Faith

This is one of my favorite photos I took with my new camera! I'm still getting used to manual focus and learning a whole bunch of terms like aperture and ISO and other things. It's hard and a lot of my photos are totally out of focus.

I took this photo on my birthday. It was evening and we were about to start working, but then a friend called, she was really sad and so she came over. For a couple of hours she didn't talk and just set there, being sad and out of it.

Eventually she talked and cried and talk some more. Ned was shooting here in the studio apartment next door, it's being renovated and the workers left the door open. I left my camera in our apartment, and the moment was so intense I didn't want to break it by going out.

We went back to our studio and I did take some pictures. It was interesting and strange to try and preserve my photography style, which was highly effected by the limitations of my old camera.

This picture means a lot to me, it makes me think of how strong my friend is and how, though she doesn't have a lot of faith in herself, I believe that she can can overcome everything, even herself. We are all our worst enemies.

I submitted this photo to JPG magazine, please vote for it here

Illustration Friday - Sail

I really like this week's word! sail is such a beautiful notion and it makes me think of running away and moving fast, I get sick on boats but if I hadn't I know I would love it...

Also, this week's word was dedicated to a woman who died of cancer. My father in law just started another series of cancer treatment, he's been battling cancer for years now, and it keeps coming back. I'm really sad and worried, he's one of the nicest people I know and I really hope nothing bad will happened. I'm angry that he's got to go through it all again. It feels so unfair.

You know how in movies, when some successful business man get sick and have to slow down, he learn to value life and family and understand what's important in life?! Well, he already done all that, and so by movie standards we shouldn't be having this sequel now. But it's not a movie, it's just life and in life people get sick even when there's nothing to be learn from it. He has been extremely positive through all this, and I really admire how he works so hard to keep his routine and not surrender to self pity and a sick state of mind.

I decided that when this series of drawing sales, I'm going to donate the money to the American Cancer society. I guess I just want to feel like I'm doing something and not completely helpless about his illness.

For sell here.

Vases and thought

We are having a difficult day, actually it started really well, I woke up feeling more healthy then I have in 2 weeks, and we were planning of submitting a PDF presentation I made the day before, Ned was making phone calls and sending it out in e-mails to a bunch of magazines.

Later we went into the city for a meeting and grocery shopping in a cool health store. When we got back, Ned went to the gym and I rested, feeling sick again. When Ned got back he was really sad and scared, this whole presentation thing made him really stressed out, he was laying in bed being sad and fell asleep. He's still sleeping now 5 hours later.

So I spend the evening alone, feeling sort of abandoned and lonely, I'm working on a new Suite of Tarot decks, but I just wanted to do something fun and unchanging so I made those little vases.

Black Rice - recipe

First of all I have to say, it makes me really self conscious to blog about food and recipes, I feel like from a crazy sex maniac with a fondness for drinking and life of excitement and adventures, I turned to some housewife who only write about crafts and food. I'm trying to remind myself that I can be both at the same time, also, right now, our eating habits do get a lot of attention, being that Ned had to do an extreme dietary change and we are both pretty committed to that, even though it's really hard!

Saying that, we did both have dessert tonight, Sunday is Cake night, in which Ned's allowed to have any crazy dessert he wants, which always means death by chocolate vegan cake with 2 scoops of Vanilla ice cream in Blackbird parlor.

Before we had that, we had a healthy meal in the studio. I don't like cooking meat or chicken, so I try to include a lot of beans and lentils in the food I make so we get enough proteins.

Ingredients

1 cup black rice (also called forbidden rice sometimes)
1/2 French lentils (they are small and dark green)
1 chilly pepper
1/2 no salt tomato sauce
1 small potato
about 8-15 baby carrots

In a pan, heat the rice and lentils until they are warm to the touch. dice the potato and carrots and add to the heating rice (I used to lightly fry all those with some olive oil, but now I do the same without the oil, it's more healthy, only you got to mind it doesn't burn more) chop the chilly to small bits and add that to.

mix the tomato sauce in 3 cups of water and after the rice and other ingredient are really warm, pour into the pan. when the mixture is simmering, lower the flames and cover the pot. Let cook for about 40 minutes on a lower flame. It's ready when all the water are soaked in the rice (you can also taste to see if it's cooked through).

Turn the flame off pick up the lead and place a clean cloth or towel on top of the pan, then close the lead again, leave for 5-10 minutes to soak the leftover fluids.

I garnished it with home made tomato salsa and some canned artichoke hearts, but any vegetable would look beautiful on this.

Some rice tips: If this is the first time you are making rice, know that rice tend to be tricky, it take a couple of times to get to know how much water to add exactly and how much time to cook. Over all, it's better to put to little water and add some more if all the water in the pan are gone and the rice is still hard then to put to much water and end up with a sticky sort of gruel.

Good luck!

Poof! Illustration Friday

This is such a strange word - poof?! It's not even a word really... It made me think of poofy hair and poofy dresses, and so on the person that represent poofiness more then any other, Marie Antoinette! that whole period in history was probably poofier then any other!

For sell in the store.