Innovations

Recently we enjoyed a family holiday in Boscastle, Cornwall; an absolutely beautiful place, with truly inspirational scenery, land & seascapes etc. Boscastle is the Cornish village which was pretty much destroyed by freak flooding about 5 years ago & much of the village has had to be re-built (indeed, I believe some renovation is on-going). The skills of the craftsmen employed & the use of local materials however is testament to Cornish traditions & resilience. Boscastle remains one of the most beautiful villages in the area (although naturally, it is not alone in that accolade).

I had signed up for the first day of a four day Master Class about a month after my visit to Cornwall, the Master Class being run by a truly inspirational printmaker, Alfons Bytautas of Edinburgh Printmakers. With this in mind, I was focussing my thoughts on natural images, seascapes etc, when an image presented itself in the form of Water (working title). I also have some rock face photographs which I would like to develop into a series, with the possibility of seascapes at a later date.

The time spent between the holiday & the course was spent working on the Water images in Photoshop, so that they were ready for the Photo Polymer Etching course, which has since been held.

It was a thoroughly informative day with background information on the innovative techniques, discourse on what is & isn’t ‘eco-friendly’ or ‘non-toxic’ printmaking (the answer by the way - there’s no such thing, just marginally less toxic materials) & of course, the opportunity to create a plate & print it. My plate threw up more questions than answers but it was all relative & in so doing has given me more ideas in which to try out ideas & manipulate the image. I can’t wait to get back into the studio & try it again, with hopefully, vastly improved results! You can see mine & other printmakers attempts at http://masterclass2009.greendoor-printmaking.co.uk/gallery-print.html

And another thing...

It’s been a while since I’ve managed to update this site as it’s been a very busy time for one reason or another…
Having completed the Red Circle exchange, I moved onto another exchange, this time held by Crown Point Press. I had a small mezzotint plate & I decided to have another go at creating something (the first time saw me create Flight w/Chine-Collé). This time it was a rather precise portrait affair in the form of my eye. It threw up several challenges, primarily how to get strong definition in the lines & creating shadows. All in all it was a practise piece that inked up easily enough, with technical improvements. Not my best piece of work visually but a good opportunity in understanding mezzotint nonetheless. I toyed with the idea of a ‘clever’ title; Perspective, Eye of the Beholder, Sense, Sight etc but bandied them about so many times that I finally settled on ‘Untitled’ (original, I know). In hindsight, Chine-Collé would work well in this piece too.

Feta & spinach cannelloni recipe, serves 6

This was almost too easy to be true!!

I wanted something quick & tasty to throw together.

6x Lasagne sheets or cannelloni tubes
1 bag of fresh spinach or 500g frozen spinach
400g feta, roughly chopped
1 tin of tomatoes
handful of olives (stoned), roughly chopped
1 tbsp capers
25g parmesan or similar, grated
seasoning


Soak pasta in boiling water (add some olive oil to prevent them sticking together) or follow instructions on packet.

Wash the fresh spinach, place in pan without thoroughly shaking water from it, place lid on pan & allow to wilt (about 5-7 mins) OR defrost frozen spinach. Drain.

Add feta & blitz with hand blender.

Roll lasagne sheets if using & stuff the pasta with the spinach filling.

Place tomatoes in bowl & blitz with hand blender or roughly chop - whichever you prefer. Add olives & capers & pour over pasta tubes. Season - I just used pepper as I felt the feta, olives & capers provided enough salt but always taste to check.

Sprinkle with cheese, place foil over & bake in oven on gas mark 6 for 25-30 mins.

Unbelievably easy, low on washing up, BIG on taste & lots of complimantary noises from my husband!!

Recipe courtesy of Good Food website.

Chorizo al pimento

Chorizo
tomatoes (tinned or fresh)
red & green pepper
red onion

Quantities are up to you really with this simple dish. The chorizo flavours the vegetables beautifully. I'm not even sure it needs seasoning but check before serving.

Combine in saucepan and simmer for 30mins. Made in advance, the flavours have even more depth. Serve with rice, pasta, potatoes or crusty bread & a salad.

Tapa, tapa, tapas!

