November 25th, 2009 talkingfox
Yes, I’m still working on my cookbook, albeit more slowly these days due to health issues.
What I need to know is this : As a person who needs GFCF cooking resources would you rather have
A: smaller and less expensive books of more pointed focus (ie just sauces , dressings and gravies or other focus)
B: A huge broad scope book that covers everything (think Julia Child here) that costs more
Sound off!!!! I’m trying very hard to put together what people need/want the most and thus have a resource that actually gets used vs. one that sits gathering dust on a high shelf
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May 20th, 2009 talkingfox
I find that one of the hardest thing for me socially is how to gauge when to stop or start looking at a thing. Somehow there seems to be some sort of unwritten rule somewhere as to just how long that it’s acceptable to actually stare at anything…or more importantly anyone.
I find that I usually either don’t look at people at all or inversely I stare like I’m boring holes in them. The latter usually happens if I find them OR what the light is doing to them interesting. Just how do I explain that I’m bugging out on the series of planes that their face has become?
One thing that I’ll say for photography work is that the camera acts as a social buffer against my unabashed tendency to fall into whatever it is that I’m looking at.
Artism strikes again, much to the detriment of my social calender….
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September 22nd, 2008 talkingfox
As of late I’ve been finding myself more and more interested in what I can do with my camera.
Since my paintings have taken on a somewhat photographic quality over the last few years anyway , why not just skip a step in the process. My photos tend to have a painterly quality to them as well. I’ve actually had a few people ask me if they were pen and inks, paintings or photographs. I guess you can take the girl out of the studio , but… well you know the rest.
Another plus is that photography tends to crack me out of my Aspie studio isolation more. I can’t help but think that this is a good thing.
The next step is going to be figuring out how to combine the 2 mediums and try to create something that is not wholly painting and not wholly photography but is, instead, something that retains the qualities of both and yet is neither completely. It’s going to take some thought.
In the meantime , while I figure this all out here are a few of my most recently finished shots.
Again, as always, I welcome your feedback and opinions of the work and prints are available at my Imagekind Gallery
Portrait of a Eurasian Eagle Owl 2008
Pine 2008
Flotsom & Jetsam 4 2008
Flotsam & Jetsam 3
Frost 4 2008
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September 5th, 2008 talkingfox
Since I’ve moved my art production seems to have slowed a bit. Gee, it couldn’t have a thing to do with the 100 lbs each of fruit and veg that I’ve put up this season could it? 😉
I’m afraid that living in the state of Agritopia after 6 years in the sub arctic zone has brought out my hoarding instinct. I must confess, however, that the many jars of vividly colored produce appeals to my aesthetic instinct as well. All that and it just flat tastes better than the commercially canned stuff.
I’m working on the GFCF cookbook as well…and I gotta tell ya my DH loves research and development days.
Be that as it may, I have still managed to get a few pieces done and I’ve quite a few more on the drawing boards.
I’ve started digging into the reference shots that I took while living in the Alaska interior and the ones taken on my recent trip through the Yukon and Northern BC.
This is the most recent painting.
Birch Catkins Mixed Media 2008
I’m finding that very loose brushwork used to create a lot of detail is getting to be my most used technique and tends to make said detail a little less stiff to the eye. It also gives my aspie penchant for twiddling with stuff a place to go that is productive. I’ve also been noticing that over the last few years that my work has been moving from and expression of how I feel and more into an example of how I see.
I like the way that this piece moves. It invokes spring breezes even with the main focus being on the botanical aspects. It’s peaceful without being static. It’s also a study in complementary color relationships without getting in your face. Overall I think it works.
Birch Catkins detail
Click on the image for a closer look
I’ve also been getting some of the photos that stand on their own finished.
Spring Anemones 2008
Click on the image for a closer look
I do tend to see the world in macro…these flowers were only 2 inches or so in diameter. They were the first wildflowers that I saw of the season and were bravely blooming next to a motel parking lot in Tok, Ak
As always I welcome your opinions of the work, positive and negative alike. And again as always prints of these pieces are available at my Imagekind gallery
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August 14th, 2008 talkingfox
As I’ve been tooling around finding information on the Autism Spectrum I’ve noticed a startling lack of information on Adult AS/Autism. And even less about females who are adult and AS/autistic.
Why is this???? There are certainly adults along the autism spectrum, and the children that everyone seems so very single pointedly focused upon do tend to grow up when ones back is turned. And gee, they become adults. I truly applaud the efforts of parents to help their children and the network of information that has ensued. I guess what I’m grousing about is the dearth of stuff available to many adults that need it….and I know many.
While I understand that statistically speaking there are a whole lot fewer girls than boys that are AS/Autistic, I also understand that it tends to manifest very differently in girls and women than in the male of the species due to gender based neurological differences. Speaking statistically again, girls are far more likely to be misdiagnosed due to these differences in manifestation. I know that was certainly the case in my life.
I’d love to hear from y’all adult spectrum specters. Have you found resources? Diets that work? Coping Mechanisms? And how about the stuff that doesn’t work?
