Goodbye 2011

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Practicing Faces

Painting faces has always been a challenge for me. They never turned out the way I imagined them, the eyes were crooked, the entire face was crooked, and the girls either looked totally grumpy or as if they were ready to burst into tears. Everything was just off.

So I started to practice, practice, practice. And eventually, my faces got better. There are no perfect faces, but I think they got some character now that is other than grumpy or sad. I still want to achieve more expression in their faces, but for the time being I see improvement and that alone makes me happy.

 

I'm doing an online class next week, "Faces 101" with Carla Sonheim - I'm pretty sure it will be a good one.

After many weeks of absence (and very little painting) I'm linking this to Paint Party Friday. I'm so glad to be back in this group of wonderful artists. Please check them out!

The Owl and the Girl

After weeks and weeks of no painting at all, I finally picked up the paint brushes again and started a new mixed media painting that I finished two days ago. It feels so good! This time I tried to be less messy, "cleaner", actually paint a little scene. I'm not quite sure whether I really succeeded in it, but I do like the result. It's on an 8x8 stretched canvas.

Oh, and you bet - it will be in my Etsy shop very soon.

This, however, is not my first "The Owl and the Girl" painting - a few weeks ago I created another mixed media painting featuring a girl and an owl. I did make it for the swap with Donna who sent me her wonderfully altered book.

Yes, the owl is a photo of "my" Mama Owl. I hope I will see her again next year.

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Made in Germany 40 - Exiting the Castle

Tübingen in the snow - some winters we had lots of snow, some winters not so much. We also had very cold winters when the River Neckar would freeze over so that people could walk on there, ice-skate and enjoy a mug of Glühwein (mulled wine - the booth was right on the ice). We certainly made the best of the situation.

Tübingen's castle is right above the medieval city center and its exit, as you see her, leads right to the Irish Pub! The castle houses a museum and some departments of its university, the more "exotic" ones that don't draw big crowds (= students) like ethnology or anthropology. It was quite a climb up there on cobblestone streets (better not wear heels here), but there was also a small path that led to the Schloßberg (castle hill) right behind it, at which end I lived, where it met the forest. It was a lovely way to enter town on a Saturday morning.

This is my last photo in the "Made in Germany" series. It has been in this location for 40 weeks, and I think now by the end of the year is a good time to say farewell to it. This doesn't mean that there won't be anything German on my blog anymore - German(y) and I belong together, and I will continue to share my native country with you, but not quite as regularly as I used to.

Thank you for following "Made in Germany", commenting and sharing your memories of Germany or something German. I really enjoyed writing and posting about Germany every Monday.

View from the castle

Cookie Recipes

After I had posted about baking cookies, several of you have asked whether I would share the recipes - of course I would. I have to warn you, though - since these cookie recipes are from Germany, the measurement is metric. You can get the packs of vanilla sugar at some grocery stores (they usually come in six packs) or at Cost Plus World Market. Hopefully that works for you.

The MIL cookies (mother-in-law cookies)

You will need:

375 g flour

125 g marzipan

30 g cocoa

250 g sugar

1 pack vanilla sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

2 eggs

250 g butter

250 g almond meal (Trader Joe's works perfectly)

Mix all the ingredients together and knead a dough. Roll in logs. Cool in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Slice the log(s) in quarter inch slices and bake at 350 F for 25 to 30 minutes.

Vanillekipferl (vanilla crescents)

You will need:

200 g flour

80 g sugar

2 packs vanilla sugar

50 g almond meal

salt

125 g cold butter

1 egg

60 g powdered sugar

Mix all the ingredients except for the powdered sugar together and knead a dough. Cover the dough and cool in the fridge for approx. one hour. Roll the dough into thin logs and cut in ca. 7 cm (3 inches) long pieces. Shape into crescents and bake at 350 F for 15 minutes. When out of the oven put them face down in the powdered sugar when still hot (the flavor is even better if you mix a pack of vanilla sugar with the powdered sugar). Let cool.

ENJOY !

Made in Germany 39

Germany is full of lovely trees. We have many many forests all over the country, but what I really love are the lone trees. Especially in the winter they can be stunning when you see just the branches against the sky. Sure, I do love trees with all their leaves on, when the wind rustles through them and they give shade on a hot and sunny day. However, the mood of the silhouette of a winter tree is unique, it has a touch of melancholy.

The picture of this tree was taken on the Schwäbische Alb, a very hilly region close to Tübingen where I lived before moving to the States. I used to go up there on the weekends for long hikes in all seasons. Winter was my favorite one (no, I was never afraid to drive in the snow).

I used Kim Klassen's texture "wonderfulmagic_stars" for this photo.