The tapas was a success (phew!)... despite a bus destroying my car hours earlier & several long phone calls with various insurance companies, I managed to get the tapas together & enjoyed a great evening with our friends.


I'd rather not attempt it with accompanying destruction again but it did take my mind off it..! The saving grace was that I'd made the houmous, baba ganoush & chorizo al pimento earlier in the day, Chris had also marinated the prawns & the rest was almost just throwing it together. There's a photo to go with this post (when I remember!) but unfortunately I didn't remember to take one until everyone was lying on the floor, un-buttoning the top button on their waistbands (no, not that kind of party!).


I think next time we have a Spanish themed evening, I'll go for paella with a few tapas dishes rather than the table-covering affair of this weekend but it certainly hasn't put me off.


With regards where I get the ingredients from; We're lucky to have an excellent Asian shop nearby that sells fresh, in-season & most importantly, very well-priced fruit & veg, and a Lidl. Lidl does fantastic European products, which is where we got the chorizo from (and they also do a nice tomato & basil pizza). For anything else, I have a Sainsburys opposite work where I can pick bits & pieces up. We like to shop in the markets in town, when possible too & often get our meat from there. We have a local butcher about 20 mins walk away but unfortunatley we never seem to go in that direction (although the sausages were excellent & well-priced).

I tend to remember places where we've been pleased with products & if we're passing, we'll pop in to stock up: the butchers & health food shop in Belper & an excellent farm shop on the outskirts of Duffield. There's also a lovely deli/cafe in Belper called Fresh Basil - see links to the side. the cakes are amazing!

Tapas extrordinaire

I'm attempting a tapas evening for my friends this weekend and I'm hoping that it's all in the planning / preparation. The menu though extensive, once broken down, isn't as scary as it looks!

Baguettes served with olive oil, balsamic vinegar & garlic mayo dipping bowls
houmous
baba ganoush (a garlicky aubergine dip)
olives
jamon de serrano (sliced spanish hams)
sliced tomatoes with mozarella & basil (drizzled with olive oil)
sliced tomatoes with avocado & spring onion (drizzled with olive oil)
garlic mushrooms
tortilla
prawns in garlic & chilli
patatas bravas
chorizo al pimento (a tomato, pepper & onion sauce)
ensalada du atun (tuna salad with a boiled egg, green beans, black olives & tomatoes)

Washed down with a dry Amontillado sherry & some chilled cava... let's pretend it's summer!

Some of the things can be prepared in advance (the houmous & baba ganoush) & a lot of the veg prep can be done earlier too, leaving only a couple of things to cook when everyone arrives.

Sounds easy doesn't it?

Watch this space...

Brasso'd off!

I had a glorious day in the studio last Thursday. I had prepped my plate the previous Tuesday evening, ran a proof off & happy with the outcome, I decided to have a good run at producing an edition for the Red Circle print exchange (deadline: imminent). And if I had time, I would attempt a slightly larger edition for the Oregon print exchange.

I set everything up & ran another proof off. There were some extra marks on there that were probably as a result of wiping off. I felt they distracted a bit too much from the intended image, so I tried another proof, with similar results. Between each proof I had degreased the plate using a powdered solution & a brillo pad (as we do everytime we need to de-grease a plate) but this wasn't ridding my plate of the extra marks. I should have left it there, after all - it's Chance Operations! But no, I decided to brasso the plate, another tried & tested process in prepping the plate for print.

I ran another proof off... and then another... the spit bite image which I was quite pleased with & took an hour to bite had vanished!!! I say these de-greasing & brasso processes are tried and tested but the spit bite process is new (as in, I'm one of the first to try at Green Door studio). It's such a delicate way of biting the plate that I had actually removed the image from the plate.

My studio time is precious, it being annual leave from work (& not a lot of it) & here I am wasting my time printing proofs & destroying the image. I consulted the studio technician. Fortunately, she had the great idea of using the Open Bite technique, painting on a blue wash to stop out the areas I don't want to bite & leaving the Spit Bite area open to the mordant. And it worked :) Not quite the same result - it now has a hardened edge around the area rather than the delicate ghost-like impression that it originally had but it has taken the print one step further & at least I have 1or 2 prints that are testament to the original.

Lesson learned.

