I often bring soup for our post-meeting feast. I don’t use a recipe. Creative people make things up – even recipes. I hate to throw food out, so my soups are concocted from what’s around. In this case a chicken carcass, a pumpkin and sweet potatoes. The chicken spent some time in simmering water with a whole onion and a Habanera pepper – grown in my garden. When the bones were clean, I strained it, reserving the stock. I roasted a fresh pumpkin – one that didn’t get carved on Halloween, then scooped the flesh out of the skin. I peeled and cubed a couple of sweet potatoes and added another chopped onion and some celery to the stock. When it was cooked to the mushy stage and cooled, I blended it in batches, returned it to the pot and added some fresh nutmeg, coconut milk and goat’s milk to add a smooth and tangy finish. No pepper was necessary, just salt. I love the color!
The work I presented during that meeting, like my soup, was made with materials that happened to be around. My son had given me Copic Markers for Christmas last year, and I’ve recently been experimenting. I do a pencil sketch on Bristol paper, then use the markers like watercolor, moving from light to dark. In the end I sketch over with Manga pens. I also bought myself some Sculpey. Dogs are what I know best, so that was my first experiment with 3 D. I’m not sure what I’m bringing to the next meeting, but the deadline thing gets me working.