The Progress Energy Art Gallery (PEAG) in historic downtown New Port Richey, Florida invites you to submit your artwork for our upcoming August exhibit on “Florida History” that will also feature artwork created in honor of New Port Richey.

To be eligible, artwork must illustrate Florida’s architectural, natural or cultural heritage.  Additionally, artists must be a Florida resident.  All artwork must be clean, in good shape, properly framed and wired, and ready to hang.

The opening reception will be held on Friday, August 7^th, from 6 – 9 pm, and the exhibit will run for two months.

To be considered for this exhibit, interested artists should submit five .jpg images that feature “Florida History” to submissions@nprgallery.com or directly to the Artist Coordinator of your medium, which is listed below.  When submitting for this exhibit, please include the following information in your email:

Email Subject: Artist Submission - Florida History Exhibit [Your Medium]

In the Body of the e-mail, please include the following information:

• Contact information: Name, email address, phone, website, etc.
• Artwork Attachment Submission Details: JPG File Name, artwork title, size, medium, year, and other pertinent info about the work sent.
• Artist resume
• Artist statement
• Short biography
• Attachments: Five .jpg files representing your work. (File attachment requirements: Largest dimension 1000 pixels, and no less than 600 pixels. Additionally, file size should not be larger than 250kb per file as larger files will be rejected by the server.)

Artwork will be selected by our 2009-2010 PEAG Gallery Advisory Committee that includes:

Ralph Annan - Acrylic

Jo Baughman - Watercolor

Michelle Collins - Mixed Media [artbymichelle@gmail.com]

Sergio  Flores - Sculpture

Matthew Ellord - Oil

Natalie Roberts - Pastel [natalie@surrealmuse.com]

Paula Showen - Photography [paula.showen@gmail.com]

Ron Urbanovich - Giclee Printing

The entertainment at the resort wasn’t limited to just music that night.  Twisted Trystan also amazed us with his extreme sideshow performance art ranging from glass walking to fire breathing and even laying on a bed of nails!  Assisted by the lovely Kristen, Trystan started off his show by ripping a phone book with his bare hands.  Then he moved onto his glass walking routine, which did make me turn my head a couple times.  But even if I wasn’t watching, the mic was place in the glass so you could hear the shards of glass crunch and grind against his every move.  And if walking on the glass wasn’t feat enough, Trystan had his amazing assistant, Kristen, step directly upon his face as it laid in the glass.   Ouch!

This master of masochism didn’t limit his performance at just glass walking, he also laid upon a bed of nails and swallowed not one, but two swords!  Yes, this definitely wasn’t your average sideshow performance.   My favorite part of Trystan’s performance was the fire breathing.  It was simply beautiful to watch, and Brian was able to get quite a number of great shots as illustrated in the slideshow below.

Other festivities that night included the filming of a naked body painting music video.  It involved ten or so individuals completely naked under a black light with a bunch of body paint.  While it was quite an interesting performance, the owners of the resort requested no outside cameras so it was definitely an event that you had to be there to see it.

We also came across an artist that was painting bikinis directly on interested models.  One of the models even mentioned that she was able to carry on conversations with people at the party that didn’t realize that the bikini was painted on.

As the evening progressed, DJ Robert Vanwest got the groove going on with a mix of industrial, electro, and synthpop that was accompanied by the lovely go-go dancers, Zoe Vanwest and Caila.  Zoe even would occasionally take a break from dancing and put on her DJ hat to spice it up a bit.

Overall, it was another amazing event, and we can’t wait for X-Bash, which is scheduled for July 17, 18, and the 19th at the Riverboat resort.  This is XZanthia’s 9th year to hold X-Bash, which will feature 7 bands, 6 djs, Pool, Hot tub, Spoken Word, Foam Party, Camping, Huge Art show and Vendors, Fire show, Belly and Go Go Dancers and Much More!!!  Check out the X-Bash page on XZanthia’s site for more information and how to RSVP.

