Cookie monsters

Tonight was the Cobalt Studios annual Christmas cookie party. Don't worry, its not as much like Faux Thanksgiving. Here is the table before the guests arrived and brought their cookies to add to the pile.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

I understand how some people feel about Christmas trees. I can't blame them. I think they should be full and large and full of life and cheer. But I still find this funny in its own wonderful way.

My friends enjoy a little bit of irony. I can't blame them, its needed sometimes. I enjoy a little bit of irony sometimes too. While I was in Illinois, my friends in the house decided they wanted a Christmas tree and chose to make it a "Charlie Brown tree." Amy ventured into the woods on our own property and returned with this young spruce. You can't see it too well, but the angel at the top of the tree is causing its crowning branch to comically bend over.

Whatever is going on in your life, remember to find something that makes you smile, even if its the most ridiculous thing you can find.

Six inches

It snowed overnight. We got six inches on the ground and its still here. Snowball fights are inevitable.

Product Placement

This week in class we had a special seminar on lettering and sign making. Yesterday we all chose different signs and recreated them using special sign-making paints. This is Jackie's project. She found hers in an old magazine clipping. I suppose now is a good time to mention that my new MacBook Pro is working very well for me.

Night lights

It was totally dark tonight when I left the studio. Luckily we have a string of lights that leads us down the path back to the house. This shot is looking back toward the studio through the trees.

Front hall

This is an extra-wide view of the front hallway at the front door of the house. I used the diminishing glass to get this shot.

Wide open spaces

When I left the studio tonight I caught a glimpse of the moon coming up over the trees. I ran to grab my camera and took about twenty shots of it peeking around the side of the house. I didn't like any of those shots, so this is not one of them. This is the house taken from across the field. We have a very large sky here. (The moon was still rising behind me in this shot.)

Ginger

Ginger came over tonight! Don't worry, she brought her human too, our good friend and teacher, Joan. The group of us played games and watched a movie while Ginger took a nap on the floor. This is Ginger between naps.

Red!

We are so bad. Neither of us had a photo to post yesterday. That's ok, brand new pictures are here. We haven't seen any sun in a few days here, but there's still a bit of color left in the flora. The leaves on this Japanese maple tree seem to glow against the studio in the background.

Puzzle

The house is full of puzzles. I found this puzzle of the house itself tonight and started working on it on the coffee table. Compare to our very first post on this blog!

Pumpinks

Random fun sparked at the house and everyone carved pumpkins. This is the wolf I carved.

Street Scene

Today we finished two drops in the studio for an upcoming high school production of Guys n Dolls. We made a sewer scene, and this one. This drop is 48 feet wide and 21 feet tall. In order to capture the entire drop in the picture I put the lens of my camera up to a diminishing glass. Kind of like a reverse magnifying glass. In the lower left corner you can see Brian holding up the diminishing glass for me.

Friday Special

Just in case you were curious, this was the entree I made at the house on Tuesday. Its based on the "Friday Special" at Taziki's in Birmingham. Nancy's idea was to use shrimp instead of chicken. For those of you who know; yes, the sauce tasted right on. It was a major hit at the Cobalt house.

Desert

My turn to cook again. Dinner was just a detail, but the banana pudding I made for desert is where it counts.

Locally grown

I discovered this the other day in Livingston Manor, but I already know what it is. When I traveled to Cobalt Studios for the first time for my interview, Rachel Keebler, the founder and head teacher at Cobalt took me here to help her paint this on the side of a building. At that stage, This picture was nothing more than a blank wall of bricks. I helped Rachel transfer the image from a perforated sheet of paper onto the wall using charcoal (a technique called "pouncing.") This was my first view of the finished product.

Dear Alabama

Dear Alabama,
I miss being able to wear shorts all the way through October. I miss warm winters and eating outside on bright days. I miss Sunday afternoons at Vulcan in January. I miss watching everyone get excited about snow and seeing 2-foot tall snowmen all over Homewood. And I miss that it all melts and the sun comes out in the early afternoon. I can't wait to visit you. I could really go for a weekend at the beach right now. Wish I was there.

Love,
Tony

P.S. Tell Nancy she can still come visit. I promise its not as cold as it looks.

Helix

I thought this one deserved a little black and white treatment. This is the lamp that sits on my desk. It came with the room.

Its big, its heavy, its wood.

We have two wood burning stoves in the house. Today we went outside and began stacking piles under the awning or in the wood shed. This is one row I stacked today in the shed.

In the kitchen, again.

No, it was not my night to cook again. I was only the assistant tonight. I helped create these four pizzas (including all the way down to making the dough from flour and yeast.) Here is the work before they went into the oven. Left to right: BBQ chicken, pepperoni, veggie, and Hawaiian.

Pots and Pans

This one very literally hits close to home. It was my night to cook tonight. (I made teriyaki noodles with grilled chicken.) I looked up into the collection of pots and pans over the stove and noticed the particular copper bottom of this pot. This pot was made by Revere Ware and manufactured in Clinton, Illinois, my own hometown. Revere pots made in Clinton have become rather valuable collectors items over time. I'm pretty sure at some point both of my parents worked there as well.