Spider Lily-Day 13

© Ellen Blonder

The background has been darkened. Now I can get back to working on details in the flowers and do a bit more to the leaves.

Everything Cookies

Sometimes a girl just needs a cookie. I can't always decide what kind, and sometimes I  want everything. I call these my "Everything Cookies"

For the love of the combination of ginger, coconut, chocolate and macadamia nuts in a chewy cookie, I experimented with this several times here on Kauai. I found some intriguing coconut oil (Dr. Bronner's) and coconut flour (Bob's Red Mill), and wanted to use them together. 

This recipe results in a somewhat cakey cookie unless the eggs are very large, so I may try it next with a tablespoon or two of ginger juice squeezed from microplane-grated fresh ginger. I might also increase the coconut oil by one to two tablespoons.

GINGER COCONUT MACADAMIA NUT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
a.k.a. EVERYTHING COOKIES

Yield: 3 ½ dozen cookies

½ cup coconut oil, room temperature

¼ cup canola oil

¾ cup brown sugar, firmly packed

¼ cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

¾ cup flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ cup oatmeal

½ cup coconut flour

½ cup flaked coconut

1 cup unsalted macadamia nuts, lightly roasted and coarsely chopped

1 cup crystallized ginger, chopped

2/3 cup chocolate chips, preferably mini-chips

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the coconut oil, canola oil and sugars. Add the eggs and mix until well blended.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, oatmeal and coconut flour. Add to the oil mixture. Stir in the remaining ingredients and mix until well blended.

Drop by rounded tablespoons one inch apart on baking sheets. Lightly press on each mound with your fingers to flatten it slightly.

Bake on a center rack of the oven for 10 to 12 minutes. When slightly cooled, remove from parchment and cool completely on a rack.

Spider Lily-Day 12

© Ellen Blonder

After weeks of dark skies and stormy weather, daylight is finally good enough to work at shading more of the whites in the flowers and untangle some of the petals. Now I wonder if the background will need to go darker again.

Spider Lily-Day 11

© Ellen Blonder

I've slowly been working on the white flowers catch as catch can. Busy week, hard to focus. I'll probably have to go darker to make the whitest whites pop. This still looks way too flat.

Spider Lily-Days 9 and 10

© Ellen Blonder

I'm toning down the whites to create some depth in the flowers. The leaves need more details, but I want to hold off until the flowers are more finished.

Spider Lily-Day 8

© Ellen Blonder

The leaves just weren't right, so I studied the spider lily's growth patterns on the plant downstairs and also looked at some photos I took last year. It isn't often that I have to paint out and rearrange things this far into the painting, but I do feel better about this. I shouldn't have been so hasty, beginning painting before this was worked out.

Spider Lily-Day 7

© Ellen Blonder

The background color was too much in the middle range; I spent most of the day darkening it. Now the white flowers stand out more and the leaves feel more grounded. There's still much work to do.

Spider Lily-Days 5 and 6

© Ellen Blonder

It's harder to paint large areas than small ones with graduated shades. This doesn't look like much for two day's effort.

Valentine's Day Post Script

Foodie break to describe Valentine's Day dinner a few days ago. Since going veggie, it has been harder finding interesting food when going out on Kauai. We cancelled our fancy dinner plans when I discovered the vegetarian tasting menu would be pea soup or salad and (ho hum) mushroom risotto for $55 per person. Instead, we drove up to Duane's Ono-Char Burgers in Anahola. They'll make vegetarian Boca burgers in any of their styles, so I had that version of my old favorite, the Island Girl and my husband Nick had the Boca teriyaki burger. 
We then drove back south to park at Kealia Beach*, to chow down while we watched the surfers. Turned out to be a great Valentine's Day.
(*Kealia, by the way, is now on the cinematic map, being the spot where George Clooney turns inland to his view his family's pristine property in The Descendants.)

Spider Lily-Day 4

© Ellen Blonder

You won't see much difference after a day's work, unless you look at the very center of the painting, where all the flower stems come together.

Spider Lily-Day 3

© Ellen Blonder

In order to make the white highlights on white flowers stand out, I'll need to darken all the whites, and yet try to keep them from looking muddy or dead. I think these may look bad for a while until they start looking better again.

The Great Valentine's Day Blog Hop

© Ellen Blonder

Chris Chun inspired a handful of fellow artists and me to take part in his first ever Valentine's Day Blog Hop, and you can see the wonderful and varied results on his blog. For an extra treat, "hop" to the other artists' websites/blogs:

The Great Valentine's Day Blog Hop artists
Chris Chun  -  http://chrischunart.blogspot.com.au/
Sharon Himes - http://www.sharonhimes.com/
Gabby Malpas - http://www.mangofrooty.blogspot.com.au/
Peggy Jo Ackley - http://www.peggyjoackley.com/
Patricia Shea - http://patternpatisserie.blogspot.com.au/
Skye Rogers - http://www.skyesthelimit.com.au/
Phyllis Dobbs - http://www.phyllisdobbs.info/
Barbara Johansen Newman - http://johansennewman.typepad.com/designrocket/
Natalie Ryan - http://nataliesketchbook.blogspot.com.au/
Belinda Strong - http://honeyjumble.blogspot.com.au/

Allison Langton - http://www.bigprintlittle.com/big/blog.php

My painting is actually derived from older posts, but recolored in the spirit of the day, because it's a beautiful thing when two hearts find each other in the jungle out there. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Spider Lily-Day 2

© Ellen Blonder

I just laid in the greens roughly so I could see the composition better. The challenge in this will be painting white flowers that look white, not muddy, but not flat, either.

Spider Lily-Day 1

© Ellen Blonder

I'm finally starting a new acrylic painting, after a long break. This is a white spider lily, on a 20 x 24-inch canvas board.

Mynahs

© Ellen Blonder

They're a bit raucous, but also amusing to look at, with superhero yellow eyepatches to match their yellow legs and beaks. They're also the most skittish of beggars, always flying away at my approach when other birds hold their ground to see what crumbs I scatter. These sketches are from some photos I took on a morning walk in Kauai. They'd never stay still long enough for detailed drawings like these.

Sharing the Joy of Books

Today, I have to share the stop-motion video made by my son-in-law Sean Ohlenkamp, with the assistance of my daughter Lisa and about 25 volunteers. The video was shot over four all-night sessions while the Toronto bookstore, Type, was closed. Many hours of editing followed. I hope you--and book lovers everywhere--will enjoy this.