Deeeliscious!

Don't these look yummy?

I just made them the other day.

They are an banana nut muffin based on a "Starbucks" style recipe.

I just added a few blueberries for extra flavor.

The kids really loved them!

IF: Idle

“Sit in reverie, and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

This is a page from my altered sketchbook in response to this weeks challenge of IF's "Idle".

I thought it would be more difficult to come up with an idea than it actually was.

I mulled over all of the things my mind happens to do when I allow it to remain idle...and I thought about my favorite places to just mentally vegetate.

As you might have guessed it, nature is one of those places.

Growing up, and still today, I love to simply sit quietly in a garden space and absorb all that goes on around me.

It soothes the soul and calms the mind.

I have had quite an interest lately in special fabrics, and have been cutting out a lot of patterns.

From these I have a few bags of trash: fragments of fabric as well as from the pattern tissue.

I haven't worked in this particular sketchbook in a while because, honestly, it's a lot of work. I have to prepare each page before I do anything on it.

I put a thick ground of black gesso on each page, then let it dry, and repeat quite a few times.

It seems to take a long time to dry, and I ran out of patience a long time ago.

So, normally I try to prepare pages days in advance of doing anything.

I love spontaneity and when the pages are ready, I am enabled to approach them in that manner.

Here, my first layer was of course text, and on top of that I gelled the pattern tissue...it's nice because it has a lot of random printing on it.

Next I took my lovely brown fabric and placed it here and there as a border.

I have quite a bit of watercolors left over from demos in my classes, I cut one of these up for the face and the tree as well as the eye. I think they work with the fabric well.

I like the idea of the little window there, and I wanted it to be able to open and close with the cotton string coming out of it.

I don't use any template or pattern for my figures, I like them to come intuitively from my imagination.

All of these forms have symbolism for me...the tree, it's roots, the red string, the door or window, and of course the eye.

I really enjoy juxtaposing the different elements and textures together...who knows, maybe this idea will end up in one of my paintings?

IF: Tango

I love Tango music, but my all time favorite song is Paolo Conte's "Blue Tango".

The nicest version can be heard here.

It absolutely takes me away to wonderful places and memories when I hear it!

My mind travels to Cyprus where my husband and I stayed for a week just before we were married...very romantic indeed!

When I created this, I was thinking more of the day to day emotional tango couples dance with one another.

This is a mixed media piece on canvas, approximately 8"x10".

The first layer is a toned book page, and the second layer is the drawing done on tissue for transparency.

After being thoroughly gelled over, I applied color with sharpies and also pencil.

Then I went back in again to enhance detail with pencil and pen.

On the edges I applied melted candle wax and then toned that with a green ink.

I also applied a red cotton string to the mouth.

Finally, I did more hatching and cross hatching with ball point pen and added a few choice words from Kahlil Gibran.

Viva la Revolucion!

You know, every once in a while I go on a hunt to see what galleries are reviewing work, or which sites are doing a slide registry.

Ever so often, I submit a portfolio and wait for an answer, sometimes it is good and sometimes it is depressing.

Last night I ran across a site that seemed interesting enough, not a really great site, just a registry of artists who also teach.

It said that if a person was interested in joining to contact and find out the process, and then to submit my work.

Simple enough, right? I expected to fill a form and submit examples, right?

Sounds fair enough.

You call for entries, I submit my work, you review it in earnest and then you let me know if it is a fit.

Well, I thought that was the way it worked, until this morning....

I recieved a letter stating that my work was not a fit.

I wondered how I could have been judged inferior so quickly...so I check my google analytics....no one had even visited my site for the past couple of days.....so I checked my stat counter on my blog and saw a few visits.

I thought surely the reviewer of my work must have been confused, must have viewed my blog instead of my website and thought that my blog was my body of work.

I have never responded to one of these "dimissal" letters before, I only chalked it up to the life of the artist and our many rejections....However, because, thanks to modern tools,I could see that my site had not even been visited..I felt more than compelled to search out and understand this "mentality".

Here is the conversation as extracted from my emails:

Q. Hello,

I would like to join ***, how do I go about doing that?

Jean Benabou

A. Good morning Jean,

I looked at you web site and your work is very nice, but it is not what I am looking for. I wish you success in your future art endeavors. Thanks for contacting me, *******

Q. Hello *******,

thank you for your quick response in regard to my question.I wonder if you could indulge me....what is it about my work that does not interest you.....I am just curious.....Is is not up to par? Is the style too different? Is it unprofessional? Is it too mundane.....?

It is often that I get a non specific rejection such as this.

I would really appreciate it if you would enlighten me so that I may use this knowledge for my future work.

Regards,Jean

Q. Hi *******,

I also wanted to let you know my website is; www.jeanbenabou.com

My blog is; If I was a cobbler and is not representative of my work.

A. Hello Jean,

I usually do not respond because artists take is personally and get angry and then retaliate with mean words. I often wonder when I say no, if these artists respond to a gallery owner the same way when they are rejected.

The reason I do not want to list you is because your photography is fuzzy. It is difficult to see detail. Also, it is difficult to get away from the music. If you can put in a turn off button so the viewer can eliminate that, in my opinion it would be better. I see many web sites and I have little time to go through stuff other than the work and the resume and I don't want to be held back. Artists make the assumption that if they like the music or the intro then the viewer will to. On the positive side I really like your imagery and ideas and I was immediately attracted to that. Your work is different and I always look for that in the artists I list. Hope this helps, *******

Q. Hello *******,

Thank you again for your quick reply and for clarifying your selection process.

I am not angry in any capacity, but am instead astounded that an artists life work could be dismissed in a matter of seconds simply because of a sound.

