Lost in Pebbles

It’s a new year and a new series of paints have emerged from within my imagination.  I’m not sure where I’m going with it, but I feel there is a painting on the brink of something really cool.  It started off with a fun day painting on a slab of wood with my little boys.  The theme was “Spring” and we all thought “flowers”.  Here is what I came up with:

3" x 8"

 

 

 

 

 

And then, after thinking a little about these “white pebbles”, I started a different one:

12" x 12" acrylic on wood

I loved the outcome of this, despite the comic-book style (I love comic books, but have never tried painting in that style before … new year, new tries, right?)  I was going for the “pebbles” look, but for some odd reason it turned out looking a little like bones.  A tower of bones reaching the sky.  Or mushrooms.  These little white things have a mind of their own.  And then I did this one:

20" x 16" acrylic on canvas

Playing with colors, especially with my little boys’ help, has got to be one of the funnest things to do on a cold rainy day.  In this painting, above, my little boys helped me with the balloons.  They each got to mix two colors together on a pallet and, with a Kombucha bottle lid, dip the lid in their paint and press down on the canvas.  Who says a painter can’t be inspired and paint with little kids?  You just have to get creative and let them paint too!  It’s all part of the fun.

Food Porn Friday

I’m trying something new, as of today.  I love food, and I love taking pictures of food.  I love experimenting with new foods, and so a new thought is born: Food Porn Fridays.  Because let’s face it: it’s sometimes just that good.

Today’s Food Porn was a concoction I made up years and years ago: Cottage cheese on toast, with tomatoes and avocados.  The toast I used today is my favorite of all times: David’s Killler Powerseed Bread.  I’m admittedly a bread snob.  I love the taste of good bread, and to be perfectly honest, the more seeds and grains and nuts in it … the better.  I also used Clover Organic Farms’ Cottage Cheese. So … simply put, here’s the recipe:

Toast                                               

Cottage Cheese

Tomatoes

Avocado

Pepper, to taste

It’s delicious, it’s easy and it’s healthy.

A Brief Look at 2010

My Beautiful Sister

I’m taking a moment today to look at the year.  I can safely say that I think most of us do this once Christmas and its holiday cheer and madness is over.  It’s a time of reflection and thought and questions and answers.

My sister and I, as teenagers, started a tradition that I still do today, 17 years later … we write ourselves a “New Years’ Letter”.  So, on the night of New Years’ Eve, we open the previous letter from the previous year, and find ourselves reading through pages and pages of memories from, what seems like, an eternity ago (amazing what a year does to us!).  We fill these letters with hopes and dreams, events and landmarks, answers to the years’ previous questions, and end it with questions to our future selves.  I can’t even tell you how many times we have cried over these letters; or how many times we have laughed so hard, for so long until we choked from lack of oxygen; or exchanged glances as we read the other’s letters, with a knowing look and a slight nod of our head and say, “mmhmm”.   We share our deepest secrets, and exchange our letters.  This is something we have done, when once upon a time we shared a small room saturated in crumpled homework, tea bags and tea cups, love letters never meaning to be sent, The Beatles Greatest Hits tape playing, and stayed up until the sun came up.

Now as “grownups” and having left Neverneverland, we haven’t been able to share the New Years’ Eve tradition for quite some time.  We still write our letters (and sometimes cheat by writing it a month-later, or use the laptop, or email it to each other on New Years’ Eve), but I always, always hold those days of us as young girls readying ourselves for young adulthood sharing with one another those dreams of the future so strongly in my heart. But this year, things are back on track: my sister & I get to share our wonderful tradition with each other once again.  In spite of sounding like a 14 year old girl again, will this year be the year where all our hopes and dreams come true??

What are some of your New Years’ traditions?  Or what are some of your hopes and dreams for 2011?

 

 

Excellent Christmas Gift Ideas – Note Cards! (Or Original Acrylic Paintings by Roberta Owen)

"Luna City" Blank Message Inside

“Luna City” Acrylic Art Mixed Media with Finished Hardwood Frame Included. Dimensions: 8″x10″.  Price: $75.00 SOLD

"Poplars at Sunset" - Blank Message Inside

“Poplars at Sunset” Acrylic Art Mixed Media.  Dimensions: 8″ x 8″ on Canvas.  Price: $55.00 SOLD

"Lost City" - Blank Message Inside

“Lost City” Acrylic Painting with Finished Hardwood Frame Included.  Dimensions: 8″ x 10″.  Price: $120.00

"Meadowfille" - Blank Message Inside

“Meadowfille” Acrylic Painting with Finished Hardwood Frame Included.  Dimensions: 8″ x 10″.  Price: $75.00 SOLD

