Forge Art Show

If you like old buildings, rusty stuff and art, do catch this art show. It is open through the weekend.

John stumbled on this art show when riding his bike to work on the bike path. It is kitty corner from the Goodman Center, who owns this building. If you have ever been in the Goodman Center you know what a beautifully restored that building is. The same architect will be doing this building.

20 artists have their work displayed here.

If you go
What: "Forge," an industrial-sized installation created by local artist.
Where: Madison Brass Works building, 214 Waubesa St.
Exhibition hours: 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday; 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday; 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 4 to 8 p.m. June 16; 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 17.
Admission: Free
Please note: Visitors are advised to wear sensible, close-toed shoes and be prepared for walking on uneven surfaces. Many of the spaces are not accessible to people with disabilities. 

Website: forgeart.org

Above info from the Wisconsin State Journal

Art Therapy #7

Nancy and I have gotten off schedule. She is moving and my Miata died.

This was a pattern that I was playing with for a possible Minted card background.

And here are a couple brush strokes that I really like that I did use as a Minted background.

With the demise of my car I got a cool, red bike. On a bike ride I did a little watercolour. I like the water a lot. I could do this one again with much better results. For me the third time is generally a charm.

This one I did specifically with Nancy in mind. She loves the Mississippi and is in the middle of a move and rethinking the next chapter in her life.

This card is a Mother's Day card that is part of a book that Nancy is working on. Hopefully her new space will be a new creative writing space.

This card is Nancy's life right now. Lots of new changes, some life and others creative. Keep traveling in this direction Nancy, you have what it takes.

We may or may not pick this up when the dust settles. Either way this Art Therapy has been good for us, especially for me in the Winter months.

Easy Chicken Curry

We are always trying to eat better. That means more meals at home. This recipe was a hit.

1 rotisserie chicken -  I like rotisserie chicken because someone else cooked it. Just shred it.
2 T butter
4 green onions, chopped
3 T curry powder - Sounds like a lot, but yes you do need 3 T.
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup chicken stock
1 can of pineapple tidbits, plus the juice
3 T crystallized ginger - I chopped it in my new NINGA food processor that I love. (No one paid me to say that.)
Ground red pepper, to taste
4 T raisins
1/4 cup lime juice
1 cup heavy whipping cream
Trader Joe's brown rice. I get the box with 3 packs of rice in it. It is in the freezer section. Just microwave for 3 minutes.

Shred chicken, set aside.

Heat butter in sauce pan. Add onions and saute 2-3 minutes. Stir in curry powder. Gradually add the coconut milk, chicken stock and juice from the pineapple.

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add the ginger and red pepper. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Add chicken, simmer for 15 minutes.

Add raisins, pineapple, lime juice and cream. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve over rice. Enjoy.

Why I consider this easy is the substitution of rotisserie chicken vs. poaching chicken. Plus the tasty, easy microwavable rice.

Just want to share these fun Jack + Ella Paper recipe cards. 20 pack, 4 designs, double sided. Jack + Ella's design, my lettering and illustrations. http://www.jackandellapaper.com/misc-paper-goods

Chair Bliss.

People who know me know that I am crazy about chairs, good chairs, designer chairs. A well designed chair is a piece of art.

In February I spent an afternoon at the Art Institute in Chicago. I wandered into the Architectural Design room and said, "Ohhhhhhhhhhhh," loud enough that people turned and looked at me. Pure bliss. SO. MANY. AMAZING. CHAIRS. And all in one place.

I was beside myself to see this Small Diamond Chair designed by Harry Bertoia, 1952. Why? Because I own two.

One day my friend Nita called me and said, "When Terry and I come to see you for lunch I am bringing you 3 chairs and you will pay me $____ . I thanked her and said that was nice but I didn't need any chairs. She said, "You need these chairs." And by god I did.

I so love this Mid Century Modern Tulip Chair designed by Eero Saarinen, 1957. I wish I had a set of 4 and the marble table that goes with it.

More great lines... with the DKR Side Chair designed by Charles and Ray (Kaiser) Eames, 1951. Love those little feet and the openness of this chair.

Just look at this stool. The base... the repeating shapes... that tiny little circle back. The Birillo Stool by Joe Colombo, 1971

If you get to the Art Institute do visit this exhibit. I could easily go back again and again.