I am also curious if you even ventured to the meat of my portfolio.

The curious thing is, is that I have no music on my site, only the sound of birds...had you ventured to the actual portfolio, you would have seen or rather heard that there is no "music" from that point on.

In regard to the fuzziness and lack of detail, what you saw was a transition from slide to slide...it takes approximately three seconds for the blurriness to become sharp.The photographs are extremely well defined and there is no blurriness...so, I am just curious how many seconds you viewed my work for.

Lastly, yes, I would have spoken to a gallery owner in the same manner, because, even though my work is not acceptable to your standards, it is still good work...and as an artist it amazes me how those in the "upper echelon" treat those who are not a member of their "stable".

My question to you is: Would you allow someone to simply dismiss your life's work after having viewed it for no more than three seconds? Or would you be amazed and astounded at the callousness of the individual, and feel compelled to find out "why"?

I only sent you a letter to ask you how to join...I was not even given a chance to submit my work before you dismissed me.

So, yes, I am thoroughly amazed...and I sit in wonder if this is the common practice in the modern gallery system.

I am simply taken aback if it is..............

Sincerely,

Jean Benabou

I am bewildered, I wonder if this is now the common practice among those who run galleries and other arts organizations.

I am apparently more naieve than I thought I was, thinking that everyone gave my work a good once-over of at least a minimum of five minutes.

I have long been at odds with the gallery world and how it treats artists like second class citizens, but this is a run of the mill organization...apparently this form of rudeness and artist abuse is trickle-down and commonplace.

I have to say, the cat really got my tounge on this one....

It's time for a revolution in the art world, I really think that we need to stand up in defense of ourselves and no longer allow others to treat us with such disrespect.

Artists! Stand up for your rights for at least the minimum of common decency!

Perhaps we need to find a new and better way to represent our work and no longer believe that the only acceptable form of representation is through a gallery.

Perhaps we need to begin to believe that the age of the elitist gallery "system" needs to come to an end, and stop patronizing these institutions.

Perhaps collectors also need to do the same thing......

Family night project 4,032: Soap, as you like it!

Another "family night" project: Soap Making!

I had an impossible time trying to find supplies. I went to the usual JoAnn's Fabric and Michael's, and they both said they really don't carry those supplies any more.

Luckily, I had a few old supplies left over. Mostly just glycerin soaps.

I had a recipe for this "jelly roll" style, but not enough ingredients.

Many years ago when I had my lovely goats, I used to make "goats Milk Soap" with Ivory.

I've not used the glycerin stuff much.

So, we decided to improvise and combine the ivory with the glycerin.

Don't do that....it doesn't work too well.

Both soaps have individual characteristics and textures and do not merge together as you would expect them to do.

BUT! We had what we had, and went ahead anyway.

To start, you are supposed to microwave the glycerin soap 'til it melts. we did, and it was lovely, like golden honey.

So logically, one would conclude that you cut up the Ivory and microwave it too...right?

Well, like I said, it's been about 15-20 years since I made my own soaps, so I have forgotten some details...like Ivory soap needs a bit of moisture added to it when you are melting it.

So, we put it into the microwave, cut into nice chunks...and then watched it as it expanded, and then expanded some more. It sort of looked like a strange shaving cream....until it was done.....

We took it out of the microwave and it was a kind of strangely expanded powdery substance.

Don't microwave ivory soap dry, unless you want to have fun with a scientific experiment.

So, again, we had what we had, and I was determined for this soap to submit to my will.

I mixed some water with the ivory and forced it back into the microwave for a couple of minutes.

Much better. It was...well sort of...cooperating now.

Now, back when I microwaved the glycerin, we were supposed to color it with food coloring and then pour it into a piece of aluminium foil that was shaped into a rectangle.

So, we did. I personally wanted a nice subtle color. My daughter wanted purple, my son wanted green.

The competition began, and, as you can see, the end result was something that looked like lime Jello gone bad.
The first layer, was the Ivory soap, the second layer, the glycerin soap.

After this, you are supposed to roll the whole congealed mass into a kind of roll.

If you have ever heard of the old adage: "oil and water don't mix", the same is true for glycerin and Ivory.

Glycerin is very cooperative, and at times almost rubbery.

Ivory is very firm and board like as it congeals.

Nonetheless, we forced the two, (the lovely purple Ivory cracking as it went along), into what resembled a decaying jelly roll.

After allowing the whole shebang to cool for a while, one is supposed to conveniently slice the mass into cute little rolls.

As you can see here, they came out okay (about 50% came out okay, they rest had Ivory crumbling out of the glycerin roll).

A lovely gift to give to friends and neighbors!

The moral of this story? Experimenting is fun? Follow the recipe as it is stated? Two soaps are better than one?

Most of all, enjoy yourself, even if you make a mess!

Lucky

This is Mazal. His name means "luck".

He is one of two Chiuahua brothers.

He has been with us since he was a month old...now he is two.

I named him Mazal because, according to my sister who helped deliver him, he was still born.

She gave him "mouth to mouth" resussitation and revived him. Later on, he also had an accident with a water bowl, and she revived him then too.

When I told her we were going to name him Mazal, she thought it was a bad idea, because every dog she had ever known whose name was "lucky", ended in a bad way.

I have never owned a Chihuahua before. I have only had large dogs, so it has taken a while to get used to the behavior of these two.

They are very loving, yet incredibly aggressive toward strangers.

They are very brave in the face of even the biggest dog, but very cowardly and trembling at the smallest noise.

They are full of energy and playfullness, but have hours of "down time" where they just sleep.

Most of all, they are cuddly and loyal...and really too cute!