Figuratively Speaking-Christmas Cookies

Swirly Cupcake  4"x4" oil  $60

My mom made the most wonderful Christmas cookies.  It was an annual ritual we shared with homes all over the world.  She would make all our favorites and decorate them with beautiful designs.  She was an artist as well as a cook.  There is an art to making a good cookie just like there is to making good bread.  With the abundance of cookies available to us, you would think there would be boat loads of great cookies, but alas I feel like the skill of making great cookies is being lost even in the face of much higher sugar consumption in the population.  I have kind of given up on sweets so my contribution to Christmas cookie making is my Booster Balls (does this bring to mind an NPR skit on an old Saturday Night Live?).  They are made from whatever I have that I can throw in, but this batch was made mostly with pecans, coconut, walnuts, almond butter, cocoa, and dried mangos.  I don't cook them, but mix it all together in my food processor and then roll them into balls.  They kind of look like meatballs, but they taste better and are better for you.  I put them on a pretty plate. tomake up for their lack of aesthetic appeal.

My mom learned to cook when she was growing up in a household of 13 children.  She was about in the middle of the lineup, so while the older kids were helping bring in money and being more grown-up, my mom was staying at home and helping to take care of her younger sibs and cooking and cleaning.  She got pretty good at it.  Her mom died when she was 12 so she had a lot of responsibility, and as a result and the fact that she was dyslexic and left handed, she didn't get a good education.  But, she was brilliant and a survivor, so she carved out a nice life for herself, had 5 kids of her own, 16 grandkids, and as of today, 12 great grandkids. I miss her and I miss her wonderful cookies, but succeeding generations need to improve upon what their parents taught them, and I am choosing to eat healthy while still appreciating (from a distance) the art of fine cookie baking.

Do you have a favorite cookie recipe?

Day 30 Slate- Alpine Skier

17"x14" acrylic on slate

Day 30!!  I made it!

Day 29 Slate - Chicken

11"x14" acrylic on slate

Who can resist a chicken with attitude?

Red and Green

11"x14" acrylic on slate

Everyone loves Cardinals....what's not to like about them?

Day 26 slate - Let It Snow

14"x11" acrylic on slate

I have shifted my efforts to cleaning my studio which desperately needs it, cobwebs and all!  I constantly seem to be accumulating and it is hard to decide what I really should get rid of.  Eventually I get around to using everything, but is it just a distraction to make jewelry or carve stone or do ceramics when I am trying to be an oil painter?  Questions I do ask myself.

Day 25 Slate - Skiing III

14" x11" acrylic on slate 

This has a glare on the upper right, but it kind of emphasizes that it is a bright day and this guy is  skiing Ovation at Killington, whose slogan is Tame the Beast.  It is a 45 degree slope.

Day 24 Slate - Skiing II

14" x 11" acrylic on slate 

Another skier on slate.  The last week of the 30 day challenge is always the hardest for me because I am ready to move on to a different project.  However, I am having fun with these skiers.

Day 23 slate - Skier I

14"x11" acrylic on slate 

I wish I was skiing, but am not yet able to venture that direction as I can barely walk around the grocery store!  However, there is always next year!

Day 22 Slate- Mother and Child

14"x11" acrylic on slate SOLD

This piece is shown with the ribbon and bow hanger for the stylized Mother and Child.

Day 21 Slate-Mail

14"x11" acrylic

I love the simplicity of this.

Day 20 Slate - Cardinal

11"x14" acrylic on slate 

It is a beautiful sunny, but chilly day in the Northeast.  I am hoping to accomplish a lot today.  As I wind down in this 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge, I will be returning to oil painting on panels.  I have enjoyed doing this challenge and painting on slate.

Day 19 slate- two sisters

11"x17" acrylic on slate

Two sisters, one very proper and one very silly. That pretty much explains my elder sister and myself.  Guess which one I am?  I find that painting on slate gives me the incentive to go a little funky and more whimsical.

Day 18 slate - Dancers

11"x17" acrylic on slate 

I have been fascinated lately by little ballerinas.  I think I must be missing my granddaughters.  They are both willing dancers and my son loves to put on music and dance with them.  The youngest is a climber (danger baby) and her older sister is very lady like, with a touch of wildness.  They epitomize the expression of 'Dance is the hidden language of the soul," which I believe is a quote by Martha Graham.

Day 17 Slate - Downy Woodpecker

11"x17"  Acrylic on slate 

We get a lot of Downy Woodpeckers at our crabapple tree, in part because it is getting old and is full of insects, and also because we have a suet feeder.  They can be pretty piggish about their eating habits at the feeder, staying for long periods of time and sucking down that seed filled fat.  I think I need to do bluebirds and cardinals, but I need to change subject matter for the moment.  I think I have a short attention span.  So this will be the last bird for a  while.

Day 16 Slate - Tufted Titmouse

11"x14" acrylic on slate

Another frequent flier that has layovers at my bird feeder.

Day 15 Slate - Dark Eyed Juncos

11"x14"  acrylic on slate

This is a sweet little bird familiar to residents all over America.  While the chickadees and nuthatches flit among the trees, the Mourning Doves and Juncos can be found under the bird feeders on the ground.  The Mourning Doves walk and the Juncos hop.

Day 14 Slate - Mourning Doves

11"x14" acrylic on slate

Mourning doves have such an interesting shape with their round little heads and plump bodies.  The dots on their wings remind me of Lady Bugs.  In England Lady Bugs are called Lady Birds, but I think Mourning Doves could comfortably embrace that monicker.

Day 13 - nuthatches

11"x14" acrylic on slate

Onward and upward with the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge.  I have been painting the birds I see outside my window, like these interesting nuthatches, painted slightly more blue than they appear in R.L. (real life) so that they contrast with the gray background slate.

Day 12 Slate - Chickadees

11"x14" acrylic on slate

Chickadees are the sweetest little song birds.  They have the perfect "cute" shape are sociable and don't descend in frantic hoards.  They also have lovely markings and are one of my absolute favorites at the bird feeder.

Day 9 Slate -

11"x14' acrylic on slate

How fun...pulling the little one on a sled and then coming home to hot chocolate and the promise of mom-time while the babe sleeps.  But, alas too tired to think, mom falls asleep in the chair by the fire and wakes just in time to start dinner.