Scritch n Scratch

We're Having A Show!

2012-02-02T20:09:00.002+01:00

Oh, do stop by! The (in)famous Munich Creative Group will be holding our first 'Pop-Up Gallery' on Saturday, February 11 (see our Facebook Page for more details on this and about the group and to see the logo I designed:) A variety of fine art photography, painting, mixed media, and more exciting stuff like musical performances and some creative writing from some very talented local artists.

I will be showing some of my photos from chilly early mornings and even chillier late nights (see my post on my other blog for a sampling) as well as a couple of abstract watercolors.

We are a diverse, international group telling a variety of stories through a range of media. Some, but not all, of the art work will be for sale. Come by between 2 pm and 8 pm to have a look, for more details, see our poster:

New Year...New Soup!

2012-01-05T22:44:00.004+01:00

So I did mention that this year I would..eat more healthy, now on Day 5, I am ready to begin (burger, check..pizza, check..chilli, check...schoko muffins, tarts, check check) Ready for some yummy and nutritional soup!

I love soup...ever since I moved to Germany about7 years ago. I eat it more months out of the year than not here. Takes a while for me to get tired of it but it certainly doesn't hurt to expand my soup repertoire once in a while. Enter the sweet potato..why haven't I thought of this sooner? (Perhaps because I was inspired by a friend's soup recipe using sweet potato! I'll have to try this sometime too!) But for now I had to get by with what I had in my fridge:

1 large sweet potato
2 carrots
1/2 onion, finely chopped
Chopped garlic (about 1 clove or 1 spoonful of pre-chopped)
1 parsnip (a key ingredient in most of my soups)
Parsley
Ground ginger
White pepper
Vegie or chicken bouillion
About a cup of Lentils

Peel and slice the sweet potato, carrot(s), and parsnip. Saute chopped onion and garlic until translucent, then add chopped carrots, sweet potato and parsnip. Allow to cook about 10 minutes, or until soft (allow to carmelize a bit, but careful not to burn!) Add herbs and spices (you can experiment with this, I did!) Add appropriate amount of water for amount of bouillon, bring to a boil and add cleaned lentils. Simmer for 10 minutes, or longer. Add some salt and freshly ground pepper, and voila...
Of course, in Germany, we always serve soup with bread (not pictured here)...Guten Appetit!

You can leave it chunky...

...or puree it

Got a favorite soup recipe of your own? Share it!

Practicing Photography in chilly London

2012-01-03T00:01:00.000+01:00

Happy 2012! I'm back, with so many ideas for posts in 2012 I can hardly stand it! I will start with my most recent photography lesson. I've been practicing here and there for a while now. I've always enjoyed it when I got lucky and managed to grab a great-to-good shot with my camera, never really having the patience to stop and try to be in control of my aperture settings in combo with shutter speeds, ISO, and all the other stuff one can play around with while the perfect shot is slipping away under your nose...but alas, those day are coming to a grateful (nonetheless challenging) end. I recently snuck off to London for an instructional photography 'tour' with a small company called Hairy Goat as well as a Christmas Lights workshop that same afternoon...what a full, but fun day!

I am only posting these photos as part of my own learning process, not because I think I achieved any extradordinary shots here, but this has been, and continues to be, a learning experience for me as I try to put to an end to the days of flying by the seat of my hosen (I was reminded often by my friend in London that 'Pants' are what you wear under your trousers:) So here are some sample studies:

Panning: After countless attempts, this was the best I got with my nearly frozen hands at this point! Doesn't make sense here to compare to any others since the settings were all about the same and the trick was 'simply' to move the camera in sync with my moving object, Corinna. She did suggest in order to blur motion, to use a shutter speed of about 1/2 second (or slower). So all of my panning shots were 1/2 sec, and ISO 100, f/29-f/36.

Practicing 'pannig' with my morning instructor: Corinna

Zoom bursts: I thought this would come a little easier and would have stayed there all day determined to get one shot had it not been so cold, but this is all I got! Daaaang, this was supposed to be a confidence-booster! Oh well. Maybe we should have set up the tripod for this one. Anyway, it was fun and I really could have spent the rest of the day zooooma zoom zooming around town.