I started this pastel sketch last Friday at Nola Cafe while listening to all the entertainment for the night, and just had a few finishing touches that I did on Sunday at home with my pastel pencil.  So next time, I’m taking my traveling pastel bag so I have all the essential supplies to finish a piece:

• Soft Pastels: I prefer the cheap ones made by Loew Cornell
• Soft Pastel pencils: black ones are a must!
• Fan Brush: helps brush away unwanted pastel dust (also good for correcting mistakes)
• Sketchbooks: always bring more than one for anyone that wants to sketch with me
• Canvas Rug: a huge piece of canvas with durable hard black plastic on the other side so I can sketch anywhere and clean up is a snap!
• Baby Wipes: makes clean up easy and eliminates the need to go to the restroom to watch my hands
• Fixative Spray: it’s what binds all the pastel dust together so it can be enjoyed for years to come

Now the inspiration for this piece came from this month’s theme, Dream, over on Creative Everyday, and Arty Girlz’s weekly challenge, Butterflies.  Both of which, always have great art challenges.  So go be inspired with the New Moon and create something…

First, we started out with a basic form offered by Wine Country Getaways that also provides other resources to throw your own wine tasting party.  While it was a simple form to fill out, there wasn’t much structure to the form that would make it a good one to use in comparison over time to other wines.  So next, I came across this detail form featured on the Wine Lover’s page that scientifically rates the wine on a 20 point scale based on 12 questions.  The only down side is that it requires focus and a little more time to fill it out completely.  So they also offer this simple form that provides good questions to discuss during a wine tasting.  Another good wine tasting sheet that I have come across is featured on the De Long Wine Info site that provides visual pictures plus all you have to do is circle your preferences.

Last night we tried two different wines.  The first one was a 2004 Shiraz from the Sterling Vintner’s Collection, which is described on the vineyard’s website as:

[A] Shiraz [that] strikes the nose with powerful combination of intense dark fruit, liquorish, cocoa powder and nutmeg followed by round fruit-driven tannins on the palate. Raspberry and black currants linger on the tongue providing a smooth middle and long, lasting finish highlighted by gentle vanilla impressions. Rich in flavors and smooth in body, it holds up to sturdy dishes such as a grilled rib eye or rich pasta carbonara.

Based on the 20 point scale, I rated this wine a “16″ and noted that it was a dry wine with a deep bouquet.  Micheal, on the other hand, gave it a 15.75, and noted that if it was just a little less sour that it would be really good.

Our second wine of the evening was brought by our good friend, George, an intriguing labeled entitled “Vampire“.  Another red, but a 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon this time, which is noted on the vineyard’s website as:

Vampire Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from several small-berry clones of this traditional Bordeaux varietal, grown in the Paso Robles region of California’s Central Coast.  Classic, small-lot fermentations, followed by aging with both European and American oak, gives full expression to the rich varietal flavors in this wine.  Judiciously blended with small amounts of Merlot for softness, and Syrah for added structure, our Cabernet displays ripe flavor character and a lovely aroma that will continue to develop with additional time in bottle.

This time we were slightly more conservative in our ratings with my rating at 15, Michael at 14.5, and George at 13.  While an overall good wine, it lacked a distinct bouquet and the aroma was only slight.  I suppose the label “Vampire” was misleading as it inspires images of a deep, rich wine that this variety just didn’t live up to.  However, as we’re finding out, never judge a wine by it’s label.

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Creative Every Day’s February challenge is to incorporate words into your creative endeavors.  This pastel sketch is actually my third attempt tonight to capture something that called out to me.  While I’ve definitely been creative these past couple of months doing activities that range from making jewelry to designing my own wire-bound journals, I haven’t touched my soft pastels in awhile and it shows. 

My earlier attempts tonight ended up having color selections that clashed so I decided to stay with a simple yellow-green-blue combination.  The flower stylized dragonfly wings is a design I sketched awhile back.  While I have always loved dragonflies, they seem to be reappearing quite frequently right now.  I even saw one yesterday on one of my walks.  As a creature of the wind, dragonflies symbolize the ability to change form, adapt to various situations, and emerge anew. 

When it comes to being creative every day, it’s a lifestyle that embraces all things creative from cooking up a great meal to share with family and friends to practicing the art of feng shui and re-arranging your room in a way that is more pleasing the eye.  Being creative everyday isn’t limited just to traditional forms of creativity from painting to creating music.  It’s about embracing each day with creative energy to sing along with your favorite song and maybe even dance a little jig.  So to inspire you to become more creative everyday, I’ve made this pastel sketch available to download in three different desktop sizes.  cheers!

