Aquatic Sketches

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One of my goals for this summer – I say “one of” because there were many – was to begin sketching ideas for the art class I am planning to take next semester. For some reason I keep sketching aquatic animals; I guess I just like the movement of these deep sea creatures.

Here are a few tips for those who are sketching with pen. (Pen is one of my favorite mediums because of its clean crisp look.)

1. When shading with pen you obviously can’t just smear it around like graphite. Instead use lines to shade; the closer the lines the darker the shading and vise verse.

2. Don’t be afraid to try out colored pens. This was my first attempt at a colored pen sketch and the color really brings this picture to life. Though it may not be apparent at first glance I also added some peach undertones.

3. Another shading technique in pen drawing is dotting. Speckling your sketch to achieve more depth may take a bit longer, but it definitely pays off in the end!

Mama What’s Cookin’: Chinese Dumplings

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Stuck inside today because of the rain here in northern china, and what else does one do inside all day? Cook!

 

I made Chinese chicken and cabbage dumplings. (With sweet and spicy soy sauce.)


 

The trick is to first fry the dumplings in some oil for a minute or two , this will prevent them from sticking when you steam them.

 

An easy way to steam the dumplings is to keep them in the same frying pan and pour a cup of water into the pan while hot and place a lid over them. Let it steam until the water is all gone.


 

An alternative step is to then pour some more oil in the pan and fry the other sides of the dumplings to get a crispy exterior.

 

And finally-Enjoy!

Cake Challenge: May

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Why am I posting the May Cake Challenge installment in the middle of July, you may ask? Will “better late than never” cut it? Between Jessie, Maddie, and Michael I am reminded “daily ” of my absence on Connecting4. sorry about that.

This is my real answer to the question above;

While traveling this summer, I realized how much I miss being in the kitchen, baking sweet treats for my family. It is this desire that inspires me to finish these unfinished posts. I find that interest is followed by desire to perfect skill, which pushes one not only forward but backward as well. I want to go back and refine, improve, and polish original works. Hence, although my plan was to post this in May, I am checking off old tasks and moving forward.

I encourage you, as well, to pull out dusty dreams and aged ambitions, review, rewrite and keep creating!

<Cake Challenge Series: is a collection of posts which document the cakes I bake each month. More specifically, I have a goal this year to bake at least one (hopefully spectacular) layer cake each month, and photograph/post them here. I hope you enjoy this collection as much as I enjoy baking these delicious desserts!>

Other Cake Challenge Posts:
January 
February
March 
April


As of Late

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As most of you know, this is my summer home (in America) to visit relatives and friends. Since I arrived in Seattle almost two weeks ago, my schedule has literally overflowed with various visits, events, meals, tiring unpacking & repacking my suitcase, stressful airport adventures, road trips etc. Here are some snippets from the last two weeks.

After 26 hours of traveling I made it to Washington DC (!!!!) and enjoyed a lovely week with my Mom and old friends.

Flying out of DC, we made our way to a beach house in Galveston, TX to enjoy time with extended family. Speckled trout fishing, boat riding, fish-fry dining, crab hunting, sun bathing, salt-water swimming, etc. made for an exciting week.

Pinning: An Art

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Pinterest.com, the new up-and-coming social media site promising to take your reach to infinity and beyond.

Pins from Connecting Four's Pinterest Boards

When done correctly, Pinning can be a powerful tool. (Not to mention, you stumble upon some pretty amazing work. Above are compiled some of my favorite pins from our boards.)

 

Here are some tips on Pinning…
 

1. Start with just a few boards, and make them great. Don’t create thirty boards with few pins and little draw for an audience. Give yourself enough range when thinking of the board theme, so you can make sure you have enough pins. Yet, make your board specific enough to capture a viewer.

2. Stay “on topic” within your boards. Related to the first point, but just another reminder to stay within the board’s theme.

3. Make sure your board cover is representative of the board’s content. This is the first impression of the board, make sure it is something that will bring an audience to the board.

4. Be yourself. Pin what you like, that is the whole idea of pinterest. Showing yourself through your boards will make your boards unique.

 

Here, our Pinterest profile has just a few boards, but with specific themes (and fully populated boards).

