Daily Doodle: Day 17

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 
  
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

Recipe from Allrecipies.com

May X never mark just one spot!

Kim 

Daily Doodle: Day 16

Peanut Butter Kisses


1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup shortening
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 11 ounce package milk chocolate candies


Preheat oven to 375°. Cream together granulated sugar, brown sugar, shortening and peanut butter. Add eggs, milk, and vanilla; Beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt; add to peanut butter mixture. Beat well.
Shape into 1-inch balls; roll in additional granulated sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in oven for 8 minutes. Remove from oven. Press a chocolate candy into the center of each warm cookie. Return to oven; bake 3 minutes longer. 
Makes 6-7 dozen cookies.


I got this recipe from an old Jif Peanut Butter Cookbook that my Mom has been using for years. Enjoy!


May X never mark just one spot!


Kim 

Daily Doodle: Day 15

In spirit of the holidays, this next week I'm going to be illustrating the cookie recipes my Mom always makes this time of year. A little bit of fun and yumminess is sure to be in store. I didn't have a lot of time to work on this one today so it's more of a rough draft but I'll give the next few a bit more time. I'll also include the full recipes in the future in case anyone wants to try them out!

May X never mark just one spot!

Kim

Daily Doodle: Day 14

May X never mark just one spot!

Kim

Daily Doodle: Day 13

May X never mark just one spot!

Kim

Daily Doodle: Day 12

May X never mark just one spot!

Kim

Daily Doodle: Day 11

May X never mark just one spot!

Kim

Daily Doodle: Day 10

May X never mark just one spot!

Kim

Daily Doodle: Day 9

May X never mark just one spot!

Kim

Daily Doodle: Day 8

I think I've decided to have a theme each week, a new one starting every Friday. I'm still figuring out how I want this project to go, for now I'm just having fun with it and I think it's working just fine but I want a little more purpose to it. Anyway, I'm going with a nautical theme this week, it's pretty basic but always fun! 

May X never mark just one spot!

Kim

 

Daily Doodle: Day 7

Woo! One whole week of daily designing!!

May X never mark just one spot!

Kim

A Little Bit of Elegance

I came across the portfolio of Amy Borrell today and thought I would pass it along. Her work is very soft and romantic and I found it very endearing. It was a nice change from the bold, sarcastic illustrators I've been admiring lately. Take a look!

She has lots of work on her website so check it out at cakewithgiants.com.

May X never mark just one spot!

Kim

Daily Doodle: Day 6

May X never mark just one spot!

Kim

Daily Doodle: Day 5

I had fun doing the poster yesterday so I think I'm going to do a few more...

May X never mark just one spot!

Kim

Daily Doodle: Day 4

May X never mark just one spot!

Kim

Daily Doodle: Day 3

Hmm, this one didn't exactly turn out how I planed it to but the good thing about this project is that I get to try again tomorrow!

May X never mark just one spot!

Kim

Daily Doodle: Day 2

May X never mark just one spot!

Kim


(Original painting is Tragedy by Amaury-Duval )

My New Plan

Earlier today (technically yesterday) I was talking to one of my very best friends, Brandon Hunter about jobs, moving, art and all kinds of other fun stuff. During our conversation he brought up several designers who have committed to designing something everyday. I've seen a few blogs of designers who do this and I have always thought it was a great project just not one I was going to take on myself. Well, Mr.Hunter has inspired me (once again) to take on this project. He is one of the most passionate people I know and his love for design is contagious. So starting today I'm going to design/create/produce something new everyday. This doesn't include any work I do for my job or a client, this is strictly personal artwork that I want to make. You want to hear the best news? I'm going to post it all on this lovely blog of mine for your viewing pleasure. Are you excited? Because I am.

For today's little piece of artwork I did a simple little drawing in my sketch book, but I like it. My plan is to add a little bit to this drawing everyday and see how it evolves, Layer Tennis style. I figure it's a good way to ease me into this new project, plus I think it could turn out really crazy and cool. Once I'm done or bored with this drawing I'll move on to something new. So without further delay, I give you design numero uno:

I know, it's not much now but I already have plans tumbling around in my head that will make it super awesome, so make sure you stay tuned!

Oh and don't forget to check out Brandon's very spectacular blog, White Spase. He always has great posts about all different kinds of artists and insightful musings on what is going on in today's art world!

May X never mark just one spot!