When it came to creating this planner, I designed it completely from cover to back.  For the covers, I cut some leftover mat board scraps to be slightly bigger than the inner pages.  Then I used a wide variety of materials to decorate the covers from metallic paint to handmade paper.   Once everything was dry, I varnished the covers to provide durability and then as a final touch, I added metal corners.  After the covers were completely assembled, I designed the inner pages, which included:

1. Monthly Calendar
2. Monthly Goal Sheets
3. Health & Fitness log
4. Home Maintaince List
5. Wish List
6. Website Goals/Planning
7. Ideas
8. Daily/Weekly Goal Sheets
9. Prayers/Affirmations

Some of the pages were designed completely from scratch and others were obtained from online resources.  While it might seem to be a daunting task to compile and create a customized planner, the majority of the work was completed over a weekend.  The covers were the most time consuming factor as it takes over a week to allow enough time to let each layer dry.  The end result has been a very productive tool, and probably my only complaint is that the 1″ black wire coil I selected to bind the planner might not be big enough over time as I paste collages and various resources inside the pages.

The design has been reviewed in both Mozilla 3.0.6 and Internet Explorer 7.  However, please drop me a comment if you notice anything looking a little weird in your browser.  Please note the browser name and version to help assist in my research to resolve the issue.

But, there were a few things about garlic that irritated me.  I don’t like having to play with the garlic paper and peel it.  I don’t mind the chopping, but the having to peel it each time slows me down.  When I am creating, I like to be quick on my toes, because I do alot of cooking on-the-fly.  Sure, its only a few seconds, but for me it can be a distraction when I am in that creative mode.  I am always looking for ways to save labor now so that in the future, I can simply just cook.

Also, I live in Florida.  I don’t know what that means to you, but to me it means that things like to go bad quickly and mold.  Garlic can get these little black specks on the bottom, near the root, which can quickly end a good head.  It’s humid here, and I have seen garlic starting to sprout just sitting in a dry spot on the table.

The products that are in the jar, already minced…  Well, I don’t particularly care for them.  I have used them, in an attempt to obtain the speed I want for the creative mode, but they never seem to carry enough flavor.  Goodness knows how long they have been in that jar, too.  I also have a natural aversion to getting things that have been processed when I can process them at home and know exactly what I am putting into my body.

Lastly, we eat alot of garlic.  All told, my wife and I consume about a dozen or so heads of garlic a week.  I put it in nearly everthing.  So, me being the kinda guy that likes to cook on-the-fly by the seat of my pants, every day I was slowing down to process garlic.

So the universal garlic base was born.  The premise is simple.  Roast a ton of garlic heads off at the beginning of the week, turn them into a base and keep it in the fridge.  Now, whenever I need garlic I can just scoop some out of a container and get whatever I need.  It saves time because its already made up for you.  The jarred garlic is expensive and the quality isn’t nearly as good as what you can make yourself.  Also, roasting it and keeping it in the fridge makes sure you don’t have to worry about mold.

The base keeps for a week and a half, if you manage to keep it around that long.  You’ll find yourself using it everything.  So, enough of that, let’s get to the actual process of making it.

You Will Need:

• About a dozen or so heads of garlic.
• One lemon
• Olive oil
• Pepper and Kosher or Sea Salt
• A 9×13″ cake pan, or casserole dish.  Pyrex glass is fine.
• Aluminum foil

Procedure for making the Ultimate, Roasted Garlic Base

1. Line your pan with aluminum foil and set near your work area.

2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. ( 175 C.)

3. Using a large, serrated bread knife, take off just the top of the garlic head.  you want to make sure each clove had just a little bit of the tip removed.  Try not to remove too much of the garlic clove tops, but you want enough removed to expose the clove.  You can dispose of these tips.  (I save them and use them for making stock.)  Place each head in the pan and line them up in a row.

Note: No, you do not have to peel the garlic.  You might want to removed some of the outer paper of the garlic, but there is no need to peel  the head.

