Art, fun hair, and a new diet

The past three months have been super busy, so I have not had time to update you on my ventures. Time to catch up!

First a foremost, I've been working my day job, full-time artist. I've had two main events to work toward and one commission.  

Kentucky Crafted:  The Market is always my first show of the year and when I unveil new projects. It takes several months to get ready for the market, but it's totally worth it. This fine art and craft show has been rated in the top 10 art shows in the nation for over seven years.  We are very fortunate to have the Kentucky Arts Council and the Kentucky Crafted program as their primary function is to help artists succeed in the business environment. It is been a huge help to me, personally, and I try to give back to the program in anyway that I can.  

This year I unveiled some new fiber pieces and shabby chic cuffs made out of book spines. I was very fortunate to get to wholesale orders on the book spines, and two solo exhibits, in addition to the retail sales on the other days. It was a great show, as always.

The other project that has completely occupied my mind is an exhibit called Renegade Chroma. I curated the exhibit (My first ever!) and I'm also part of it. The idea was to play with the juxtaposition of bright, dynamic colors and macabre or dark imagery.  It is a very sensory exhibit has most of us have layers of texture worked into the pieces. The artists for this exhibit are Lennon Mikalski, Laurie Appleby-Williams, Crimson Duvall, and myself.  I have to say that this exhibit came together even better than I was anticipating. These artist really went all in for the dynamic of the concept and it  shows! It is on display at the M. S. Rezny Gallery February 23, 2016 through March 23, 2016.  

I'm still working on the commission pieces, but I will share photos as soon as they're done.

Also, I have a brand spanking new hairstyle. Not really an important thing, I'll give you, but it makes me happy.

I will now be back on track with fermented food and drink concoctions, healthy eating, my struggle to be healthy again, fun with the kiddos,and reviews of various products.

Oh, and my allergy doctor has put me on a gluten-free, dairy-free, and refined sugar free diet. So you will be seeing lots of those types of recipes showing up on this blog as I struggle with my new diet plan.  Luckily, I have gotten lots of recommendations for gluten-free foods I will happily pass on to you!

Nice to see you again!  I'm glad to be back.

Adventures with a hot glue gun, or channeling my mom through wreathmaking: Part 1

My mom died five years ago. Yeah, I know, great way to start a post, right? But her influence is great in my life and when I'm doing this particular craft, I feel especially close to her.  She did tend to use less skulls though.

Pineapple jalapeño - The craziest sounding, most awesome tasting secondferment Kombucha to date!

This kombucha recipe came about through a lacto-fermented pineapple with jalapeños recipe from oh, lardy!.   If you would like to read my post about the lacto-fermented pineapple, please click here.

I'm here to tell you, that these fermented pineapples or one of my absolute favorite treats! It is really the only way that I'm getting fermented food into my diet right now. I have actually eaten so much of the pineapple that I burned my tongue. 

Seriously. 

It's that good. So you should absolutely try them, but I digress...

After having the awesomeness that is the pineapple I started to wonder if I could translate that into a drinkable beverage and, of course, I went directly to kombucha as my base. The complex flavor and sourness from the fermentation of the tea gave the drink the same indescribable combination of flavors that I talk about in my post on the lacto-fermented pineapple with jalapeños. It's a flavor that hits all five of the Chinese Five Spice Doctrime flavors. It is a completely complex, full, and well-rounded flavor. As a drink, it is hard to nail down exactly what ingredients are used to make this particular flavor, but it's really amazing.

That time when I geeked out at The Scarefest Convention

And now for something completely different...

And yes, I am stepping out of 221B Baker Street. Awesome-sauce. 

This past weekend I went to my first con in 20 years, I'm sad to say. I have been missing a lot! The Con I attended was The ScareFest. While I am no longer a huge horror movie fan, I still love the classics and love dark yet beautiful creations, so I thought this might be fun.