Inquiring minds want to know 😉
On a side note I had my first GFCF dinner party the other night…oh and add VEGAN to that as well.
I did a lasagna that was pretty darned good, if I do say so myself. BUT the crowning achievement of the nite was dessert…rich chocolate layer cake , filled with marion/raspberry filling, coated with a semi-sweet chocolate ganache and decorated with fresh berries. This was served with a very rich bittersweet coconut/chocolate ice cream that I whipped up. It was good by any standard, let alone gfcf.
I’m insufferably pleased with myself at this point.
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July 30th, 2008 talkingfox
I’d love some feedback from y’all 🙂
If you’re on a gfcf diet what dishes do you miss the very most?
If you’re NOT on a gfcf try and extrapolate…which dishes would you miss the most?
Beer doesn’t count, people 😉
Sound off! I’d really like your input on this one!
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June 30th, 2008 talkingfox
I’ve finally gotten my office unpacked and functional after the move! This means as well as working I can get back to my blog. This should please you, oh my readers….both of y’all 😉
As I had mentioned in a previous blog, I am now writing down all of my GFCF recipes as well as devising new ones. My goal is for dishes that aren’t just “good for what it is” good but rather “OH MY GAWD that’s good” good. I did a ‘cheese’ sauce based Potatoes Au Gratin with Ham that fit the bill this last week. It made my gluten and casein consuming husband very very happy.
I’m not only transcribing existing recipes but devising new ones as well. The idea in my little brain is that since I cook all the time anyway, I might as well put it all together into a cookbook. If any of you have leads on publishers that would take such a manuscript I’d gladly accept any information.
My mom seems to think that I could do this with one frying pan tied behind my back. I’m not so sure.
My big issue so far has been which things to leave out. Only a bit over a week in and I’ve got 10 pages just on sauces, and I’ve only covered 2 of the French mother sauces and a few variations.
Iwillnotobsessiwillnotobsessiwillnotobsess
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May 13th, 2008 talkingfox
I’m a total snob when it comes to my ice cream. Even more so now that I’ve gone GFCF.
Most of the rice and soy creams out there are pretty rank. It seems that if one doesn’t eat dairy one requires copious amounts of sugar.
Not so with Good Karma desserts, which I glibly call my favorite Rice Cream. It’s smooth and has the unctuous mouth feel of full fat dairy ice cream. It’s not too sweet. It has add ins like chocolate cookies…..
AND it’s organic, gfcf and works for sustainable farming practices.
What’s not to like?
You can access the company’s website here for more information about their products
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April 16th, 2008 talkingfox
Another huge influence on my art has been music. I can’t work without it.
Each piece that I start is worked on to the same music, much to the consternation of room mates and spouses. Apparently, each painting has its own soundtrack.
It seems that an internal routine gets set with the music and I have an almost impossible time re-finding the mindset that I was working from when I stop working. I hate it when my my train of thought derails! Music serves me by blotting out external stimuli, which I have a hard time filtering.
Music also acts as a sort of emotional/ intellectual mnemonic device for me. It helps in keeping my work from becoming overly preoccupied with detail and stiff. In short, I can set aside technical aspects of art and ride on an emotional stream pouring out of the speakers.
A wall of sound protects me from the outside world and allows me to put my brain on artistic/autistic autopilot. This frees me to work as I see and at hand rather than dealing with niggling mental subroutines.
I tend to get utterly immersed when listening to music anyways, working or no. Sometimes my eyes roll back in my head and I cry unconsciously.
When I’m perusing new cd’s to purchase, one of the biggest criteria is “Can I work to it?”
which is , btw, one of the greatest compliments that I can pay any given album.
Currently in heavy rotation are:
Afro-Celt Sound System: Anatomic
Sound Track: Tout Les Matins du Monde Crappy film, GREAT performance by Jordi Savall
Bjork: Post
Tanzwut – Ihr wolltet Spaß Tanzwut are the boys from Corvus Corax plugged in
Gjallerhorn All albums. An awesome group of Swedes residing in Finland. As a didg player as well as visual artist, this stuff makes me crazy
In Extremo All albums. Another Mittelaltel Metal band from Germany, similar to Tanzwut
Mozart: Requiem Mass performed by the Wiener Philharmoniker
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April 12th, 2008 talkingfox
I’ve never been much of a blogger. Well, barring a few posts on MySpace that is…..
I’m an artist. I’m also a musician. In addition to these things I’ve also been diagnosed High Functioning Autistic/Aspergers.
Now the autism label can be fraught with mythconceptions. I don’t necessarily consider it (at least for me) a disability…well, maybe at parties. Rather I consider it to be who I am, rather like having blue eyes or an allergy to ragweed pollen.
More importantly I hold firm to the notion that I don’t need to be “Cured”, social interaction difficulties aside.
In the coming posts I’m going to try and document my artistic process, my thoughts on autism in general and whatever else strikes my fancy.
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