It's about time to wrap this up for now but I will continue analyzing some photos from this trip in another post. As I begin to grasp more and more the individual settings, what takes me longer to process now is the relationships between these settings and the many variables involved each time and place you take the camera out.

Couple shots from the Christmas Lights evening:

One interesting note was that the morning instructor advised using Aperture Priority settings (which has actually helped me learn and see the relationships between settings), but the afternoon instructor advised shooting entirely in manual and only in black & white for a while, while learning (reminds me of my graphic design days back in school...if something doesn't work in b/w it sure isn't going to work in color!). Ok, I get that, but why not use the AP crutch? Well, instructor #2 says because it washes out a lot of your contrasting highlights and shadows, hmmm. One would be able to tell this more easily by looking at the histogram on your camera (which I never did on cameras, but have in photoshop so that made sense). I just hope my subject isn't going anywhere for a while, because shooting in manual was taking me a looooooong time!

***Please, if anyone has comments, advice, or tips on anything I have mentioned above, or anything photography-related feel free to share! *** Thanks!

Get it? Got it, good.

2011-09-08T17:44:00.002+02:00

I recently started, and stopped, maybe just paused, working at a small contemporary art gallery in my neighborhood. I was brought in to help more with the graphic design part of the business (and to help me get back into the business of graphic design) than the gallery side but they are physically located in the same space. So I've had contemporary art on my mind lately when I stumbled upon Shea Hembrey's TedTalk, "How I became 100 Artists."

Just as entertaining and engaging as this TedTalk is to me, is the debate about contemporary art that follows in the comments, so be sure to check this out too if you're interested in further reflecting on contemporary art. Is Shea making a statement about contemporary art? Is what he does brilliant? Ridiculous? Does he even 'get it'? Is anyone supposed to 'get' contemporary art?
For me, this was a humorous, clever and inspiring act. How multifaceted are individuals? How many personalities exist in one person? How many could I come up with (or even better/scarier, how many am I)? It was fun to think about all the identities one could fabricate and where they would even come from.
Also, on the topic of contemporary art, are there or should there be any criteria? What do you think?

Who stole November?

2010-12-01T23:53:00.007+01:00

I guess that's that for Creative Every Day month in November! whah.

I got sidetracked with my 3 weeks of subbing hormone yoga in German..that's a good excuse right? I did study a lot for that. But I also did play around with a few projects, mostly just some fun in Photoshop. Found some new brushes from a magazine I discovered at the library called Docma (don't bother unless you can read German, if you can there's some great freeby stuff like cool brushes and good tips and tricks. I get easily side-tracked, have I mentioned that?

I miss Photoshop. It seems like as soon as I say/think I want to paint or draw, I'm pulled back to the computer and have this urge to explore Photoshop. So I went with it, although it was really with the intent to spruce up some wedding photos since our 5 year anniversary suddenly popped up (ya that's right..5 years already? no way:) and I didn't have one single photo framed or printed from this special spontaneous Monday night on Ft. Lauderdale beach where we tied the knot!

Oh, and it was my nephew's 10th bday so I did his invitations and made a little collage card of all the photos we have from him over the years.. that was fun. The collage was started in shapecollage.com which you can download for free, but you'll want to upgrade (I didn't, just cheated a little) so you can adjust photos and not have their logo blasted across your collage.

I will say that I finally have a nice little set up in my spare room with a desk to actually sit and play at, and I don't even care if it gets ruined! So I'm looking forward to more creative time, even if it isn't every day.. but that is always inspiring to read about (and see) what's happening at the Creative Every Day site and others who participate! Thanks!

Alexie pastel experiment

2010-11-10T15:42:00.004+01:00

So I have now a whopping 2 entries for Art Every Day Month so far..no pressure to do something e-v-er-y day right? Anyway, it was fun experimenting, although I got a little lazy or something after a short time (maybe, frustrated?) with the pastels, but as I reminded myself that I'm not doing this to create anything great..or even good..I'm just experimenting for fun!