Red Circle Press Exchange

I've finally begun my plate for the next Exchange that's approaching (imminently - eek!). I've mulled over the concept of Chance Operations & realised that some of my previous work can be seen along those lines & it gives me the opportunity to try out some new techniques without putting too much thought into it - the problem being, that the more I dwell on an idea, the less I like the outcome!

Anyway I've tried a new spit bite mordant this week on the wrong side of a plate. Rather than fully prepping a beautiful piece of copper, I've taken on the idea of "Chance" in the respect that mark's have already been made to the underside of the plate in chance encounters. I dropped the spit bite onto the plate, allowing it to settle as forces dictate (again; chance) & left it to bite for an hour (it not being a particularly aggressive mordant). I had a few minutes left of my session to do a test print & I'm quite pleased with it. The original  marks on the plate are equally as beautiful / interesting as the spit bite mark, creating a dialogue. I'm going to do a second spit bite on an area that didn't take as well & then get on with editioning it. Sounds so easy doesn't it?!

Busy being me

Well we've had a busy time recently.

I saw the Benjamin Button film at the cinema with friends. Very enjoyable but ask anyone who's seen it what they thought of it & they immediately say "Long"... not how you want to be remembered! Brad Pitt & Cate Blanchett were excellent - a very poignant tale.

Did I mention that we've taken on an allotment with friends? I'm a little sceptical due to the amount of time its going to take, considering we don't have a lot of it and the spare time we do have is taken up with our son, doing things on the house & all the other general bumpf that makes up normal life. That said, we're really looking forward to all the lovely fresh fruit & veg we hope to get from it & it's giving us some extra, quality time with our friends too - so watch this space! Tom's enjoyed visiting the site & we took my Mum, Dad & niece (aged 9) and they were all suitably impressed too! My niece, Ellie, already has plans for the things we can grow & I hope she'll visit more often to work with us :)

Baked pesto chicken with risotto

Nice and easy! We really enjoy pasta tossed with some chicken (optional), chilli flakes, thinly sliced broccolli, cream, pepper and blue cheese - really simple & tasty after a day at work but our son has gone off pasta for some unknown reason. Rice is currently ok (& so is Thomas the Tank Engine spaghetti in tomato sauce - grrr), so this is an adaptation, which went down very well!

Chicken breast per person

pesto

foil

risotto / arborio rice

garlic clove

celery stick finely chopped

half onion finely chopped

teaspoon of chilli flakes

100ml white wine/sherry or cap full of  Chinese rice wine (optional)

handful of veg (mushrooms, peppers, broccoli thinly sliced)

500ml approx. chicken or veg stock 

cheese (we enjoyed stilton in it this time)

knob of butter

pepper

100g parmesan grated

Prepare the chicken: place each breast on a sheet of foil, score breast & smear a teaspoon of pesto over each one. Wrap, place on baking tray & put in oven (Gas mark 5) for about half hour - in this case, the time it takes to make the risotto.

Fry off the onion & celery. Once it has turned an opaque colour, add the risotto rice, stir for 1 min, add the wine/sherry (if using), chilli flakes & garlic. Once the liquid has absorbed add a ladle of stock & the chopped veg (needs to be bite-sized chunks for even cooking). Keep adding the stock a ladle at a time until the rice is cooked, which takes about 20-25 mins. Once it has cooked add a knob of butter, pepper & the grated parmesan. Cover with a lid & leave to rest whilst you get the chicken out of the oven & plate up. Serve with some chopped up blue cheese on top if desired.

Egyptian Tomato & Chickpea soup

We've been busy this week doing things round the house, getting snowed off from work & nursery (& enjoying fun in the snow!), with lots of deadlines to keep me busy at work... just time for another soup recipe fully endorsed by my son (& we rather enjoyed it to too!). Must try to write up the oven-baked pesto chicken with risotto that we had last night at some point too...