4.  Once you have all of your garlic heads prepared and panned, you will want to brush or drizzle a little olive oil onto the exposed tops.  You don’t really want to drench them in oil, so be careful not to do too much.  If you don’t have a pastry brush, pour a little olive oil into a cup and then use a teaspoon to drizzle it over each head.

5.  Liberally salt and pepper each head.

6.  Using another piece of foil, cover the pan and seal the edges tightly.

7. Place in the oven, on the middle or top rack, for about an hour.

8. Once the garlic is done roasting, remove it from the oven and allow it to rest for about 10 minutes before you remove the foil.  Be careful, there will be steam.

Click for a much better look!

9. After you lift off the foil, you might want to let the garlic cool for about another 20 to 30 minutes.  Be careful, they could still be warm.  You will be next squeezing these little guys out of their husks.  When it comes out, each head should have a nice dark, golden-brown color.  It should be shiny, almost glossy.

10.  THE FUN PART.  I use gloves, but you don’t have to.  Just make sure your hands are very, very clean and well washed with antibacterial soap.  I find that washing the hands and then using gloves lowers the chance of contaminating your newly roasted product and can help extend shelf like.

So what you want to do is, over a bowl, take each husk and squeeze it and watch the garlic cloves shoot out like you are squeezing a tube of toothpaste.  A firm, gentle pressure is all you need.  Try to get out as much of the garlic as possible, making sure no paper gets into the bowl.  You can throw away the husks, or they make great compost.

11. Once you have all of your cloves in the bowl, you can now add the zest of one lemon and a few teaspoons of the juice.

12. Add about a teaspoon or so of salt and fresh black pepper.

13. Add olive oil to the bowl.  Depending on your intended use, you could use more or less.  But, generally, you can figure about a half teaspoon per head.

14. Take a fork and mash it up, making sure each clove is completely mashed.  You want to get it looking like a paste.  Make sure you get the oil well mixed into the product.

15. Store in an airtight container.

And that’s it.  You now have an excellent base you can store in the fridge and use anytime you want and use in practically any dish.  It keeps about a week to ten days.  This tutorial looks like quite a few steps and appears time consuming, but is actually quite simple and goes quickly.  The longest part of the process is actually roasting.

I think I am going to make some garlic butter for the best darned garlic bread ever, which gives me an idea for my next post.

(Afterthought:  You don’t have to add the lemon, if you don’t want to.  Personally, I find it keeps an element of freshness to the final product.  You may also add dried herbs to the base.  In the last pic, I have some oregano in the olive oil that can provide an additional flavor component)

Good luck and Happy Cooking!

Shot taken on January 1, 2009 @ Lettuce Lake Park (Tampa, FL)

Image Available for Free Download in the following Desktop Wallpaper sizes:

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The first collection of folders is grouped by major categories such as Art Reference, Photos, Prints, Store Photos, and Website Photos.  Within each major category, I break down that particular category further.  Using the “Photo” folder as an example, it contains subcategories such as Friends, Family, Local Events, Nature Walks, Travel, and Work.  Then within those subcategories, I organize the images in folders using the following format:  YEAR.MM.DD - Folder Description (Example: 2008.01.02 - Nature Walk at Lettuce Lake HDR).   By listing the date format backwards, it will keep the folders chronology organized as other date formats can get out of order.  Also within the folder description, I reference important information such as HDR, which stands for high dynamic range so I can easily tell what type of photo is contained within the folder.

Once you get the basic folder structure set up, you can download a free photo organizer such as Xnview, Irfanview, or Picasa.  Some of these programs can help you further organize your images by batch renaming of file names, assigning tags (i.e. names of people, places, etc.), or assign ratings so you can easily find your favorite images.  They also assist with editing your photos if you don’t have Photoshop.  Personally, I use Adobe Bridge, which interacts with Photoshop so I can edit photos in batches to automatically resize and apply filters.

Finally, make a habit to organize your photos as you download them in a format that works for you, and of course, don’t forget to back-up your images to a CD, external hard drive, or through an online website that can also assign privacy levels.  And of course, if you have another tip on how to organize photos, please feel free to post your idea in the comments section.

Photo Credits: “why I love my vintage cameras” by Katie Weilbacher