I've also been juggling this AEDM with a new endeavor, teaching yoga. I successfully completed a 200-hour intensive YogaWorks program in August, here in Munich (and boy was it intense, but a great experience!). September and October was spent either with visitors here for Oktoberfest, or me visiting places like Budapest, Cinque Terre and Lake Garda in Italy with friends and 'mein Mann' and so I am just now beginning to continue what I have learned in the yoga training and actually begin some teaching. Starting with 'hormone' yoga at my fitness studio, with the added challenge of teaching in German (also a first for me:) We'll see how that goes this Friday for my first class..

Meanwhile I will juggle yoga learning with art learning - every day or every other day..or so! But I'm enjoying both so that's what matters right?!

Alexie sketch

2010-11-05T10:26:00.004+01:00

Dustin off the old blog..feels good! I've decided to participate again, although probably not every day, to the 'Art Every Day Month' challenge. I did it last year, or was it the year before? Oh my... Anyway, getting a little bit of a late start this month, but I have been fairly artistically active this past week. Couldnt get the scanner to work yesterday (I'll never admit to why this was), but now I've got my 1st sketch/project for the month. Its actually just a study for a possible painting of my niece. I was just back in Fort Lauderdale for her 1st Birthday. I don't get to see her so often and she had changed so much. That being said, the photo I used to sketch her is actually from around 7-9 months old. But it makes me laugh- no, she's not cross-eyed but does look it in this photo (and not just in my rendering I swear!)

Maybe I'll work up the courage to actually try and paint this soon, or some variation of it. I don't paint much..actually I don't really draw or sketch much anymore, but that is about to change..again!

Forbidden Joys - Artist's Way

2009-02-23T12:01:00.004+01:00

This topic in my current chapter of Artist's Way (Recovering a sense of possibility) is a little ironic this week as it is Carnival. Only my forbidden joys are a bit tamer I imagine than most party-goers this week:)

This chapter really gets you thinking about what you really want- what you consider to be too crazy to do or go after, what is on your 'wish list', and what images support these desires (time to really visualize what these things look like and collect them into a file). I keep forgetting to do this once I close the book, but now I've written a couple index cards as reminders.

A few examples from my own lists follow.

"I wish"...
- I would get my a__ in the studio and work/play creatively for just a couple hours a day!
- I could help those less fortunate/those who are suffering
- I read more books
- I spoke better German
- I could travel just about anywhere, whenever I wanted to
- I exercised/practiced yoga more often
- I didn't have this crappy carcinoma right on my nose, or at all really
- I were more productive creatively
- I could do something I love and that pays!

"What I would try if it weren't too crazy"...
- Yoga retreat
- Creative (photography, drawing, or painting) workshop/vacation
- Produce and sell my own artwork
- Open a store/gallery/shop of some kind that sold other artists' work
- Dance classes (belly dancing? Tango? Salsa? I dont know!)
- Write a book/stories about my crazy family or my experiences married to a german/italian
- Go back to school

And finally, "Forbidden Joys- 10 things you love and would love to do, but are not allowed to"
- Go shopping (although many times i'm no at all in the mood anymore, I wouldn't mind having a better wardrobe:)
- Sit in the sun
- Get massages/facials/pedicures
- Go to museums and sketch, wander around (ok, I could do this, but for some reason I just dont)
- Ignore household chores
- Move to a bigger/nicer place (or get a place in U.S. and a place here)

That's only 7 but that's enough for now (and I need to think about this some more).

I'll end with a quote from the chapter by Peter Drucker. I often am not aware of the individual behind the quote or would like to learn more about the person, so I'll also link them for more information about the person).
He says, "There is the risk you cannot afford to take, (and) there is the risk you cannot afford not to take. "

Recovering a Sense of Possibility- Artist's Way

2009-02-21T09:21:00.006+01:00

This morning while I was writing my morning pages for Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way book I've been working through, I thought why not post the processes and thoughts I'm working through here. True, I'm on Week 5 (despite having begun this journey last October!) I'm recommitting myself to it and think this will be a good way to do that, as well as retain some valueable points as I find them. So far, I've enjoyed the book: the morning pages, the letting go of the fear to create, the possibility of a more creative life, and learning not to be so judgemental/critical of not only what I create but the process as well. I've pulled out some quotes as I find them (there are many inspriational quotes throughout) and from now on I will post some of those as well as some of the words/tasks that I really connect with.

