A New Look

Hello! Yes, it's still me, you're not on the wrong blog! I just finally made time to get rid of the old template I was using and made my own header image. It will most likely change again, since it is obviously NOT 'drawn', let alone 'redrawn', but I love this photo of one of my bud vases and it seemed a good choice for playing and learning.

Cookie Party!

I'm a bit late in posting this, but here are some photos from our First Annual Cookie Decorating Party. Paula, who has much better pictures than these on her blog if you'd like to see them, taught us all how to decorate sugar cookies like a pro.

Making cookies is so much better with a glass of wine handy

That's melted chocolate! Feel the cavities forming?

Paula showing her detail techniques. Betcha can't tell which ones she decorated and which ones the rest of us attempted!

Katherine proudly displays her 'Whale', formerly Santa carrying his bag

Some of my Snowflakes got dressy, too!

I also brought my cookie press and showed our friend Katherine how to use hers. My mom always made just this one kind of cookie for Christmas, "Snowflakes", using her mom's old metal Mirro cookie press. A few years before mom passed away, she bought Mirro presses for me and my sister - identical to the old one we always used. So now every year I make at least one double-batch. The recipe, which came with her mom's press, uses cream cheese, orange rind and cinnamon, and I'll share it with you!

SNOWFLAKES
(aka The MacGrogan Family's One & Only Christmas Cookies)
Note: uses a cookie press

1 cup shortening (we always use half butter, half Crisco)
1 3oz package cream cheese, softened
(we always double recipe and use a whole 8oz package)
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon finely grated orange rind
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (give or take 1/2 a cup or so – see note*)
1/2 teaspoon salt (if using salted butter may want to use less)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (we always use more `coz we like it!)

Oven at 350˚

Cream shortening and cream cheese together. Add sugar and continue creaming.

Beat in egg yolk, vanilla and orange rind, cinnamon and salt.

Add flour about a cup at a time & mix & mix & mix! The consistency you want is soft dough just past sticky.

* My Mom’s note says: “I double this recipe and use less flour, maybe half a cup less. You want the dough firm enough to hold well through the press, but not so
stiff they end up hard. Takes practice!”

Fill cookie press and form cookies on ungreased cookie sheet. Decorate if desired.

Bake 12–15 minutes, or until edges are a medium brown color. Remove cookies to a flat surface asap. Allow cookie sheet to cool before pressing more, or they’ll not stay put on the sheet.

Enjoy!

Blasts from the Past!

I just went through my old t-shirt designs from many years ago when I designed shirts in Florida (hence the abundance of fish) and thought I'd share some with you! Wish I had all of my old designs - I know there were some good ones that I never got a print of. These are from the pre-computer days, so they're hand drawn and hand separated - no clip art here, Mateys! (I know, I'm confessing my age with that statement).

By the way, the silver and/or gold glitter ink was not my idea....

Rudolph's Second Cousins Twice Removed

Took the Grey-babies to Charleston's Farmers Market on Saturday, where they were a big hit in their sweaters and antlers. Thank you, Brenda, for keeping us warm!

Plein air painters painting in the park pics!

Well, due to a bad memory DIMM in my beloved Mac I've been struggling to do much of anything in Photoshop/Illustrator/Firefox. Turning the computer off for a night seems to have helped, though, (shhhhh, don't say it too loud!), so I'm finally posting these from about a month ago!

These are from an annual plein air fundraising event in downtown Charleston. It was really inspiring to see other artists at work and chat to them. Some were really friendly, some not so much. I especially love to see underpaintings (my friend Paula is laughing, I know, 'cause I keep on about underpaintings!). Some artists brought props, some photos, and some just picked a spot and started painting what they saw. Here are a few of my favorites:

Nathan Durfee is a talented local illustrator and prolific painter, and his imaginative artwork and sense of humor always makes me smile! Nathan's definitely one of my favorite painters in the area, and he's always nice to talk to.
Robert Lange's gallery on East Bay is my favorite art gallery downtown. Robert's portraits and trompe l'oeil are lovely, and Nathan shows his work there, too. There are a lot of art galleries downtown, and so many of them have typical Charleston-area scenes: Rainbow Row, palmetto trees, swamp views. Some of these are nicely done, some are not, but it's refreshing to go into a gallery where there is not a palmetto tree in sight except for the ones planted outside.

Robert should win the Neatest Pallette Award!

Having said that there are an over-abundance of 'Charleston area' scenes in the galleries, here is the one artist who can paint Charleston scenes and make me want one. Jennifer Smith Rogers' colors are so beautiful, and her style is just the right mix of realism and looseness (is that a word?). In any case, I love her work, and she's very nice to chat with, too!

Rhett Thurman brought a model - I think she was the only one who did.

Simon Kenevan and I talked about England, where he's from, and how he ended up in the US.