Preparing for Wekiva, Playing with Gouache, WIP continues, Shrimp and Grits

The WIP continues, ver slowly. This painting is a real challenge and so I am taking my time to tiptoe through the process. Yesterday I added a transparent white to the distant areas pushing them further back in the painting. Now I will have to bring some of the trees back in a bit here and there to create more intervals.

Oddly, my spellcheck on the blog stopped working and I am a terrible speller. Please forgive errors.

I spent the morning in the dentist's chair, ouch!! The afternoon was all about planning for the first paint out of the season, Wekiva River State Park. I decided I don't want to buy a bunch of new frames for that event, so I have taken paintings out of existing frames and put them in my big bin. I have quite a few frames around the studio, so I will wait for the Heart of Florida Paint Out to get new framing. I've started packing clothes in my bag, and this morning I have layed out lots of panels on the table to start priming them. That is a laborious chore. Ugh!

My strategy this year is to do paintings from 5x7 inches to 14x18 inches. Nothing larger. I want to have a range from 100.00-1200.00 With the economy looming on the horizon, I think people are going to cut back and purchase smaller work. These events are really PR events. Patrons get exctied to be a part of it and they often want to buy a small painting as a souvineer from the event. So I will begin the day with a 5x7 inch warm up in gouache or acrylic, and then switch to oils for the real work of the day.

Every year I try to come up with a plan in my mind for what I want to do and to think about how many paintings I can get. In the old days I used to do 6 or 8 paintings a day, but now I prefer to do 3 or 4 better paintings each day.


My gouache has arrived and I have done three or four litle paintings on paper with it. I like it. It is flat when it dries, but it has great handling, great detail and refinement if desired. It reminds me a bit of casein but I think I like it almost as well. It has been a long time since I painted with gouache and I had forgotten a lot about it. I think it will do fine. I want to try it on gessoed panel and see how it varnishes.



Palm
5x7 inches
Gouache on acid free matboard


Today's Recipe:

Today's Recipe comes from chef Bill Smith:

Shrimp and Grits

Ingredients
2 cups water
1 (14-ounce) can chicken broth
3/4 cup half-and-half
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup regular grits
3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
3 bacon slices
1 pound medium-size shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped green onions
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup low-sodium, fat-free chicken broth
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
Lemon wedges


Preparation
Bring first 4 ingredients to a boil in a medium saucepan; gradually whisk in grits. Reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes or until thickened. Add Cheddar cheese and next 4 ingredients. Keep warm.
Cook bacon in a large skillet until crisp; remove bacon, and drain on paper towels, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings in skillet. Crumble bacon, and set aside.

Sprinkle shrimp with pepper and salt; dredge in flour.

Sauté mushrooms in hot drippings in skillet 5 minutes or until tender. Add green onions, and sauté 2 minutes. Add shrimp and garlic, and sauté 2 minutes or until shrimp are lightly brown. Stir in chicken broth, lemon juice, and hot sauce, and cook 2 more minutes, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of skillet.

Serve shrimp mixture over hot cheese grits. Top with crumbled bacon; serve with lemon wedges.

Yield
Makes 4 servings

Chef: Chef Bill Smith