Happy Friday with some Pumpkin Scones!

Normally when asked to contribute to a faculty/staff breakfast, I offer to bring juice or paper goods....But I am getting brave with my baking! These pumpkin scones turned out to be delicious and not too difficult to make. (However, make sure you have all the ingredients so you don't have to dash over to your neighbor's house at 9:30 pm to borrow two eggs) I doubled the recipe and made rather large scones..I think it made around 16-20 big scones!!

Dry Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1/2 cup light brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/4 cup margarine/butter

Chocolate chips

Wet Ingredients:

1 egg

3/4 cup pumpkin

2 tbsp plain yogurt

Combine wet and dry separately....Combine both and mix well--dough will be sticky!

If you want...flour the cupboard and spread it out to 3/4 in thick...Use a biscuit cutter and place scones on greased cookie sheet! (I just used spoonfuls which made them slightly less pretty but no less delicious) Cook for 10-15 minutes at 350.

Yum Yum

Have a great weekend and enjoy the last of the fall colors--Wow!!

Tidbits

Oh Wednesdays...Right smack dab in the mid-week chaos. Despite still being incredibly sleepy, my mind is going a mile a minute making me quite stressy...lesson plans, Sub plans for next week, whether or not the Comcast guy will actually fix our wireless internet box, whether or not the Comcast guy will come too early when none of us our home.....Silly Comcast..

Sidenote on Comcast: Our Internet stopped working two weeks ago and we unplugged and replugged a thousand times only to call Comcast and find out that our wireless box is "EOL" which is the acronym they use that literally means "End of Life"..Shouldnt they have some kind of automatic system where they send you a new wireless box if they have it in their records that yours is literally "circling the drain?!

Ooooooooooooh I really wish I was home in my little art "nook" working on these projects!!

They are all in-progress and surprisingly I am not tired of them yet! The double portrait is a commission for good friend of mine--Christmas present for the brother and girlfriend in the painting. The landscape is a winery in California, also a commission that I kind of want to keep for myself :)

And the last is a quite unusual painting. If you look closely, you'll notice that the painting itself is on unstretched, unprimed canvas taped to my desk. Fall is quickly becoming my favorite season specifically because of color. I've been adding to this painting little by little because the paint really soaks into the canvas and stays a bright pure color, even when you add another color on top. I just hope the paint is not creating a permanent bond with my desk and I'll be able to peel it off when I'm done!

MMM Wings in the Crockpot :)

First here are some pictures of "Three Satin Dresses" and some fellow teachers' works on display at the FCPS Artist Teacher Exhibition! What talented art teachers we have!!! It was so funny how they put the masculine stapled-wood "sculpture" in between my painting and my friend's paintings.. Nice contrast I guess! My least favorite part of the exhibition was the hanging and then take-down at 8am on a Sunday... who scheduled that time slot? PW decided that if /WHEN I enter any more shows, I better check out the set-up/take-down times first :P.
I am very excited to have my painting home safe and sound.
















Yesterday was a fabulous relaxing Sunday! I am not sure what we do on Sundays during the football off season....There is nothing I like more than having people over for a casual dinner party and watching the games. My old roommate came over with her pug, Ellie (snort snort snort) and her new BF (PW had another MAN to hang out with!) . She brought chips and guacamole and a veggie tray+ dip and cookies AND wine! sheesh!

To complete the buffet, I made wings in the crockpot--YUM. It is my latest crockpot endeavor. I have followed recipes in the past courtesy of two fabulous crockpot cookbooks, but created my own simple concoction this time.... First I browned the wings in the broiler--about 5-10 min on each side... Then I put them in the crockpot and dumped a mixture of buffalo wing sauce, bbq sauce, and garlic (of course!). I also but jalapenos in the bottom to add some spice. Onions would have been yummy too but I was lazy... .

They were done in 2 hrs and made the house smell SO GOOD! If you want them crispy, I guess you could put them BACK in the oven to broil for a little time on each side.... I wish I had leftovers!

Ok time to grade stacks and stacks of projects from last week!

