Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Color My World

I did something yesterday that I bet nobody else did - I cooked a turkey dinner! I used my new knives that Santa brought me, and my silicone spoon, and my gourmet salt. I slid navel orange slices under the skin of that big bird, buttered the outside and powdered it with fresh ground pepper. I fried fresh apple slices in butter in a hot pan, then added cranberries, diced orange and spices. Acorn squash was halved, buttered and sprinkled with pecans and praline flavoring then popped into the oven. Pureed cauliflower was made much more festive by the addition of roasted beets. It was a lively fuschia color. And of course it was New Years, so I cooked a batch of black eyed peas. Not content with the same old thing, I added dried tomato pesto, which added a warm smoky flavor. And if all that weren't enough, my friend came by with fresh tamales! What a feast. Obviously I didn't start a diet.

But I did start working.

I have been struggling with the size limits for printing. Even though I have BIG printers, the size maxes out at 44" in one direction. I have told my clients this many times, yet they continue to ask me to print bigger. I have researched the costs of those huge printers, and I'm certainly not spending that kind of money.

These particular images are the photo panel series, that have a printed element at the top, and the rest is painted. Sure, I can print to the edge of the canvas for 44", but then there's nothing left to stretch. So, I took a large piece of canvas, folded each side under and stuck it down with double-sided carpet tape. At this point I taped off and painted the appropriate part of the canvas with inkjet receiver and let it dry. I had a little trouble getting that whole thing (44" x 64") to feed through the printer, but finally had success just this morning. I've untaped it all now, and it really worked! I love a challenge. Two more to go.

I love the beginning of a new year!

Inspiration of the Day: fuschia

3 comments:

Mary Richmond said...

Happy New Year! Sounds like a great feast and I'm really trying to wrap my mind around putting something 44 x 64" through a printer....I know it can be done, obviously, but wow! You are very technilogically able as well as artistic and productive. Amazing and wonderful combination. May the new year bring you lots of good things....

Walker said...

Pretty crazy to print that big, that's for sure! These are large paintings for public areas in a hotel in Pensacola, FL. Must be a big place! Good wishes back to you. R

Martha Marshall said...

That dinner sounds divine. But that piece of canvas . . . good grief! Who but you would think of such a solution? Always thinking outside that ole box.