T Tuesday

 

 Hi Everyone!

 Today is Tuesday and that means a day with Elizabeth and Bleubeard.

 

 I did some baking this week. 

Why? I'm blaming Mae. You know Mae form Mae's Food Blog. A week ago she showed a piece of toasted cinnamon swirl bread with raisins. I don't know why but all I wanted was a piece of that bread. I had to get a few things at the store and put the bread on my list. OMG!!!!! There is only one brand and I don't even remember what brand name it is. The price was just under $5.00 and the loaf had 14 slices of bread! Uhhhh no way. I will go home and bake my own.

Yes, my loaf is crooked but who cares?

I have to tell you this recipe is by far the best bread of any kind I have made. 

First the rise was perfect. 

I baked it in a large loaf pan that has this design on the bottom

Here is the inside. Mr. M. doesn't like raisins but he told me to go ahead and put them in. He ended up liking them.  The crumb is also perfect.

Toasted with butter and I was in heaven. (sorry about the shadow)

Since I made this on our anniversary we have named this, 

"Anniversary Bread."

 Here is the recipe.

This makes 2 loaves or one big one.

You will need;

3/4 C warm water 110°F

2 1/4 t active dry yeast (1 packet)

1/2 C milk warmed to 110°F

1/3 C sugar, 3 T butter melted

1 egg room temperature

4 - 4 1/2 C of APF

1 1/4 t cinnamon, 1 t salt.

Filling

1/4 C sugar, 1 T cinnamon.  

Place water in mixing bowl and sprinkle yeast over the top. Stir gently to combine. Let stand 10 minutes until the yeast is foamy. Beat in milk, sugar, butter and egg on low with the mixer. On low beat in 2 C of flour until mixture is nice and smooth. Continue adding flour, salt, and cinnamon a little at a time until the dough is smooth. You may not need all of the flour. Switch to a dough hook and continue mixing for another 5 minutes. Or you can knead by hand.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for up to 2 hours or until it doubles in size. Punch down and knead just a few times on a lightly floured counter or cutting board. Roll dough out to a 9x20 inch rectangle. The narrow end should be as wide as your loaf pan. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and then sprinkle over the dough. At the narrow end start to roll up the dough tightly. Pinch edges well to seal.

Tuck the ends under slightly and place in a pan that was sprayed with butter flavored oil. Cover and let rise another hour or until double. P

Preheat the oven to 350°F 180°C.

Back for 30 to 40 minutes. The inside temp should be 195° Or you can test the loaf by tapping on it, when is sounds hollow it is done.  Let cool in the pan 5 to 10 minutes before transferring it to a rack. 

I made a huge loaf, I had to bake mine for 60 minutes. 

If you try this you will not be sorry. Let me if you do. 

 

My drink for today is, 

I haven't had a 7up in I don't know how long. It is so refreshing. 

Have a great Tuesday.
 

 Nicole 

 

Monster Monday

 Welcome to

I have been busy, busy, busy. I'm feeling very well these days and it is a joy to get things accomplished without pain and everything else lupus has to offer. LOL

I spent some time on Night Cafe. I mentioned awhile back that Night Cafe AI image site changed just about everything. Most of all things change for the non paying people, like me. It now takes so long to have an image generate that it's frustrating to create there. However, the other night I did.

Monsters for today.

 

 

 

Here are a few pretties.

 

Just because I feel a bit witchy.

 

That's it for now. 

Have a great Monday.

 Nicole

Sunday in the Art Room (SITAR)

 Welcome to  

 

SITAR is about ANYTHING art. Your art, someone else's art, writing, photography, the art of cooking, the art of sewing and textiles. Sharing historical art, street art, a story about art. Do you have a question or need help with art? Write a blog post and link it up here. We will all try to help with it. My only rule is that if someone asks for critique it must be done with generosity and consideration. This is a place of learning, encouragement and inspiration. 

 

Before I get started yesterday Mr. M. and I celebrated 46 years together. 

Wow! That went by so fast.  

  

Now for SITAR. 

 

Today I want to introduce Marjorie Strider. Pop Artist

 

When we think about Pop Art the names that come to mind are Andy Warhol or Roy Lichtenstein. Women Pop Artists remained behind the scenes,  for one single reason.  The art scene of the time promoted the myth of the male "artist-as-genius," sidelining women into the periphery of galleries and museums. Art critics often trivialized female perspectives. As art historian Lucy Lippard noted, male artist making work about the kitchen or household items was seen as pioneering Pop Art. Where as women doing similar art was dismissed as "cute" or domestic.

 

Marjorie Strider was born in Guthrie, OK. January 26, 1931 

Marjorie knew at a young age exactly what she wanted to do and that was to make art. Later in her life in an interview she stated. 

"I never wanted to be anything but an artist." 