Kim

Where to Find a Time Machine in Boston...

I realized today that I haven't really posted anything about Boston since I announced that I was moving up here. Well today that changes! Last month, the week before Thanksgiving, I went to the Museum of Fine Arts with a friend and was very impressed with several of the collections. Being from around the DC area I have always had access to many different art museums, my absolute favorite being the Hirshhorn Museum, so I was excited to be able to go to a new museum with all new art.

Generally speaking, I always like the modern art sections of galleries the most. The MFA had some really nice pieces and a great exhibit of work by Nicholas Nixon but it was a fairly small collection, that or we just didn't find the rest. The floor plan was a bit confusing, haha. On the other hand the ancient world collections were amazing. We started off with the Egyptian art. The exhibit was beautifully set up, the lighting was perfect and the pieces were amazing. They had so much artwork! I felt like I was back in ancient times. It was definitely the highlight of my visit. They even had several tombs (at least I think that's what they were...) that were reconstructed and allowed you to go inside. After studying art history in school it's always amazing to see the pieces in person. Here are a few pieces from their Egyptian collections.

Funerary stele of Djedinheret

Shawabty of the Lady of the House of Behdetnedjmet

Shawabty of Neferseshempsamtik

Dummy Canopic Jar

Canopic Jar

And here's a photo I found of the exhibit.

(Image from finalarchitecture.com)

If you're ever up in Boston and want to see some great artwork definitely head to the MFA. I'm going to try to make it to the Institute of Contemporary Art next so look for a post about that. This time I won't forget my camera so I'll have my own photos to show you.

May X never mark just one spot!

Kim

(Images from educators.mfa.org)

Platinum in the Rough

The other day I came across the photography of  Michael Massaia and felt I had to share it with you. The New Jersey native (just like me!) takes large format, black and white photos of places in New Jersey and New York. I was blown away when I first saw his work, his images literally glow. It turns out they are platinum prints, something that I have been very unfamiliar with till now. The special printing process is VERY archival, has a vast tonal range and as I mentioned before, appears to glow. 

One of the things I like the most about Massaia's work, in addition to his stunning compositions, is that the majority of his photo are taken at night. The dark photos really make the glowing lights of his subject matter work perfectly with the platinum prints. The Final Throes, Chinatown Nights and Afterlife are my three favorite series. Check it out-

Afterlife-02

Afterlife-12

Afterlife-06

In the Final Throes-New Jersey-3

In the Final Throes-New Jersey-8

In the Final Throes-New Jersey-1

The Bayard Building-Chinatown

Nice One Bakery-Chinatown

Chinatown Finge

Chinatown-6am

He has a ton more photos on his website so check it out!

May X never mark just one spot!

Kim

(Afterlife images from michaelmassaiaphotography.com

The Final Throes images from beautifuldecay.com

Chinatown Nights images from luminous-lint.com)

More than just a hobby

Sumbleupon has done it for me again! This time in the form of John Kenn. Kenn is a writer and director for kids shows but in his free time he transforms into an illustrator of epic proportions. His subject matter is mainly monsters of all shapes and sizes. His media? Pen and ink and, drum roll please... Post-It's. Yep that's right, he creates beautiful drawings that would be amazing enough as is but to top it off he does them on little squares of 3x3 yellow paper. His work immediately brings to mind the illustrations of Maurice Sendak, another favorite of mine. His drawings are detailed and have wonderful textures that make them come to life.

I also love that this is just a hobby for him. There is no pressure for him to create a new piece of artwork and no deadlines for him to meet. It's easy as a graphic designer to get caught up with projects and clients and forget to create work just for yourself. Kenn has been doing just that and lucky enough for us has been kind enough to let us join him in his little Post-It worlds. I definitely am going to set some time aside to do more personal work and maybe I'll start posting it up here too!

He adds new work to his blog about every week so make sure you check it out!

May X never mark just one spot!

Kim

(Images from johnkenn.blogspot.com)

Time to deal out the cards

I found this while doing my usual rounds on Etsy. They're a fun and quirky shop called Able and Game that makes fun and quirky cards. Simplistic drawings combined with funny little sayings make me a very happy customer!

These cards are a great way to tell someone how you feel in a unique and unconventional way and they are always good for a laugh. Keep up the good work Able and Game!

May X never mark just one spot!

Kim

(Images from Able and Game's Etsy Shop)