The Portneuf Project

Over a year ago the Portneuf Medical Center, looking for art for their new building, put out a call for artists to submit portfolios for consideration. I was fortunate enough to be one of twenty-five local artists whose work was chosen. The new building is huge, requiring big pieces, pieces bigger than I have ever painted. But when asked if I could reproduce one of my portfolio submissions on a massive scale (40 in. x 60 in.) of course I said YES!

There were many challenges in this project, the least of them actually painting. A regular full sheet of watercolor paper is 22 in. x 30 in. and prior to this project I had never done a painting larger than this. But I had an over-sized roll of watercolor paper, forty-eight inches wide. Before taking the commission I had to measure the roll to make sure it was large enough for the size required.

Finding a suitable support was the next obstacle. Normally I staple a full sheet to a lightweight board; this allows me to lift, shift and tilt the piece throughout the painting process. This painting was to be almost as wide as I am tall so heavy plywood was out of the question. We bought a sheet of masonite cut just larger than the dimensions of the painting but it was too heavy for me to manipulate. I started calling friends that had done over-sized work and one suggested foam core. As luck would have it our local frame shop had just received two huge sheets, so within an hour I had the perfect support! Foam core is lightweight yet rigid enough to keep the painting from warping too much.

It took my husband and me nearly an hour to measure, cut and mount the first sheet of paper. Watercolor paper is heavy, made from cotton rag and finished with sizing, making it very stiff. Stock this large comes on a roll and it took both of us, several heavy books and a roll of tape to secure it to the support.

I blew the first drawing--centering it too low on the paper--but it did not take half as long to cut and secure the second sheet. The second drawing practically fell on the paper and was perfect. I got a good night's sleep and started painting the next day.

I had some initial awkward moments--being small I had to learn how to carefully manipulate this massive piece. Putting my drafting table at a forty-five degree angle I could reach the top of the piece but the angle proved too steep, causing the paint to pool in heavy puddles and then run. I ended up working flat on a table that I pushed into the middle of the studio. Because I did not have the reach to span the entire height of the piece I worked around the table in 360 degrees and often painted the image upside-down. Physically maneuvering around the painting surface was tricky too, but I put my water, paint and brushes on a rolling cart that traveled with me around the painting.

Iris, fifty percent complete

Once the technical difficulties were worked out, the painting was a dream. Working at this scale was liberating--mixing up giant puddles of intense exaggerated color, then lifting and dropping these saturated hues onto huge expanses of white paper and watching them run and move was a thrill! Every brush stroke was an adventure, every painting session a delight, pure creativity and pure play--I loved it!

Iris, seventy percent complete

And then I was done...and had to figure out how to get this massive fragile piece of paper to Houston, Texas for framing. Luckily I was able ship it rolled up. A quick trip to Lowes and we found an excellent shipping tube--a heavy duty cardboard roll, normally used as a cement form. We rolled the painting in on itself, slipped it into an enormous plastic bag and slid it into the tube. We sealed the ends with wads of bubble wrap and tape. Then I took it to the nice folks at UPS who created a custom made box, complete with two inches of foam insulation, in under fifteen minutes and shipped it off. I tracked this shipment with trepidation and did not breathe easily until I heard from my liaison for this project in Houston notifying me of its safe arrival. Her email said it "arrived safely and was beautiful!"

Iris, finished piece

"As a Complement to Wine"

Risotto

First of all a huge thank you to everyone that joined me for my initial series of cooking classes. Grazie, grazie, mille grazie! I am sorry to have to call a brief hiatus but if you continue to cook with me through this blog I think I can be helpful and keep you inspired. As we move deeper and deeper into the farming season I have less and less time in the kitchen but we still need to eat and I keep a bountiful garden so I will post new ideas and recipes. As always I am posting the recipes from our risotto class.

The "pasta mafia", my adopted Italian mammas would roll their eyes and cover their heads with their aprons if they ever read this recipe! They would scold and tut, and cry"mamma mia" until they tried it and then, even though it breaks with all tradition I think they would love it. It is simple and delicious and I have never met an Italian yet that wasted anything, so I think they would appreciate the economy of time and effort. Whip up a batch of this risotto and while it is in the oven finishing you can enjoy a glass of wine with your loved ones--now that's Italian!

Baked Mushroom Risotto

2 Tbs EVOO

1 sm. Onion, finely diced

1 c. Arborio rice

½ c. dry white wine

2 ½ c. chicken stock, warmed to the boiling point

½ c. cream

2 Tbs butter

2 Tbs EVOO

8 oz. assorted mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

Pinch of thyme

1 bay leaf

¼ - ½ c. dry white wine

1 Tbs truffle oil (truffle oil is totally optional)

½ c. Parmesan, freshly grated

2-3 Tbs Italian parsley, freshly minced

Preheat oven 425.

