Imitating Art

 Style imitating art is a monthly fashion inspiration. Each month one of the hosts posts their choice of art inspiration and we get to come up with an outfit based on the art. This month Salazar of 14 Shades Of Grey chose Grand Canyon from the 59 parks project

My outfit choice:

 Mini Dollar Tree arts n crafts haul. A roll of washi tape and butterfly stickers.

A notepad of woodland creatures, a stack of paper, and a couple of canvas boards.

Three Sarasa fineliner pens from Zebra and a chalk marker round out the haul.

 Tonight, I decided to try my hand at meatballs. I'm not normally a fan of meatballs but it was time for something different. Turkey and breakfast sausage formed the base. I seasoned them with black pepper, smoked paprika, garlic powder, Mrs. Dash, dried oregano, dried rosemary, dried thyme, and Italian seasoning. 

Using a tablespoon to help form the balls I managed to get 32 meatballs from just under 2 pounds of meat. I browned them all in the skillet.

 

What I needed for dinner tonight finished cooking in tomato sauce. The rest went to the freezer.

I wilted some kale in the skillet I browned the meatballs in. A few pieces turned out crispy. It was a good addition to the pasta. Especially since I forgot to make the salad I planned on.

I finished each bowl with grated parmesan and Romano cheeses and shredded Italian cheese blend. Finished off with a garlic bread stick, it turned out to be a pretty tasty experiment.

 I recently rediscovered a new set of kids neon oil pastels I bought on clearance for my daughter.

But, of course, I have to try them out first.  Right? Nothing technical or precise. Just some general play. I tried them out on rougher mixed media paper.

On smoother computer paper.

On black construction paper.

And black cardstock.

I blended them and compared the results.

I compared their ability (or mine) to blend using various tools; my finger, a tortillion and a cotton swab.

Surprise surprise the smooth paper resulted in a smoother, creamier feel and was easier to blend. Though as evidenced by the black cardstock did not necessarily produce a better blend.  And speaking of black I was surprised the colors dulled. Usually when I use a neon it tends to pop more against black than white. 

Still the pastels were fun to play with. Even my daughter participated as soon as she saw them. First testing them out on my test papers.

Then creating her own masterpieces.

My test wasn't thorough or complete but it did give me a chance to play with my new pastels without the stress of thinking of something to create or making it happen. I simply got to feel the crayons in my hand and see the marks they created.

 This is the most I have done with my art supplies in a very long time. The excuse of life almost always gets in the way. From there the pressure of making the time you do get count, the unrealistic desire to make a masterpiece in one sitting, the compete lack of direction and ideas all shut down any hope of creating. 

Sometimes I need to remind myself that doing something is better than nothing. If all else fails I can just scribble color onto a page like my 3 year old and be happy that I made that.