Egyptian tomato & chickpea soup

Half an onion, finely chopped

Half a leek, chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped/grated

stock cube

600ml water

tablespoon of tomato paste

teaspoon of cumin

1/2 tsp of allspice

1/2 can of tomatoes

1 can of chickpeas

150g of (basmati*) rice, washed

seasoning

sumac

Fry off the onion & leek, add the garlic, tom paste, stock cube, spices & pepper (I tend not to add extra salt when using a stock cube), stir for a minute. Add chopped tomatoes, chickpeas & water. Bring to the boil. Simmer for 20 mins. Add rice & cook for further 10-15 mins until rice is cooked through. I take out about 1/3 of the rice & chickpeas, blend the remaining soup & return the rice & chickpeas to give a slightly thicker, smoother consistency with the odd burst of chickpea & texture of the rice. This of course, is optional. Sprinkle sumac over before serving for an extra je ne sais quoi (oh, lardy-dah!)!

* Basmati rice is our choice of rice but of course, use whatever you have to hand / prefer!

Chance Operations

I'm taking part in another Print Exchange organised by Red Circle Press called Chance Operations & I have yet to begin a plate... I thought I'd begin by googling the term.

This appears to be the general consensus:
Chance Operations are methods of generating poetry independent of the author’s will. A chance operation can be almost anything from throwing darts and rolling dice, to the ancient Chinese divination method, I-Ching, and even sophisticated computer programs. Most poems created by chance operations use some original text as their source, be it the newspaper, an encyclopedia, or a famous work of literature. The purpose of such a practice is to play against the poet's intentions and ego, while creating unusual syntax and images. The resulting poems allow the reader to take part in producing meaning from the work.

It was first considered by John Cage (composer) & Merce Cunningham (dance choreographer) in the fifties, so that's given me something to mull over.

And so I thought I'd google Simple Pleasures... and succinctly put, they can be seen as a holistic approach to your humdrum life in the form of small things that bring a little bit of happiness throughout your day. Now that's a Chance Operation!

Printmaking today

Well, Tuesday night is my night for the studio. Green Door recently held a short exhibition at The Beetroot Tree in Draycott, near Derby and together with the Christmas break, they have taken my mind off the important things - printmaking! I had a really good session in the studio last week. I began several plates before the break & then floundered with them... where do I go from here? The break allowed me to take the pressure of myself & to look at things with a different perspective. I have incorporated embossed textures to Movement pt 2 which I feel has finally resolved the issue... hopefully!

The good thing about etching is that once you have run off a few test prints, they have to be left in the dryer & as I tend to do just one session a week, the break gives me fresh eyes to view the work.
So! Tonight I shall have a look at last week's results and decide if that is the right direction & if so, I shall run off an edition to accompany the original Movement piece.
If you want to know more about the studio or indeed what etching entails, check out Green Door's website. You can also view my portfolio online there too.

Recipe: Lentil and cabbage soup

Well, perhaps I should let you into the secret of the soup that had my 3 year old son coming back for more!

Lentil & cabbage soup (bear with me, it's tastier than it sounds!!)
1 carrot
1/2 onion
veg stock cube
1.5 pts of boiling water
tom paste
1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
4-5 handfuls of red lentils
shredded cabbage (as much or as little as you can handle!)
seasoning
parmesan or other grated cheese

Chop carrots into cubes & finely dice onion. Fry off in a little olive oil or chilli oil (if available). Add tomato paste & chilli flakes & fry for a minute. Add stock cube, lentils & water. Bring to boil & turn heat down to a simmer. Cook for half hour. Add cabbage & season. Cook for further 5 mins. Blitz with a hand blender if you wish, taste & serve with grated cheese on top if you wish.

Really tasty & filling - excellent for a winters' day.

Sunday 1st February - don't mistake instant gratification for happiness

Today I finished knitting a tank top for my son (he likes them!) and made a quick soup for lunch. I had to take the car to the garage in the morning & to pass the time, I read one of the magazines left lying around. It was freezing in the waiting room & the soup recipe inspired me to make something hearty and warming... so check out the recipe!

Talking of recipes; we had friends over for a meal last night - a nice informal evening to discuss the merits of taking on an allotment (more of which later!) and my husband cooked a fabulous meal: a caribbean lamb curry cooked in the slow cooker, with rice, a lovely bean salad, fried plantain & quick-fried prawns. Pudding was Jamaican ginger cake served with raisins soaked in rum & a really good vanilla ice-cream... mmm!