Film the bottom of a large stock pot with a tight fitting lid with EVOO. Sauté the onion until it is soft and translucent, taking care not to let it brown. Add the rice and stir to coat all the grains with oil, keep cooking and stirring until the grains become translucent. Add the wine and stir, cook until the wine is almost completely absorbed. Add 2 c. of the stock and stir, heat to the boiling point. At this point cover the pot and slip it into the oven. Bake for 12-15 min.

While the rice is cooking film the bottom of a large sauté pan with 2 Tbs EVOO and 1 Tbs of the butter. Add the mushrooms and a bit of salt and sauté over med. high heat. When the mushrooms have softened and browned a bit add the thyme and bay leaf, cook a bit more and deglaze the pan with ¼ c. wine. Continue cooking until the wine is nearly absorbed then add the stock. Heat the pan just to a high simmer lowering the heat just before the boiling point. Add the truffle oil and hold this pan at a low, low simmer.

Check the rice, it should be “al dente”, soft but with a firm middle. When it is al dente remove the stock pot from the oven. Add the warm mushroom mixture, 1 Tbs butter, cream and Parmesan and stir, adjusting the liquid level as needed. (Risotto is perfect when the rice is al dente nestled in a silky sauce.) Serve immediately in warm bowl finished with fresh parsley.

Since we were exploring the Italian side of rice I opened class with some grown-up rice crispy treats. (Actually I have been dying to make this recipe but was afraid to have an entire batch in the house for very long--they are lethal!) Another classic Italian recipe transforming simple ingredients into a rich and exciting treat--that's Italian, no?

Browned Butter Rice Crispy Treats

1 stick butter

10 oz. marshmallows

1/4 t. coarse salt

6 cups crispy rice cereal

1/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Melt the butter in a large heavy bottomed pan over medium low heat. The butter will foam and bubble and then start to turn brown and smell nutty. (This is the only tricky part, do not leave the stove, butter can burn quickly and then you must start over.) Stir occasionally and keep an eye on the butter. As soon as it is golden and fragrant turn off the heat and add the marshmallows. When the marshmallows are melted gradually stir in the cereal, sprinkling in a bit of salt and a few chocolate chips with each turn of the spoon until everything is incorporated.

Press into the bottom of a 9 in. x 13 in. pan, let cool and then BEWARE! This is so good.

Feminism

I just had a piece, Female, accepted into an exhibit to celebrate Women's History at the Transition Gallery on the Idaho State University campus. The show, Forgotten Feminisms: History and Response to Pop Culture, is a collection of multi-media works that portray feminine responses to cultural stereotypes. It is a beautiful and thought provoking show that asks many more questions than it answers. As part of our entries each artist was asked to give some insight on each of their pieces.

Female (inside view)

Female

This piece is about feminine metamorphosis. The imagery suggests an effulgent fecundity shifting in overlapping layers with the passage of time. Cyclical phases of fullness, creativity, beauty and wisdom ebbing and flowing each day, each season, each year. An aging female’s ideals of body image from pop culture are replaced with feminine archetypes—women rich in health, beauty and wisdom. Childhood tales of wise women, female folklore and old wives' tales laying long in dormancy surprisingly surface, spread wing and take flight—laying eggs and sowing seed for the next cycle.

Female (outside view)

Nudes

February 14th we celebrated Valentines Day at the Ciao Gallery in Jackson at the opening of the 4th Annual Naturally Nude show. I entered three pieces into this juried show and two were accepted. Full Moon at Neap Tide was done some years ago when our daughter was approaching adulthood. Imagining her maturity triggered thoughts of my own. This piece is a reflection on the cyclical nature of my life--as female, as an artist. Lightly rendered with very few hard lines, the images are layered and super imposed. Shapes and colors overlap, blend into each other and morph into images, creating depth and mystery--reflecting life and the creative process. The images themselves--the moon, moon phases and stardust--are archetypal. They represent an ever reassuring passage of time, cycles and seasons. The title, female body and moon phases evoke an ebb and flow--a fullness, fecundity, creativity; an emptying, loss and resurgence.

Facing Forward was a study started in a workshop twenty years ago. I pulled it out to rework and finish as a possible entry for this show. It was like stumbling upon an old journal entry, recognizable but distant. Many of the colors used have long since disappeared from my palette and I was stumped by my direct application of paint. I have not worked this way for a long time, it was almost like finishing someone else's work. But I loved the model's unflinching expression, the play of color in the background and a few of the gestural lines laid down in seconds and frozen for decades. I had to finish this piece--painting became a time shifting dance, weaving in and out, tying old and new into a cohesive whole.