Molly Goatwax

Southern Diner Food

Nom nom nom...chicken bisquit. Take a pound or more of chicken breast in chunks and put it in a glass baking dish with a can of condensed cream of chicken, or mushroom soup. Instead of a full can, add half a can of skim milk. Whisk in an extra tablespoon of flour if you like your gravy thick. Pepper it with paprika and black pepper. Put in a handfull of frozen peas for authenticity. Or not. Cook that at 350 for 30 minutes or so whilst you follow the recipe for drop bisquits on the side of the all-in-one-baking-mix box. (one cup of mix to a third of a cup of milk.) Drop this by spoons onto the bubbling chicken goo and put it back in the oven for 20 or 30 minutes more until it puffs up and browns. Don't cover it for the last ten minutes as the box instructs, or the cobbler will disintegrate. This is extremely simple, and retro, and that must be why Hubby and the kidio scarfed it up. For years Hubby told me he wanted chicken with dumplings and I thought he wanted Italian gnocchis or German wallpaper paste balls, when all along he wanted a fluffy cover on top of the casserole like quick bread, light as air. Y'see, I'm not from around here.

It was so scarey....

Last month I gave you a teaser preview of a work in progress, and now it's finished;

The center image originates from a photo I took of Virginia Warwick's sculpture, "How the Tables Have Turned". It is about eight feet tall and was conveniently located outside the notorious Mount Royal Tavern when I happened apon it. The photo has been altered and enhanced with imaging software and gel transfered onto a panel of poplar and further retouched. The fittings are solid brass, I'll have you know! I e-mailed Ms. Warwick with the sketch posted earlier and invited her to tell me to cease and desist or be attributed. She responded by granting her enthusiastic permission to use the image and to please be put on the mailing list for updates.

Under construction

I have been putting up better, and newer, unseen works in the studio album to the side. When I first installed it, I didn't have a digital camera, imaging software or anything. Well...I had this blog. But back then I couldn't co-ordinate a wall, my felt and my film. I will also adjust the descriptions as I use the album as a tool in honing them for applications. You may peek in any time you like.

Musing.....

I have taken the mechanism and dial from a cheap kitchen timer to install in one of my pieces, perhaps I will make my own dial or lever. The important thing is to have it tick and then ring, to startle the viewer. If not to startle the viewer than at least expand the senses that my work assaults. Speaking of which, while at the dollar store in line to purchase this timer, my eyes flickered over the air fresheners! Somehow I must incorporate an everlasting odor into one of my pieces, but I'd rather it be bacon than a chemical floral....

Freedom

Today marks six months since I've had a cigarette. And I am finally back in five pocket jeans-the elastic waisted granny pants I wore 'cause I blew up like a balloon went into the bin. Yay, me. I still want a smoke but it's too painful to quit to pick it up again. But! The best part is, besides feeling better and besides the thousand dollars I have not spent on them since, there are days when I don't think about them at all!

The way things connect

I was pleased today when a patron came by to buy Soap is for Rich People. I included with the purchase a cake of goat's milk and honey soap, which, at six dollars a cake, is soap for rich people. I opened a bottle of beer on it and we had a nice conversation about appropriation and attribution. It's refreshing to have a visual discussion with another artist. It's especially helpful to illustrate the talk with pictures on the laptop. What did we do before the internet? We had to think a lot harder, said my friend.

more noodling

Lately I have been trying to get a body of work camera ready for an online grant submission. So I have been taking pictures of the pieces, filtering and sizing them correctly in computer imaging, then noticing from the photographs where the work needs retouching, re-attaching or other adjustments. Back and forth, from image to reality. Take Annabelle's Personalised Goat Hitching Post. I had to fix gaps in the black lace with a marker and pick out the highlights on her fur with titanium. I'm debating on what to do with the gaps in the corners....

The blender upstairs starts whizzing

I think I'm getting ready to print a run of tee-shirts, these with multiple prints and possibly stains and/or bleach damage. Powdered Rit dye looks interesting sprinkled directly onto to wet fabric. Do they even sell that anymore?

a familiar compulsion

If I were to actually (rather than virtually) maintain a diary of chairs I found by the side of the road, this would be today's entry; 

                                                                   

                                

At least he's not a Goat

How I wish that the cat, Homer, would not march across my car's hood with his muddy feet on his way to sleep the day away on its roof to ensure an even coating of orange hair thick as felt on the soft black top...it gets a bit embarrassing at the shop. I keep a lint roller under my seat for those dressier occassions.