I'm now working through the tasks at the end of the chapter. But I've jotted down some of the words that I connected with (not necessarily directly quoted):

- If we learn to think of receiving God's (or some other higher power) good as being an act of worship -- cooperating with God's Plan to manifest goodness in our lives -- we can begin to let go of having to sabotage ourselves.

- Synchronicity! (Great word in this process)

- Pray to catch the bus, then run as fast as you can! (Love this, it's not enough just to keep asking the universe for things, you've got to actually DO something about it)

- The desire to be worldly, sophisticated, and smart often blocks our flow. (But wouldn't it be nice to know that you'll get recognition of some kind?? Careful with that!)

- Shake an apple tree and the universe delivers oranges!

- A great quote by Margaret Young, "Often people tend to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then, do what you need to do, in order to have what you want."

Valentine Doodles..and L'Amour!

2009-02-10T09:42:00.008+01:00

Or as they say, so romantically in German.. die Liebe! Ya...

Ok, here are some more Valentine sketches, doodles, and the last batch of cards- finally sent off to my peeps in the U.S. A little corny (I mean, its a corny holiday) but fun too!

Some doodles, this was fun to play in my sketchbook for ideas..while its snowy and rainy outside!

Not just for your printer!

2009-02-04T15:07:00.000+01:00

I'm experimenting with some notecards that I almost didn't buy in the U.S. while I was there last time, but now I'm glad I did. I got them primarily to make some photo notecards, and photos do print out really well on them from my little Canon i560 (inkjet) printer. But I decided to try my red calligraphy marker (that I almost didn't buy too because its not exactly a quality calligraphy writing utensil) but it writes beautifully onto this paper - it produces a very crisp, rich 'print' don't ya think? Faulty/shaky strokes show up more so you have to be very steady, but I like the outcome of the red against the matte white.

The cards are just the Avery 'Matte White Notecards' size 4 1/2 inches x 5 1/2 (set of 60). I don't like the word templates that Avery provides, but its easy enough to plop down a photo into whichever program you prefer to use. I also got a great card from a couple of my Paris photos below. I don't send out that many cards anymore, but my family still likes to receive them so it's worth it to me. (And doesn't everyone still like to receive a card once in a while?)

J'aime Paris!

2009-02-02T20:46:00.001+01:00

I can't believe I left that picture of my ratty old Christmas tree with wieners hanging off it for so long! Okay, I admit, I haven't done a whole lot of creative projects this past month (and I'm only up to April on my homemade calendar)..but i've got to finally remove that nasty tree photo..ah, that feels better.

In place of that eyesore, are a few, hopefully more enjoyable, photos from our Paris trip last weekend. What an inspiring city! Voila..

Happy 2009!

2009-01-07T11:58:00.000+01:00

Time to put the holidays behind us.. I think its official now with the 'redecorating' of our little Christmas tree. Friends at our 3 Kings/12th Day of Christmas Party Monday night really helped us out with this- we got reeeeeally creative with some new ornaments. Its now Wednesday and they are all still there, wilting away, I've just been too lazy to take the whole tree down, but will have to do so later today (still don't quite feel up to the challenge). But I am excited to get back into the Creative Challenge.. I'll try to post something a couple/few times every week for the "Creative Every Day 2009" Challenge, since I liked the idea (and motivation) so much for "Creative Every Day Month" last November- even though I had to stop posting because of holiday travel plans..
Looking forward to much more creativity in the year ahead!

I'm back!