"Abstract Creation" - Blank Message Inside

"Storm Brewing" - Blank Message Inside

“Storm Brewing” Acrylic Art Painting with Finished Hardwood Frame Included.  Dimensions: 8″ x 10″.  Price: $120.00 SOLD

"Open" - Message Inside can either be blank or "Happy New Year"

“Open” Acrylic Art Painting on Canvas.  Dimensions: 8″ x 10″.  Price: $75.00

"Cliff Of Poppies" - Blank Message Inside

“Cliff of Poppies” Acrylic Painting on Canvas.  Dimensions: 8″ x 8″.  Price: $70.00

"Serenity" - Blank Message Inside

“Serenity” Acrylic Painting on Canvas.  Dimensions: 14″ x 18″.  Price: $150.00 SOLD

These paintings are all original acrylic paintings by Roberta Owen.  You can either purchase the original arts (with hardwood frames included on some) or purchase them as printed note cards on 100% recycled papers.  If interested in the note cards, you can email me with a description of which cards you would like and customize your order, and how many of each.  Below are prices of bundles.

* Bundle of 8 = $20.00 plus shipping

* Bundle of 16 = $36.00 plus shipping

* Bundle of 20 = $40.00 plus shipping

All printed on 100% recycled papers

For more unique Christmas Gift ideas, visit us at www.drocodesigns.com !

To place an order, email me at: droco@comcast.net

We will be accepting personal checks and money orders!  Thanks for browsing and Happy Holidays!! xo

Christmas Card Bundles!

Message Inside Reads: "Have a Merry Little Christmas"

Message Inside Reads: "Have a Merry Little Christmas"

Message Inside Reads: "Peace On Earth"

Message Inside Reads: "Happy Holidays"

What the Bundle Looks Like

Some of you have requested some Christmas Card bundles, so here they are!  Above are the four Christmas Card themes, printed on 100% recycled papers from Acrylic Paintings by Roberta Owen.  The pricing goes like this:

* Bundle of 8 (2 sets of each) = $20.00 plus shipping

* Bundle of 16 (4 sets of each) = $36.00 plus shipping

* Bundle of 20 (5 sets of each) = $40.00 plus shipping

All printed on 100% recycled papers

To place an order, email me at:  r.talkspot@gmail.com

We will be accepting personal checks and money orders!  Thanks for browsing and Happy Holidays!! xo

Snow Days

I love to paint.  I love art.  And I love how an overactive imagination can sometimes lead to a good thing.  As a little girl, my imagination went flying in every direction.  I’ve learned to tame this wild beast and do something productive about it.

In many cases an artist has an idea, or an inspiration, before setting down to his/her blank canvas.  Sometimes it can be a shadow, or a picture in a magazine, or a woman’s bright red lipstick as she smiles and winks when you pass her on your way to the library.  Inspiration can be anything – it’s what makes art so powerful and seductive!

And then there are times you just want to paint.  You have no idea what you’re doing, what direction you are aiming towards, or even what colors (out of hundreds) you want.  But you dip the brush in peacock blue, brush the silky soft acrylic over the stark white canvas and imagine yourself in the mountains.  Pearl white next and hills with snow form.  And before you know it, you’re creating a scene on a ski slope, with a pretty wicked winter afternoon look.

Yes, please.  I’d like to jump in my canvas and play around with my imagination.

Cool Flavor Ideas for Kombucha Brewing

After about 4 months of brewing kombucha, I’m now just rolling into a new phase of “brewdome”: flavors!  Don’t get me wrong: I still enjoy the sweet taste of ordinary kombucha, but I drink a lot.  Next to water, kombucha is my main liquid staple.  To get beside the point of topic (which, if you haven’t been aware of that yet is “flavored kombucha”), I do want to point out a few benefits I’ve noticed from drinking so much of this tasty tea.

1. I really have a better night’s sleep – I’m not sure why this is, but I have noticed it.

2. I get a good energy from it.  Not like the energy I get after drinking tea or coffee (that kind of energy is kind of cool, too – where you feel like you can run a 50k marathon in twenty minutes, and then crash an hour later with a dead-pan glaze, puffy and debilitated).  No, the kind of energy I’m talking about is an easy energy that flows through my body evenly and calmly.  I’ve said it before, but it’s an energy that clears my body and brain out.  A good thing.

3. I’ve noticed a lovely difference in my skin.

Okay.  I’m going stop there.  These are just noticeable, basic observations I’ve found recently.

Now onto the fun part!  Flavors!  (And keep in mind, I’m using a 1.5 L wine bottle for all these measurements…)

*   I strongly urge everybody who brews kombucha to try Strawberry. It’s a common flavor, but don’t underestimate its popularity.  Because it’s really, really good.  When pouring my brewed kombucha from its gallon-sized glass jar, I put it in the wine bottle.  I puree 5 organic strawberries, smoosh it in the bottle, and put it in the refrigerator.