Jessica, Rae, podcasts, magazines, dogs and more...

I know from time to time I talk about my talented friend Jessica from Jack & Ella. We meet, we collaborate, we drink coffee. She chats about that and more on this podcast. I am so glad she is my friend. All creative people who work from home and run their own business need to find this kind of relationship. I am lucky.

If you want to listen go here.

Art Therapy #6

Here are Nancy's and my recent 2 weeks of postcards. This one is outrageously simple. These are from a set of souvenir photos. I like these two because if I was there and saw these places these are the exact photos I would take. As I did this postcard I was thinking about Nancy who has been talking about solitude and serenity a lot. These shots seemed to speak of that.

As always my postcards are made from things in my office. This one I feel so-so about but that is what this postcard exchange is all about. Trying new things. I don't think I have the feel for collage. Since it is not my passion that is fine. You can't be good at everything. Pick something you are good at and become great at it.

The color is off on this one. The background should be more kraft. This is a drawing of sheer curtains Nancy has been thinking about making for a long time. She is gathering material. Can't wait to see the final product. I really liked this drawing and Nancy liked my solitude and serenity one. So we traded. Nice to get a bit of art that speaks to each of us.

And here is a good note to end on. It says it all.

Do check out my first fabric in my Wilderness Doodles Collection. Link top right.

And feel free to leave a comment. Finally the comment link is working again.

Art Therapy #5

Yes, the postcard exchange continues.

This one is mine. I scanned part of a line drawing from Paris Line by Line by Robinson. I love his style. He drew more than 250,000 illustrations in his lifetime. That certainly makes me an underachiever. This book was out of print for 40 years but has returned to print. I decided to try my hand at adult coloring and then send it on to Nancy to finish.

I am afraid that adult coloring feels way too much like my day to day work. Plus I can't just give it up and color. I first have to think about it and know what color something is... blah, blah, blah. But it was good to give this a try. Can't wait to see how Nancy finishes it up.

This is very rough. I cannot find the original for the life of me. I am working on patterns, cards, patterns, fabric and more patterns. So here are some that may show up in fabric or cards. But who knows.

Nancy labeled hers as Just Fooling Around. And that is what this is somewhat about. Sometimes a great idea or part of a great idea of comes out of just fooling around. That part is good for me as I am such a thinker when I do creative things. More postcards next week.

Yes, this was a scam!

Hewlett Packard (HP) SCAM ALERT!!!!

This happened to us. This is not anecdotal. It did not happen to my brother’s cousin’s, uncle’s, girlfriend.  It happened to us.

I am having problems getting a working magenta cartridge for my HP printer. I have ordered 4 from 4 different places, all bad.

I contacted HP and did an iChat with someone. She could not help and passed me onto “tech support”. She said if they did not take my call in 2 minutes I should call a number that she gave me. I did notice that the number she gave me was different from the tech support number she was forwarding me to.

Of course they did not call me in 2 minutes, so I called them. I talked to Paul Smith who was in California, although he did sound like he was in India and that was probably not his name.

He asked to screen share (which always makes me uneasy) but I let him. He ran some diagnostics and told me that I had a Trojan horse on my home network (IP address) and that all 10 of our products were infected and that was the problem. And from the diagnostics my computer was due to crash soon and I would lose all my information.

I had never heard of such a thing but then I don’t know why I can’t get a working magenta cartridge either.

Eventually he said that he had a product that could fix it… 1 year for $249.99 and 3 years for $369.99 etc.

By then I asked John to get on the call. It had been an hour; Paul Smith was aggressive and would continuously talk over me. Thankfully John stepped in and talked over him and ended the call.

This morning I called Apple to ask if this is a scam.  YES IT IS.

The Apple guy said.

1. Apple products almost never get a virus because of their encryption.

2. You cannot get a virus ON your IP network.

3. Apparently the fact that I screen shared did not mean he could steal info. Still not a great idea.

4. BUT if I had bought his product and given him a credit card that would jeopardize my credit and allow him to get banking info.

So beware. Share this if you want to. That is why I am posting this.

If someone from from HP sees this plz contact me at hello@outside-the-line.com, I have more information for you. Oh yeah and I would like a working magenta cartridge.