2008-11-19T10:46:00.000+01:00

ooops.. I took a little 'Pause' from posting, but I have been playing around a little in Photoshop trying to make a Christmas card to send to some family members I don't get to see very often. One idea was a wreath of little photos from our trips this year- Kilimanjaro seems to stand out, but I also squeezed in the Great Wall, Barcelona, Davos, and Zurich even though you can't tell where is where. Maybe a little too much infor for one little card!

Then there's a cleaner, less cluttered horizontal format of little photo ornaments. Have also been practicing calligraphy messages, but I won't post that. Maybe I'll post finished card- if it ever is finished! Or maybe you'll receive one in the mail...

Crappy Kili

2008-11-12T18:13:00.001+01:00

I dont mean the mountain is crappy itself, I just mean my uh, rendition, of it (the view from atop here) is. I think I need to take a class, don't know what the H I'm doing with acrylics on canvas. I'll keep trying though, and experimenting- that's what this month is about for me! Maybe a few brighter colors would help! And I know I have to remember to do something about the edges.

How about a distraction- look it's Oscar!

David Sedaris Moon

2008-11-11T13:26:00.000+01:00

On the way home from David Sedaris' book signing and reading in Munich last night, I tried to take a photo of the moon (it was looking lovely). When I viewed the actual photo it looked a bit crazy...but in a good way! Kinda like David Sedaris! It was a thrill to meet him and hear him read some of his hilarious stories!

I know this perhaps isn't the best example for creative every day.. but I really was trying to swirl the camera around for these 'special effects'! If I come up with something better today, I'll post it, but for now this is it..

As you can clearly see here, I was able to write David's name with the moon.

AEDM - Day 10

2008-11-10T16:44:00.000+01:00

I know leaves and drawings and paintings of leaves are a little cliche this time of year, but after witnessing another amazing fall, I just can't help but finally post one leaf. I've been drawing lots of contour line drawings and have enjoyed that process, but today finally decided to 'go out on a limb' and experiment with the dusty watercolor pencils that have been hiding out (unsharpened) for years. I have lots to learn with these, but thought I'd just jump in and try them out. I think my contour line drawings have been better and more interesting, but it was good to experiment with color too.

A tree

2008-11-09T23:33:00.000+01:00

Should have posted this earlier, but thought I might squeeze out something better today..which I didn't so this will have to do! It's the tree that I see everyday outside our bedroom window. It's amazing how different it looks every season and its finally lost all its leaves, so its in full winter mode now (the actual tree is not really this scary looking:) And I've left off a few branches..many branches.

La lala lalalala lala..

2008-11-08T18:37:00.000+01:00

Feeling kinda whimsical..maybe its the cookie dough. Or my new fancy scissors I just bought to play with. And I pulled out an old trick from my past life as a graphic design student when we had every color in nature for markers - and even a blender (non)color, which I seemed to recall us doing interesting little image transfers with. The guy at Kaut Bullinger art supply store in Munich said it wouldn't work but I had to trust my instincts. While its not the ideal method using this marker for an image transfer, and I know many other experienced artists are more familiar with this and other techniques, it was fun just playing around. I think I'll keep this in the back of my mind for future projects though.

The concept of the hands and stars come from my 'coach' who said I should try to contact my future self and see what advice she might offer me at this point in my life... I'm still waiting for her answer, but at least I'm trying to hear her now! Helloooooo?

I also just have to post this video that I love and am totally jealous at the same time of this 'Matt' character! But love his little dance and the people who participate. I can't begin to imagine the stories he has putting this together - see if you find your city! Munich makes its appearance, and it wasn't even raining!! Stride Gum sponsored it all (what a deal for him!) The video makes me all warm and fuzzy inside and I had to buy the song I liked it so much (scroll down for more on that). I'm not able to embed the video right into the blog, so here's the link. It's really worth a watch (but maybe copy and paste otherwise you'll leave this blog and will miss the wonderful poem below...

www.wherethehellismatt.com

The song is called 'Praan' and the music is by Garry Schyman. However, the lyrics are from a poem by a Nobel Prize winning Indian author named Rabindranath Tagore. The English version of the poem is loosely translated from the original, in Bengali, and according to Matt is more of an interpretation. I really like the poem. On his website (in FAQ section) he also lists the lyrics as they ended up in the song - much shorter.

