Busy, busy, busy!

Wow! As the spring semester took off this week, I found myself with some very intense, but very talented  instructors.  The demands and challenges are high and I'm hoping to get through the next 15 weeks without anxiety attacks. It feels nothing like last semester where everyone was laid back and the instructors were fun to work with.  Oh well, I'm there to learn and get the most out of it.

On another note, my wonderful husband, brother and brother in-law helped to complete the interior of my studio space and installed beautiful french doors! It is not completely finished, but when it is I will post pics!

An exciting little tid-bit, I was invited (again) by Say Si to participate in their small scale art auction.  I'm working on a piece to donate, and hope to have the it ready to deliver by next weekend :)

Did you know that February 8th is National Kite Flying Day? It's one of my favorite days of the year!
I love flying kites, especially on the beach:)

Rockaway Beach Sunset

    Recently, I have had the pleasure in making a new friend on Facebook, Michael Schor. Michael is a photographer taking absolutely stunning photographs of sunrises and sunsets on the shores of Rockaway Beach, NY.  However, before we became friends, another friend of mine on Facebook "liked" one of his photos, (which I loved upon seeing) and asked if I could use the photograph for a project, which he gracefully agreed. The last few weeks I have been working on it and finally thought if I don't stop now, I'll never feel that its finished.

Although I just started painting in the fall of 2012, I find pleasure in it and hope that my skills will grow as I continue on this new journey.   A heartfelt thank you Michael for allowing me to use your photograph!

                                           30" x 36" acrylic

I loved living in Rockaway and waking up to the ocean and the sunrises.  In the evenings I would climb the life guard chair and watch the sky as the sunset!

Happy New Year!

A new day to the new year!!!!

South Padre Island Sunrise  16" x 20" acrylics

Greek Christmas Cookies

Tis the Christmas season with some old fashioned Greek butter cookies!

Every year I make Christmas cookies  for my family and friends in the neighborhood.  I always make the same ones every year, Kourambiedies (Greek butter cookies).  I got the recipe from my cousin Sonia (who has a large family and large circle of friends). The first year I followed the recipe precisely and I ended up by the oven all day making dozens after dozens of cookies!  Since then I have cut the recipe in half and now the  make about 6 or 7 dozen, just enough for my family and friends!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Place

         As this semester comes to a close, we had one final painting to create. Each person randomly picked a word out of a bag and had to create something that represented that word.  I got Place. Place is pretty easy, I could have chosen any "place"  to paint. I however, decided to go a slightly different route of "place".  If your in San Antonio, and it's dusk you can hear them in the trees and across the electrical liens, especially if your at a red light on a corner of any HEB. Some people call them trash birds, others think their evil.  Me, I personally find them beautiful and beautifully social!   My painting is called "Evening Social" and the main character is the Grackle.

As you can see all his friends are waiting for him to join them up on the wire!

Christmas cooking!

       I love cooking during the holidays!  Christmas cookies and treats! Special lunches and dinners for get together's!
      Every year my son's Tae Kwondo school hosts a pot luck Christmas party. This year I was more than enthused to participate! So this morning I got up at 5am and put out frozen Rhodes rolls so they can defrost and rise.  Then a few hours later I started chopping onions, pepper, garlic and cooking Italian sausage.

My contribution this year was Italian sausage & peppers along with dinner rolls.

I usually make my sausage and peppers with marinara sauce but I thought  the sauce always covered the beautiful colors of the peppers. I searched the internet and BAM! I found an easy recipe that had 5 star reviews and looked very tasty! Here's the link if your interested in the recipe.  It turned out REALLY good! (Of course I tasted before I take it to the party! :))

Easy Italian Sausage & Peppers Recipe


Here's my pictures from this morning:

 Rolls rising

 Rolls done!

 Sausage cooking

Sausage & peppers done!

I can't wait until my daughter comes home for Christmas break so we can start cook all the sugary treats of the holidays!

November

        October flew by and November is more than half gone.  I've neglected to post anything on my blog, not because I didn't want too, but because I had nothing to say.  The classes that I have been taking this semester are coming to a close. I've learned new things and I was kept very busy. The supplies for the classes are simple and easy to store, paper, pencils, paints & brushes, unlike my glass.   I have already signed up for spring classes, but my heart keeps telling me to do something else....work on my glass.

         With the holidays coming up, all my glass supplies and tools have yet again been packed up nice and neat and put away out of sight. I dream of having some studio space just to create glass art without having to climb over bicycles, move lawn mowers and other items stored in front of my work table.I want a space somewhere I don't have to deal with the heat during the hot summer days, the mosquitoes in the evenings and the cold in the winter, granted it feels like its 80 degrees today, but I want somewhere I can open the door (and close it), go inside and forget the world while my imaginations takes over.

I think I will be looking for my own space in the spring.........