At a Cafe in Italy :)

This time of year I start getting a little restless....And some of the paintings I'm working on don't help the situation...I can honestly say I have extensively traveled around mostly the eastern United States, not to mention Canada! I have been to Vermont, Pennsylvania, Florida, Missouri, Texas, Ohio, North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia (obviously), New Jersey, Illinois, Indiana and Delaware. To earn the title of "international" traveler I have indeed been to Niagra Falls (does that even count?...)and Toronto!

However I have decided that via my paintings for other people I can add a few more places to my list. Through some commissions, I have been to Ireland, Scotland, wineries in California, a ranch in Wyoming, and most recently, a cafe in Italy. It is a work in progress and is a wedding present for a co-worker and her husband who enjoyed a Mediterranean cruise for their honeymoon this past summer! WOW! More in-progress photos coming soon....

School Mural and then some!

Perhaps I should stop teaching and become a school mural artist!! This is the biggest painting I have ever done by far, appropriately elementary! And I must say having to paint standing in that small bucket lift high above the gym floor is a little unnerving!!

Other recent projects include these two darling dog portraits for Etsy customer that commissioned the Ducati motorcycle painting pictured in a previous post. Check out Cujo, Lobo, and Sadie May :) Now I kind of want a Yorkie...Somebody stop me!

I have so many different painting projects going on at once--Hope to post images of them soon! The fall-Christmas season is rather busy for painting...

Teaching, Painting, and High Hopes!

Where did September go? Wasn't it just yesterday that I was posting only my second post about the beginning of summer and the excitement of the summer months ahead?!

So begins another school year and after the semi-lazy days of summer, I welcome the chaos of a daily routine, lesson plans, interesting child behaviors, and attempting to fit some creativity and painting somewhere between 4:30 and when I fall asleep at night.

This time of year always forces me to reflect on various topics...Maybe it is the lovely fall colors and the cool clear air that provide so much artistic inspiration....Or the way some of my students act that make me, heaven forbid, want to thank my parents for raising me the way I did...Or the beginning of another school year reinforcing the fact that I am indeed a successful, independent young adult already in my 3rd year of teaching (where did the first two years go?) paying my own bills....AND in an awesome and promising relationship, I'll call him PW!....AND even squeezing in enough time to sell artwork here and there......please excuse my lack of sentence structure!

Coming soon..... Some portraits and landscapes already being completed on commission for Christmas presents!!! And of course the daily antics of my creative and crazy young students. And maybe some book or movie recommendations and yummy recipes!

And now I am ready for the weekend, heading out to meet coworkers for an after-school "staff meeting" at an alternate location that serves yummy beverages and appetizers!

Have a good weekend!

Summer has begun= more ME time!

So, Ive been following blogs and reading blogs and have neglected to update mine since my first post in, oh, January. My last day of school was June 19th but I feel like I have been a whirlwind since then!

In a week and a half I have been up to Vermont for a wedding in a Cruise America RV with my BF, sisters and brothers-in-laws. Then to a cabin in PA with family and cousins for hiking, canoeing, and campfire sing-a-longs. Top that week off with a night out in Pittsburgh with my cousin, and end in Annapolis to relax with my handsome BF. These last few days in Alexandria have been welcome rest and relaxation. Time to go to the library, grill out on the deck, lounge at the pool, and even finish and ship this painting.

This painting features a Ducati bike "posed" in front of McKenzie Pass in Oregon. What a beautiful place it seems! I will have to go there some day. The fort-looking structure in the background is supposedly built entirely of lava rocks--wow!! It was an alchemy request on Etsy, an anniversary present for a husband who apparently wanted more "manly" decoration in the house! This is actually the second motorcycle painting I've done and I must say the balance between nature and machine makes for a great painting. Here's the other motorcycle painting--done for my sister and brother-in-law! (Prints are available on my Etsy shop.)

Well, I do beleive it is time to paint, or go to the pool, or read a good book--the possibilities are endless! Oh the perks of being a professional educator. Check out my Etsy shop to see more of my work. Updates coming soon!