Illo Friday – Float

Sometimes life takes mysterious twists and turns and it’s a challenge just to stay afloat.
But what a ride.

Illustration Friday – Empty


This week’s Illustration Friday theme is Emptiness.
The inspiration for my project comes from the story of the Zen matriarch Chiyono.
As the legend goes, she had been seeking enlightenment for years, but it had eluded her, no matter how hard she studied and how diligently she practiced.
One night, she was carrying water in a very old bamboo bucket and noticed the reflection of the moon in the water. As she gazed at it, suddenly the bamboo band that held the bucket together fell apart. In that moment there was no bucket, no water and no moon, and she became enlightened. She wrote a verse about it and this is the popular translation:

“In this way and that I tried to keep the pail together.
I hoped the weak bamboo would never break.
Then suddenly the bottom fell out.
No more water; no more moon in the water.
Emptiness in my hand.”

EDM Challenge – Something you made

Click image for larger
A drawing and recipe combo – a loaf of 9-grain bread … fresh from the oven. I bake the same way I cook – starting with a basic recipe and then improvising. The recipe is below, if you want to try it.

Soak 1/2 cup 9 grain cereal (granular, not flakes) in about 1/2 cup water
Do this about 45 min. before starting to bake.

1.5 cups warm water
1.5 teaspoons yeast
2 TBS molasses
(Mix all the above together in a big mixer bowl with a bread hook. Let it sit until the yeast activates.)

Add:
2.5 TBS soft butter
2 tsp. salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour (add the flours a little at a time, beating with bread hook)
Finally, add the softened 9 grain cereal.
Add enough extra flour, bit by bit so that the dough forms a ball and starts to pull away smoothly from the sides of the bowl while beating.

Keep mixing with bread hook for at least 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and glossy and the elastic-y gluten is well developed.

Turn the dough on a floured board and knead, keep adding a little more flour if it is sticky. Knead it in well.

Finally, put it in a greased bowl, covered with a cloth, in a warm place. Let it rise at least an hour, until doubled. Punch it down, divide into two pieces. Make a rectangle of each piece of dough, and shape into a loaf. Put it in a loaf pan and let it rise again, until double.

Bake at 350 degree oven for about 20 -30 minutes or until golden brown.
Let it set up about 15 minutes before slicing …. if you can resist.

LA Summer Festival Time

Moleskine, Pencil, Photoshop | July 10, 2005 | By


Click for closeup of head

One of the great things about Los Angeles (and other big cities) is the wealth of summer festivals held every weekend. This weekend was the annual Lotus Festival at Echo Park, home of the largest lotus bed in the United States. I photographed and drew for several hours this weekend, enjoying the great variety of faces, like this Hispanic youth, drawn in pencil in my Moleskine, but finished in Photoshop because the thin paper just won’t take wet media. More about the festival and more art in the days to come …

PS. Bean is doing fine. She is now 6 inches tall and living outdoors so she doesn’t get too “rangy” reaching for the light bulb. Very soon she’ll be ready for transplanting.