*  Ginger-Strawberry is my next favorite.  The combination of the two creates such a satisfying and delicious taste.  I puree 4 organic strawberries and a chunk (1×1 inch) of ginger.

*  Lemon-Ginger is a unique combination that some might think sounds too weird, but it’s really good.  I made it when I got that “Autumn Cold” feeling (stuffy & runny nose, sore throat, etc) and drank this all day.  By the end of the day, I was good!  Unfortunate for my two little boys who did end of getting the dreaded cold (and it lasted 5 days).  I used an entire lemon peel and tablespoon of lemon juice, along with 1×1″ chunk of ginger.

So far that’s all I’ve tried.  Pretty basic to begin with, but new for me.  If any of you have any other ideas of what flavors I should try (or you’ve tried yourself) give me a shout! Additionally, if you’ve ever tried other flavors that you found totally disgusting, let me know those too!

Wordless Wednesday: Ecola State Park, Oregon Coast

I know this is snuck in as my “Wordless Wednesday” pick (so it isn’t entirely legitimate), however I have to say two things about this picture:

1) It’s taken from my phone and I was hugely impressed of its capability to capture such beauty and feeling

and

2) If you go to the Oregon Coast, and want to see what it’s all about, avoid the tourist-packed sea-side towns in the likes of Seaside and Cannon Beach (unless you like the chintzy tourism packed with people) and instead opt for a less-crowded, but more eventful and picturesque scene such as the Ecola State Park.  It offers a descent hike down to the beach, privacy (seeing as most people tend to enjoy the concept of “get in your car, drive to the beach, hunker down” approach), and a different and fantastic view of Haystack Rock (Cannon Beach’s claim to fame).  I urge you to check this place out while the salty air’s sea breeze takes your breath away.

Wordless Wednesday: Curing Garlic

Kombucha and the Great Love Affair

Kombucha has been around for centuries.  Much longer than GT’s Dave Synergy drinks and their distributors.

When GT’s Dave Synergy drinks (specifically their “Trilogy”, as matters of personal taste and opinion) abandoned us, I was left in complete shock and disarray.  Trilogy dumped me.  Flirted with me with its colorful packaging, and seduced me with its taste.  It left me feeling on top of the world, energized with bubbling bliss and euphoria.   It was a good thing going, Tril and me.  For years of solid happiness, understanding, mutual respect and awareness and calm, it was a good relationship.  And without warning, without any hint of its leaving me … Tril left me.  And I found out through a Co-Op employee!  I felt used, deflated, scared.  Was it really … the end?

I remember the day well: at my local Co-Op, shuffling around the store with old and worn-out Børn sandals, and heading towards the cooler section.  I stood there, where the Kombucha always is, and saw an empty space.  Had word got out that Kombucha was the cure-all of all disease and mental illness?  Was there something I was missing?  Was everybody having an affair with Kombucha, and is Tril cheating on me?  I walked over to an employee.

“Hey.  Uhhh.  What’s up with the no … Kombucha?”

“Out.  Distributors of GT’s Dave are questioning the alcohol content. So they pulled it and are testing it.”

“Get out.”

“Yeah.”

A profound conversation, I know.  The great masterminds of dialogue would be proud.  But it got to the point, and my question was answered.  My mind went into monologue panic mode. Okay.  What?! I didn’t even see this coming. No more kombucha?  This isn’t right.  How dare they? How am I going to drink Kombucha? What am I going to drink in the morning?  Tea?  Where’s the fizz?  I suppose instead of milk in tea, how would tonic water be?  That’s gross. No.  That won’t work.  Tonic water in coffee?  That’s disgusting.  My energy feels depleted just knowing I won’t have a kombucha in the morning.  How long does testing take?  This could take ages!  I do have a scoby and that one bottle of Trilogy in the fridge….

And then it was the beginning of a new relationship.  People warned me.  Sure, some could consider it a rebound.  My passion for Tril had faded – left me alone feeling half empty.  But I needed that feeling back, however small and tasteless.  I made my own kombucha.  I waited.  I brewed over my relationship with Tril.  Some said it wouldn’t be the same; there is no replacement for Trilogy.  I said, “I’ll make it work”.

I can happily say that, 3 months post-Tril, I have a newer, happier, more fulfilling relationship with Homemade.  Homemade makes me feel confident and secure (no distributor can pull it away; I’m in control here).  Homemade gives me more, oh! So much more satisfaction!  Tril only gave me one every three days because – Tril was out of my league, upper class and expensive.  Homemade gives it to me all that I want.  I blush thinking how many times I’ve endured Homemade … just in today!  I get Homemade every time I want.  It’s a good, healthy, fulfilling (and free!) relationship.  I no longer have to bottle up my desires.