Girl with the radish 

 

She pursued her passion formally by studying art at Oklahoma State University and the Kansas City Art Institute in Missouri where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree. After college Marjorie did moved to Knasas City and spent two years designing creative commercial window displays for the Robinson Shoe Company. She said this experience helped her hone her understanding of spatial design and three-dimensional forms.

Tierra del Fuego, 1982 Mixed media sculpture with aluminum, acrylic, glitter and sequins.

216x140cm   Galerie Gmurzynska 

 

As Marjorie began creating large instillations she moved to using  urethane foam.

This medium allowed her to cast much lighter, bulbous, and free-flowing organic shapes—such as oozing liquids or exaggerated anatomical features—that could protrude multiple feet out from the wall.

 

 

Installation view of the exhibition "Marjorie Strider: Tower Project" at the Clocktower

February 26 - March 13, 1976. MoMA PS1 Archives, I.A.50. The Museum of
Modern Art Archives, New York. INPS1.46.2. Photograph by Jonathan Dent.
 

In 1957, she moved to New York City. By the early 1960s, she grew incredibly bored with traditional, flat canvas painting. To break the monotony, she began experimentations she called "build-outs" attaching wood, cardboard, and Styrofoam to her paintings so the imagery literally burst out into the room. This unique hybrid of painting and sculpture caught the attention of the mainstream art world and launched her into the legendary 1960s Pop Art scene.

 

 

Marjorie  applied her artistic concepts to everyday consumer goods and nature. She crafted oversized pieces, like structural radishes and asparagus stalks rising off the dark backgrounds. 

Venetian blinds buckled and warped by flowing blue matter and Coca Cola cans pouring out thick solid waves of pink foam. Through these build-outs, she humorously attacked the male-dominated status quo of Pop Art. She actively changed how viewers interacted with space and form.  

In 1964, Pace Gallery, in New York, set up and exhibit with Marjorie alongside Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. The landmark exhibition titled, "The First International Girlie Show" opened in January. The group show was highly coordinated, tongue-in-cheek artistic statement that brought together 10 prominent Pop artists to explore the theme of the American pin up girl. 

 

Instead of being overshadowed, Strider actually became the standout star of the show.

Strider's comically provocative build-out painting, Girl with Radish, was chosen by the gallery as the official banner and marketing image for the entire exhibition. 
While the male artists were painting pin-ups from a position of voyeurism, Strider used her 3D "build-outs" to push the women's physical features into the viewer's space—satirizing the sexual objectification of women and aggressively confronting the male gaze. 

The show was an immense critical and media success, heavily covered by television and newspapers. It solidified Pace Gallery's presence in New York and launched Strider's career, leading directly to two subsequent solo exhibitions for her at the gallery. 

 

Marjorie had a highly successful and prolific 50 year career, though its trajectory followed a path common to many pioneering female artist of her generation.  

 Marjorie Strider died on August 27, 2014 at the age of 83.  

I hope you enjoyed meeting Marjorie.

 

That's it for now.

 

I will be joining Gillena  

It's time to show me your art. 

Nicole 

 

Friday Face OFF Oct. 1

 

Welcome To Friday Face OFF (FFO)

This is the place to show off your face art.

You know, ANY type of face, nature, the face of a flower, photography, drawings, paintings, AI. There just needs to be a face in your blog post, a link back to my blog and please use the image below. 

Thank you.

Happy Friday Everyone!

I seriously can't believe how fast my days are going by. I've been very busy with my special order and did get it finished. I will deliver it tomorrow. This is my face for the week.

 

Neither fully dead nor truly alive, the she-cat belonged to the hollow spaces in between. They had buried her anyway.  Soon she gnawed her way out of the earth, rising with graveyard dirt caked on her face, paws and clinging to the sparse fur she had left. 

 

 

Putrid secretions hardened into thick strands over her lips, cementing her jaw and preventing her from closing her mouth. 

 

She now drifts through the midnight hours, a witness to the ghosts crossing between worlds, searching the shadows for a single gateway back to the waking world.

 

My next face is this guy. He has a long way to go before he is finished.

 

I cut his teeth out so I can mold a dead mouth and make my own teeth for him.

 

 

 This is the first layer of paint. I will show you what he looks like when he is done.  

 

 Last but not least, because I have several more projects going on in my art room, is this lovely. His lower jaw was missing, completely destroyed in the catastrophic car accident. Deep in the swamps, investigators finally found his skull resting right beside the rusted, sunken wreckage of the car he had been driving.

 

 

I also removed his teeth to mold and replace them with better ones. Actually with dead teeth. LOL

 

Those are my faces for today. Now it's time to see a few features. 

 

Essentially Ash  

 

Lisca 

That's it for now 

Don't miss

Sunday in the Art Room.

 

I will be joining Gillena  

 

Now it's time to show my your face.

Nicole