Friday, July 29, 2016

Unpacking The Evolution of Learning and Mastery of the Creative Act




It’s nearly ten weeks since I returned from Spain. That first night, with my essentials... contacts and glasses in my purse… I left my suitcase unopened, turned on the tv to missed episodes of The Good Wife and after twenty-five hours of being up, went to sleep in my own bed. Four hours of jet lag later, I woke and began to unpack the trip.


The bag exploded all over my living room with sock and underpant shrapnel everywhere. Laundry was folded and put away before the end of the day. I refilled my pallets with paint, my board with watercolor paper and repacked my easel, tripod, brushes, clips and other tools into my backpack ready for the next outing.


Between loads of wash and calls with family, an impromptu lunch for four of us on my patio that included a couple bottles of wine, a salad bar salad and a rotisserie chicken, I’d told the headlines of my trip four times. Each opened pockets with souvenirs of ideas still to uncover… traveling alone... with a group, the meaning of art and painting, unscheduled time and talent, my talent.   


I loved the trip. I learned so much from the leader, Timothy J. Clark. I'm aware now of how much I need to learn about the art world and how it works. His presence, knowledge, accomplishments are driving me to learn more. 

Since then, I’ve taken a figure drawing class, which Tim highly recommended for me to learn to draw accurately. Lucky me, I stumbled on the right teacher. Did you ever see a painter hold up a brush and seem to measure? That's about accuracy. The first thing Stuart Fullerton gave us in his class was a stick to measure and check to make sure the figure on the paper aligned with the figure we saw. 


For any trained artist reading this, it must sound, Duh. It is. But I now know I want to learn the fundamentals, not just paint because it feels good to paint. That's what I really learned in Spain. I don't want  a park district understanding of painting and art. Tim opened my eyes to the difference, though there is nothing like getting lost in painting. For me, when I'm lost it it, it's an expansion of that moment when I hit the water when diving or the minutes after an O. And, then, the thinking starts again and I wish the colors weren't as muddy or the lines a little straighter or whatever. 


I'm committed to getting in my 10,000 hours, so I'm using up ink, paper, paints and panels daily. In the past week, I did a pen and ink at Wrigley Field and painted at the Emily Oaks Nature Center in Skokie. I've sketched at the Historical Society Gardenin Glencoe, along the Lake in Highwood, on the train, as well as a scene of a pine tree and ball field lights that I see from the platform every time I take the train. I've taken that same picture more than 60 times, in my own OCD Monet way to watch the shadows and position of the sun throughout the year. 


After lunch that first Sunday, after my company left,  I threw my backpack in the car and did a quick painting by The Lake. I was up again the next morning when I heard about dense thick fog and went back to the same spot. In the ten weeks since, I made a switch from watercolor to oils. I've taken two, two-day plein air workshops, one from Stuart another from Errol Jacobson and a one day program from Don Yang during an Urban Sketchers of Chicago Workshop.  I join the weekly Plein Air Painters of Chicago through the Palette and Chisel most Saturdays and try to sketch daily. 

At some point, I will find my voice in my art.  I have a pile of watercolor paintings seven inches thick that I've done over the last couple years. There is not one in that pile that I would show anyone... or, that i like. Something's happened though with using oils. In my own estimation, I've ascribed to the Cub's Coach mantra, "Try not to suck today." I'm making progress. I figure I am about a quarter of the way to the 10,000 hours. My oils don't suck and my vacation is still with me. 

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This is another in what is becoming a series on creative practice. The earlier ones were written over the last fifteen months and speak specifically to what I've encountered and learned, but, I suspect that nearly all my posts are about my own creative process. 





Cauliflower Wraps - A Paleo Adjustment for Brain Health

Since June of 2013, I have rarely swerved from regularly eating a paleo diet. In the first month, the hand and foot pain I'd endured stopped. I realized it as I unpacked for my writing workshop in Taos and saw that I didn't pack Advil. I haven't needed it since. During that time since, I lost more than 60 pounds and I have energy... every day. And, every day I am grateful that my chiropractor, who'd just completed a six month nutrition education program recommended that I try an anti-inflammatory diet. She told me, if you need a name for it, call it Paleo with no dairy, grain, sugar or legumes. A week or so later, still aching every day and every night, I committed to a week of cold turkey (so to speak) Paleo. Three years later... why would I go back?

I won't but I have made an adjustment recently. Do you have word-fiinding issues? Do you forget names of people and things that you've always known? Do you ever forget something that happened the day before? Ok, I know it's only me that this happens to, so when I learned about North Shore University Health System's Center for the Brain headed (so to speak) by Demetrius Maragonore, MD, located at Glenbrook Hospital, I made an appointment.

Fortunately, I learned after a rigorous assessment that even though this memory stuff only happens to me, it's normal and not dementia or Alzheimers or Parkinsons. Part of the process included a discussion of my exercise and nutrition. I learned I woefully under exercise, they recommend 7 days, 30 minutes of sweat. And, they increased my intake of B and D vitamins.

As for my diet, Dr. Maraganore said he only needed me to adjust a couple things. Ominously he said, "Are you willing to make a change?" I nodded yes and might have said, "sure," I don't remember. "Ok, can you drink red wine instead of white?" I love this man!!!

All other adjustments pale (so to speak) to that one, but he told me I should drink more water, three times a week, eat a combo of garlic, tomato, onion and basil for the lycopene, and add legumes. That's been the most difficult, knowing that they also have an inflammatory aspect to them.  I'm compliant, but I eat them sparingly. edamame here and there and hummus.

This recipe was created in view of Necessity is the Mother of Invention. I needed to eat the cauliflower noodles I'd made for another dish that didn't get made.

The noodles take ten minutes to prepare and an hour to bake. Once they are made and cooled, the wraps take as long as you need to slice avocado and assemble the other ingredients... a couple minutes.

Cauliflower Wraps

Cauliflower Noodles
1 Head of cauliflower shredded or chopped fine
3t Herbs - Italian seasoning
1 t salt
2 eggs

Steam the cauliflower to soft but not mushy, squeeze out any liquid. Add seasonings and eggs. If it's too hot you'll have scrambled eggs so let the cauliflower cool a bit.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat. I used a slotted spoon and scooped the cauliflower mix onto the mat. Working to reduce the amount of liquid, I kept the container of cauliflower mix on an angle to let the moisture run down and I squashed the mash on the spoon to get the last drops out. Spread the mix evenly on the pan and cut dividing lines every two and a half to three inches to make lasagna-like noodles. Bake 350 degrees, 55-60 minutes. They should be browned and still soft.

I wrapped mine in the parchment paper and stored them in the fridge for a day before using them.

The Wrappings
Lemon Hummus
Avocado
Spinach
Sprouts

Spread the hummus, add three slices of avocado at one end, sprinkle sprouts on top and spinach have way down the noodle. Roll the noodle starting at the end with the avocado. I cut them in have so I had  two rolls from each noodle.

Anyone eating Paleo learns quickly that when you don't eat crackers, chips and breads, you have fewer vehicles to get other foods like guacamole, salsa and almond butter into your mouth. I get tired of eating a pile of vegetables with some meat on top. The Cauliflower Noodles make a tasty vehicle for sandwich fixings, whether hummus is schmeered or not.