The Stream of Life

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle
of birth and of death, in ebb and in flow.

I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.

Creative Every Other Day..or two..

2008-11-06T22:39:00.000+01:00

While I haven't really been slacking off, I've got some stuff to show from the last couple days.. I have been a bit, surprisingly, overcome with..how you say..pride?!?.. and Hope after the elections. More so than I thought, and I don't recall feeling like this for a long long time. I'm really proud that 'my people' came through and made the right decision. A historic decision that I can only imagine what it was like to be there for Obama's acceptance speech. So, keeping this in mind, please bear with me and forgive me for the following cheese..and I'm not talking mozzarella! For the first time in at least 10 years, I got out my acrylics- and stared at them for a while - noticed how old some of them are (but still squirt paint out!), and with my cheesy but proud self, jumped right to the blue and red colors and reluctantly put it to (scraps of) paper. Not ready to 'waste' a new sheet on experimental stage..

Hold on to your cheesy little hearts... (sorry, I couldnt help it!)

I was also somewhat frustrated with what I've been making (and still am) but am trying to remember that its just play time, and the process is what's important - not the product.

Now for my catchup days.. the weather in Munich was soooo gorgeous yesterday (good excuse not to go to the gym) that I had to grab my camera and go for a little walk and enjoy perhaps the last sunny Fall day. And it was Fun with the Föhn! Föhn is the weather phenomenon that I am grateful for. It brings warm air from the Alps and sweeps through town. People blame anything and everything on it, but mostly headaches due to the air pressure change. All I can say is it makes for a great day! This is in the English Garden a couple blocks from our apartment. Hard to believe that the city and traffic surrounds it all.

Since I've apparently decided to let it all out now, here's the drawing that began my frustration 2 days ago causing me to put the 'other' in 'Creative Every Day' - wait, it won't let me upload the photo/drawing. Its just a few lions from a photo I took in Africa (I'd eventually like to do something with some of these animal shots). I'll try to post separately, along with the real photo - we were so close to these lions! And they were so cute!

Day 3 of 'Creative Every Day' (but only my 2nd posting)

2008-11-03T15:11:00.001+01:00

Did I mention Oscar is a robust 9 kilos (~18 lbs.) - pure muscle ... only I can't seem to find the definition while drawing him, but I know its there, hiding under all that...uh..fur. I just drew some very basic contour line drawings of him on his favorite chair (my computer chair). I started trying to do just contour, but it became a bit of a mix, thinking maybe quick gestural lines would hide my inability to define his 'volume'. Anyway, since I feel like I'm just talking to myself with this blog having not told anyone about it yet, I'll just go ahead and post these so I can move on with my day. Lots to do today, top of the list: buy 2 dirndls for a Phlippino and a Chinese girl I've never met for the Macau Oktoberfest 2008 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Macau - a very nice place by the way with a very nice German Food & Beverage Manager http://www.mandarinoriental.com/macau/. Confused? Don't really care? I'll get around to explaining sometime. And I must go for a run while I can still see the sun!

Today's sketches:

Here goes!

2008-11-03T00:26:00.001+01:00

I'm determined to (finally) commit myself to being (somewhat) creative...on a (semi) regular basis..so here goes (really?!)! This in thanks to a motivating friend who's argument to start a blog at least in order to hold myself accountable to create, and post, creative 'scritches and scratches' artwork. And the immediate incentive/inspiration (the kick I need) is the "Art Every Day Challenge" for the month of November. I think this is a great idea, and just what I need. They say there's no pressure to create something everyday (whew), and I don't want to beat myself up about trying (and possibly failing?) to meet this goal - so I will do what I can. Beginning with this weekend's combined 'Art Every Day challenge' / 'I need a card to send my sister' task... So, while it's nothing super artistic, but I do enjoy scritching with my old calligraphy pen. As you can see, I'm out of practice, but excited to get back into it.