Mushroom Paradise

by on February 8, 2015 at 8:54 am
Posted In: Test

Well I decided to give that Mushroom Pastry recipe from Food Through The Pages. I wanted to try it again for several reasons.

Reason # 1 I had one sheet of puff pastry left over  in the freezer.

Reason # 2 I thought it might be better in smaller portions… and finally

Reason # 3 I couldn’t help wondering what it would taste like adding sausage to the mix.

Any way this batch came out really good. I don’t think the sausage made that much of a difference… In fact I think most of the improvements were due to a longer cooking time for the filling… or possibly from mixing shitake mushrooms with the usual criminis.

I also made a Mushroom Rissoto which came out equally well. I usually have very bad luck with risottos. No matter how long I cook them and how much liquid I add they come out kind of chewy. Happily this was an exception. Wit any luck I’ll be able to figure out what I did right.

mushroompastrey2015-02-07-22.47

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February Sketch Challenge: Day Seven

by on February 7, 2015 at 11:38 am
Posted In: Art

Today’s film draw from the hat was one of my favorite Akira Kurosawa films Seven Samurai.

Based on the you’re only allowed to use your memory rule I was almost tempted to try to merge my vision of this with my vision of Magnificent Seven but that would have defeated the purpose of the exercise.

Anyway, the thing with Seven Samurai is like Citizen Kane in it is so wonderfully complete it’s difficult to find any scene that really says Seven Samurai (without copying the original poster) until I finally thought the best scene would be when the samurai arrive in the village to discover while they are desperately needed they are so, so, so not wanted. And it takes the clownish Kikuchiyo to spell this out to them.

Anyway I’m mostly pleased with this though in hindsight I would have done this as a vertical composition so that I would have had room to show the village and the terrified villagers. Also because faces were done from memory I don’t think I drew Katsushir? bishi enough. Finally before anyone points this out, I know there are only six samurai in this picture… Just pretend Gor?bei is standing in the back of the group.

SevenSamurai

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Friday Museum Sketch

by on February 6, 2015 at 12:37 pm
Posted In: Art

Thunderbird2015020501
Well yesterday was the Seattle Art Museum’s first thursday free day so I went and did an hour sketching there and then went and then and went and did the Pioneers Square art walk. It was raining and yellow rain gear isn’t very practical when you are trying to mingle with the Seattle hipster art crowd.

But back to the museum they had rotated all of the exhibits bringing out quite few new material from storage and because of this I spent much more time looking than drawing and came out with only two sketches. So today’s sketch is of Calvin Hunt’s Thunderbird mask and Regailia. This is the third time I’ve drawn this piece but the first time I’ve drawn in it’s entirety. I’m not sure what I think of it so far. The other two are more accurate but I think this one has more vitality. Anyway here’s the original  from the angle I was looking at it from. See what you think. Thunderbird2015-02-05-18.31

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February Sketch Challenge: Day Six

by on February 6, 2015 at 9:06 am
Posted In: Art

This is one of the times I do not like the random factor of this exercise because if I’d been making my own daily choices on this thing I would not have chosen two Orson Welles films in the same week! The great thing about Citizen Kane is that it’s one of the great character studies in film. The bad thing about Citizen Kane (from this humble illustrator’s perspective) is that’s pretty much all it is.

Sure I can go on for hours about the mes en scene, the amazing cinematography and chiaroscuro but I couldn’t think of an image that said Citizen Kane (at least not in five minutes) sure there’s the Kane for Governor poster and Kane and his partners standing on the newspaper… but everyone does that.

So I’m afraid I phoned it in with a very quick and rough sketch of the Xanadu estate sale.

Kane

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February Sketch Challenge: Day Five

by on February 5, 2015 at 10:07 am
Posted In: Art

“Leave your troubles outside,
So- life is disappointing? Forget it!
We have no troubles here! Here life is beautiful… The girls are beautiful… Even the orchestra, is beautiful.”

For the fifth day of my film sketch challenge I drew Bob Fosse‘s  Cabaret.

I’m a huge fan of Bob Fosse’s work and since most of that was theater it is always a regret that it is impossible to see more. Caberet is easily one of his best and certainly one of his darkest and most depressing.

It was kind of hard to decide what to think Cabaret is about, visually I mean. Joke’s about  Liza Minnelli aside, her performance as Sally Bowles is one of the best character portraits in film simultaneously sexy, fun loving, broken and pathetic It would be very easy to coast on just drawing a pin up of the Mein Herr number.

Ultimately I think Cabaret is about the disintegration of Weimar Germany and the rise of the Nazi Regime with the Kit Kat Club as the last place to go to deny this terrible reality for one more minute before the curtain comes down.
Joel Grey as your host to this happy state of denial is brilliant. Grinning and amoral he comments on these states of affairs on stage through song. Off stage he is mysterious and silent almost acting as Sally’s conscious as he seemingly exists in her peripheral vision quietly mocking her.

caberet

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February Sketch Challenge: Day Four

by on February 4, 2015 at 11:47 am
Posted In: Art

I confess based on the rules of this month’s challenge I kind of cheated. I briefly looked up a couple of images to refresh my memory on Arab robes and Dromedary Camels for this sketch of Lawrence of Arabia. I think I blew it anyway as I have Lawrence way too low looking like he’s sitting on the camel’s neck rather than on top of the hump. I suppose I could argue that I was trying to fit everything in the page but I don’t think anyone will buy that.

Anyway this is the scene of T. E. Lawrence  leading the attack on the Turkish base in Aqaba which is heavily fortified against a naval attack but open to a land attack since nobody thought anyone would be crazy enough to trek through hundreds of miles of desert to do it.

Lawrence-of-Arabia

 

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