How To: Become a pro on Instagram

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I am constantly amazed by the creativity that shows up on my Instagram feed: the textured action shots , surreal scenes, and incredible landscapes.

In a way, Instagram on the iphone has become a strain of the popular analogue “toy cameras” produced by Lomography.

The trick to this hobby is to use a wide range of apps (not solely instagram) on your phone to get your image just right.

Michael Headrick's Instagrams

To get the most out of your iphone (or android smart phone), here are some apps to really open up this world of photography:

Great photo editing iphone apps.
1. D-Series 2. Art Studio 3. Filter Mania 2 4. Instagram 5. PuddingCam 6. Pixlr-o-matic

D-Series and PuddingCam are both camera applications that have a wide range of filters, and include their own options like image size, resolution, coloring, exposure, and more.

Filter Mania 2 is a bit of a cheesy app. They have many filters for photo processing, but most of them are almost cartoon-ish. However, they can be modified with the luminosity and opacity functions on the app.

My favorite are Pixlr-o-matic and of course, Instagram. Pixlr-o-matic has more freedom, but doesn’t have the strong social media aspect that Instagram has created.

Lastly, Art Studio is an interesting app. The main function is for painting and drawing, but has the capability to load images and gives freedom like blending options. This is an almost photoshop-like app, which you can use to layer images and do more detailed work.

Here are some examples and tips:

These three images were created using a variety of Instagram, Pixlr-o-matic, and Filter Mania 2.

You can add more a more graphic design look with Filter Mania 2, in the top image (the opaque circles and added colors).

Use these textures give your photos a bit of depth and some color interest factor.


The three above were created with Instagram and ArtStudio. All three are layered images.

This adds an interesting aspect to any image. The different layering and blending options utilizes the light and contrast in multiple images to give it a truly unique look.

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Lastly: Use Instagram to add the finishing touches (color, contrast and blur) and share with the world!

MeMaw What’s Cooking? Blueberry Pie!

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Since arriving in Texas I begged my grandmother, MeMaw, to go blueberry picking – something I haven’t done in four years! On our way back from a long shopping trip we spotted a blueberry picking sign on the side of the road and knew… it was time to pick some berries! Upon arriving at the blueberry farm we plucked and munched to our heart’s desire. Rain clouds finally rolled in, forcing us to finish up. We paid for our 20 pounds (about 30 cups) of blueberries and returned home. The following day I succeeded in talking MeMaw into making a blueberry pie with me; this was the first blueberry pie I ever tasted let alone made! And let me tell you, it turned out delicious!

The secret ingredient to a crunchy crust : almonds!

Tartness of blueberries matched with sweet sugar yields the most delicious pies! Tip: when baking pies or crisps, the more tart the fruit, the better the pie… you don’t want those four cups of sugar to overpower the flavor of the fruit.

Summer is a great time for pies, and if you cannot find blueberries: look for peach, strawberry, or even rhubarb; any of these will make a delicious pie!

Another trick: add a layer of granulated sugar directly under the crust, making a delicious blueberry syrup once baked.

Couple your pie with a glass of Southern Sweet Tea or some cool whipped cream.
Beautiful.

Watermelon Pink Lemonade

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It was 35 degrees (95 degrees Fahrenheit) today, and I needed something to cool me off. This Watermelon Pink Lemonade just what I needed- it’s the perfect remedy for a hot summer day!


(Recipe at end of post.)

The best part of this frosty snack is after you drink the lemonade: eating the watermelon. The fruit will absorb the pink lemonade and you get incredible sweet and sour flavored watermelon cubes.

I’ve found that using chop sticks is an easy way to eat watermelon. This pink set matched so well with the color of the summer cooler.

This drink is perfect for summer BBQs, children’s birthday parties, and even garden party events.

Sunset at 3am

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The countless carefree summer evenings, always comfortably residing in the back of our mind.

(nikkithy, instagram)
The artist places focus on the seaside sunset and dark ocean clouds, steering away from pure photography and stepping into the realm of art. The geometric alteration and vintage color scheme transcend a representation of this moment to communicate an emotion.

Here I tried the same technique.

By the way, check out Nikkity’s web store and blog here.