughly...
    3/4 cup soft shortening (shortening!...that indicates the age of the recipe!)
    1 cup brown sugar
    1 egg
    1/4 cup molasses


Sift together and stir in...
   (I just mix in my dry ingredients, no sifting!)
     2 tsp baking soda
     1/4 tsp salt
     1 tsp ginger
     1 tsp cinnamon
     1/2 tsp cloves
     2 1/4 cups flour


Chill dough. Roll into balls the size of a large walnut. Dip tops in sugar. Place, sugared-side-up, on greased cookie sheet. Press with fork (or meat hammer). You may sprinkle each cookie with a few drops of water to produce a crackled surface. Bake at 350-375 for 10-12 min.
   

Hope Garden

With less than a week before Art Crawl, I finished "Hope Garden" this weekend! Working on this painting the past few weeks has helped me escape the stress at work and keep my spirits up. I love working with such bright, intense colors. It measures 24x36--so it is one of my larger paintings. I think it is even more vibrant viewed in person than these pictures show. I will have it on display during the Art Crawl.

Some detail shots--

Painting the stress away

Back to work this week meant dealing with everyone's stress--besides my own--regarding who's going to be laid off, when it's going to happen, what work is going to be like for those still at work...not a relaxing or productive day! 

All the more reason to head over to the studio after work...that and the fact that the Art Crawl is just 10 days away!

The studio is this little place where work stress doesn't exist. Turn on the music (tonight--some 70's Motown love songs), do a little dancing and painting and stress escapes!

Honestly, sometimes there is stress in the creative process...the stress of not being sure of how to proceed with a piece or if you even like what you just did...but that is a very different stress...

Thank you for your words of encouragement...One of the things I didn't expect when I started this blog was to build a community of friends and fellow artists that I could turn to for much needed support...it really does make a difference...and it gives me hope.

(The painting is not done yet...but I'm determined!)

Painting hope

Those of you who are friends or have been reading this blog for a while (not mutually exclusive groups by any means!) know that my day job is being a social worker at a small nonprofit agency and that this past fall my agency was within hours of laying folks off. (If you are new to my blog, you can read about it at this earlier post or by clicking on the Southside Family Nurturing Center label).

We've been waiting these past few months for the county that contracts with our agency to release the new specs for our future contract. It was supposed to be released in March, but we were not really surprised that it was not released on time. 

Over spring break, our director received an update from the county. Yesterday at a staff meeting our director shared the news that basically the county does not have the new specs ready but the county has informed us that starting July 1st they intend to cut our monthly budget allotment in half! The bad news doesn't end there. The new contract proposals don't look to favor agencies such as ours.

The bottom line is that staff will be cut...soon. At the end of the month we will have more news and shortly thereafter layoffs will likely be announced. At this point it looks like 5-6 people will lose their jobs. With the 2 positions recently vacated this is 20% of our staff.

It's hard hearing this kind of news as you're heading home for the weekend...definitely puts a damper on weekend festivities. I'm taking in the news, trying to digest it, not quite ready to take action. 

Except I knew that I had to paint. And I knew exactly what I had to paint. I had to paint Hope. I went to the studio on Friday night and started painting a new large piece that I had dreamed about at the end of Spring Break. It is bright and colorful, full of flowers and life. 

I will be busting my butt to finish this painting in time for the Spring Art Crawl (just 2 weeks away!) I worked on it for several hours today. It is similar in nature to the whimsical winter paintings that I started working on in early winter--when I was first dealing with the possibility of losing my job.

I read somewhere that in these tough economic times people are more interested in art that expresses hope and optimism. I don't know if that is true, but I know that I sure what to paint work that reflects hope. I want to paint with bright, vibrant colors. I want to paint things that make me feel better. Hopefully others will feel more hopeful when they look at my paintings.

 

 

From this to ...

Last time I posted a picture of this painting, this is what it looked like. Still not done. Well, I finished it this weekend and now it looks like this:

 

Not the best picture--I took it at the end of the day when the light was starting to fade. I'll post another picture soon. I didn't finish the whole series, but I'm getting there.

I couldn't help myself...this morning I had tons of painting energy and I started work on a painting that's been "in my head" for a while. It's actually 3 paintings that go together as one painting. Three 10x30 canvases. Here's a look at the start:

 

Alas, it's back to work tomorrow. My painting vacation is over!

A week for painting!

The holidays are over, but I still have a week of vacation...and this week I'm planning to be in the studio as much as possible! Saturday and Sunday I continued working on my whimsical winter paintings. I'm not quite sure how I want to finish the above painting, so I'm letting it "sit" for a while.

 

Two others still in progress. I actually have more done on the painting above, but need to take more pictures.

These winter paintings are meant to be fun and colorful--a welcome break from the reality of what winter is truly like here in the frozen tundra. When I look out my window these days, I see white and more white. I miss color.

  I have lots I want to accomplish this week. I would like to finish this series and work on some others as well. Today I returned to working on my Womanspirit series. Very different subject matter and very different color palette. 

Who knows what I'll work on tomorrow!

In the Spirit of the Season--the painting!

After writing the earlier post, I headed to my studio to do a little painting. It wasn't too cold (by Minnesota standards--anything above 20 degrees is mild in December/January) and the fresh snow that had fallen overnight added to "it's almost Christmas" sort of feeling for the day. A nice feeling to take into the studio.

I threw in my James Taylor holiday CD and went to work. Remember these?

  

Can you match the one in the group photo to the final product pictured above? There's been a lot of changes along the way.

 

 

 

Adding all the details and working in these vibrant colors (which happen to match the colors of my studio, by the way) is such a spirit lifter. Really, I could work round the clock to finish this series. I wish that I had started (and finished) these earlier--because I think they would have made great holiday gifts (I dream of making a sale...LOL!) But I'll be ready next year!

The good news is with the next few weeks off, I will hopefully have the time to finish this series along with other paintings. I would rather paint than shop...but I need to do some of that still too!

I'll be posting more pics of the other paintings as they are finished. Stay tuned!

 

 In the Spirit of the Season

16x20 - acrylic on stretched canvas

$125

Sunday at the studio

I woke up with a sinus headache this morning, but was determined to get to the studio to do more work on my whimsical winter paintings. A little coffee and tylenol and I was ready to go.

I went to work--moving from canvas to canvas. First I did another layer of green on the lower part of the painting. I was working on so many paintings at one time that I laid the canvases on the floor while  I was working on another.

 

One of the best things I ever bought while taking college art classes was my porcelain palette. It provides a wonderful surface area for mixing colors and also cleans up easily. 

At one point I looked down at my palette today and wanted to paint it! I love mixing colors!

 

I focused primarily on the smaller 11x14 paintings today. I ended up going a slightly different direction than I originally intended--the green lower part was changed to white "snow" and I painted the evergreens in a different style than I originally had planned. And I had fun using glitter on these paintings. I'll be taking better pictures when the paintings are finished.

Unfortunately, it's back to work tomorrow...that means it's back to trying to squeeze in painting time around work.

 

 

Back to the studio

Thanksgiving over--time to hit the studio! I headed to Michael's early this morning to take advantage of some sales. That was all the inspiration I needed to get to the studio! I headed over before noon with a plan to start some holiday-themed paintings.

 

I started four 11x14's, two 16x20's and one 18x24. Painting is all about laying down layers of color and it is much more efficient to work on multiple paintings at one time--especially if it's a series of work. 

I got a lot done, but have much more to do. I hope to have these paintings done for First Friday next week. 

I'll be heading to the studio early tomorrow!