Since my column last week “Inspiration Online And Art At Home,” I’ve noticed even more creativity (and weirdness) on the web. We’ve adapted so quickly to our new social world and work lives, now held virtually… it’s pretty amazing.
One of the best examples of this is what my friend Ed McKenna is doing. He’s a Breezy guy. I met Ed through my husband. They’ve played in some great bands together over the years.
Ed, better known to his students as Mr. Ed, is a special education music teacher. A month ago, I stumbled upon his Youtube teaching lessons posted to Facebook. I couldn’t stop laughing and I learned a little something about music theory and intervals.
Mr. Ed, he’s a stand up guy
Ed creates unique online classes – sometimes they take place in Paris, other times on his living room couch. In some videos, the phone rings, and what do you know, it’s “Alanis Morissette, Denis Hopper or Billy Joel, who helps explain the material. In other videos, his dog Fiona (so popular with the kids) participates… and yet another, Ed teaches music through magic. “That’s right folks, move over Mr. Magic, It’s Mr. Ed here, to dazzle the eye and boggle the mind.”
I don’t know how he comes up with this stuff. It’s hilarious and a fun, creative way to learn. Some videos are 12 minutes! I asked Ed how long it takes to edit these, “A long time, but I got a lot of that, outside is canceled.” For clarification, he says, “About 6 hours.”
If you have children interested in music, they can learn and laugh along with Mr. Ed. Find Ed’s channel here. And if you’re an adult, watch them too, for the hilarity.
hen there’s DJ Paddy Tubz…
Uncle Tubz reading, Shark Kiss, Octopus Hug by Lynn Rowe Reed with beautiful ocean Illustrations by Kevin Cornell.
Correction, Uncle Tubz, of Uncle Tubz’ Teeny Tiny House Book Club. Yes, our favorite Rockaway DJ has started a Youtube channel where he reads bedtime stories to the Rockaway kiddies! Paddy is in full character as a leprechaun … of course. Also on camera are his animal friends like Jancie the macaw and Clucky the resident chicken. He reads the books using different voices for each character! At the end of the story, there are little morals that relate to our current quarantine circumstances. Whether that be, staying at home if you’re sick or give your family a kiss!
Find Uncle Tubz videos here.
Rob Bryn
Over the weekend my friend Rob Bryn, singer of the Wild Yaks performed for his Birthday. We couldn’t get together physically but we all embraced the music in the wild virtual realm. What a beautiful thing… to give a gift on your birthday rather than to receive one. I enjoyed several glasses of wine during the cosmic performance and also participated in the community Zoom, dancing along with my friends digital bodies on screen. If you’re into theatrics and stream of consciousness writings, follow Rob on Instagram – @rob_bryn.
We got some weird, wonderful misfits in our community and I’m so thankful for them and the online creativity they’re sharing with us – to cope, to laugh, and to get through this darn thing.
by Paula D.
on April 17, 2020 11:33 am in Instagram
Social media has a whole new meaning to us now. It’s our only source of socializing during this long moment of “PAUSE”. The silver lining for many of us during this crisis is more free time. As the weeks pass, I’m noticing more and more creativity on our social platforms. We’re adapting and communicating in new ways.
For me, with this freedom, I’ve started drawing again. I’ve been inspired by artwork on my friends’ Instagram feeds. My Saturday nights are now spent at the dining room table, drawing and painting, drinking a glass of wine. (As opposed to being somewhere else drinking wine and not drawing.) I’ll tune in to some live music played by my friends on Facebook. It’s been surprisingly fun!
I wanted to share some of the cool art I’ve come across lately. My friend Mary Ann has been posting art way before this whole virus thing hit. She’s an art teacher. Lately on her Instagram she’s been sharing collages with typography. When I told her I was writing an art column, I asked if she could take a high resolution photo of one of my recent favorites (pictured above). Instead, she left the original on my porch (thank you!) For inspiration, follow Mary Ann on Instagram – @maryannparedesart.
Beth Perkins is a professional photographer living in Rockaway Beach. We’ve been friends for several years now and we’re also “CROM buddies”. I’ve always admired her photography but never realized she can draw too! She posted on instagram, “Started drawing again after about 20 years, decided to start with my money cat.” Her second in the
series was shared a few days ago and her caption resonated with me, “Peaches” is my second drawing/watercolor. I struggled with the perspective and almost started completely over. However, I learned a lot from this one, and there are elements I really like about it. So, I figured I’d post it. Like life, sometimes things fall into place and feel easy and other times it’s a struggle. Usually those struggles are what make us better, stronger, and wiser. Plus the prizes obtained from the struggle seem more meaningful. This one was done on the back of a cereal box.”
For more from Beth’s cat series follow her on IG – @bethperkins70
I’ve been a long time fan of my friend Clare Hilger’s artwork. A Pratt grad like me and middle school teacher, Clare is always coming up with inventive projects for her students, which seems to spill over into her own work. Recently she posted a piece that caught my attention, it’s called “Spring in the City”. See what Clare creates next on IG – @swimmonstersandwich
There’s more online creatively I want to share with you. Next week I’ll focus on other art forms, like video and writing. In the meantime, I hope this has spurred the creativity within you.
by Paula D.
on April 16, 2020 11:47 am in Holiday
I normally host Easter Sunday for my family and friends, and right now, I’d be gearing up for the party – ordering the paper goods, getting all the soda, liquor and wine, buying the canned antipasto, olives, artichokes and roasted red peppers. Today and Saturday I would’ve been on my feet, cooking nonstop in preparation for Sunday. It feels strange to not be doing it this year.
To mitigate this feeling of “Easter is canceled”, I pulled out the bins of decorations from the basement and made the house look festive. I’ve attempted to watch church on my laptop too, since we Catholics know it’s not about the chocolate bunnies and colored eggs.
Speaking of eggs, I’ve always wanted to try DIY egg coloring. This was the perfect opportunity. I wasn’t about to risk my health going into scary CVS for an Easter egg coloring kit. And that would be very socially irresponsible! Instead I opened up my fridge and got creative. I had red cabbage and I knew turmeric stains, so I went for blue and yellow.
The process is simple. Here’s all the info for this project!
The bright color created from cabbage and turmeric
What you need:
White hard boiled eggs
Water
Vinegar
Tongs
Strainer
Foods that produce natural dye such as: beets, cranberries, raspberries, avocado pit (reds/pinks), white onions, tumeric, carrots (yellows), Blueberries, cabbage (blue), spinach, green tea (greens)
How to: For each color you want to create, boil 1 1/2 cups of water. In that pot add 1 of the above food items. The amount of food you add will be a factor in the brightness of the colored dye. I recommend using more than less. Boil, then let on low for 20 min. Let it cool. Next, add two tablespoons of vinegar. The acid also plays a role in the intensity of the color. You can experiment with the amounts of food and vinegar, after all this is an art project, so get creative!
Once you have your natural dyes ready to go, pour each one in a clear glass or jar. You can strain the liquid or leave some food pieces in. If you leave some food in the liquid, it can create cool markings and patterns.
Now you’re ready to dunk your hard boiled eggs. Like regular dye kits, the longer you keep the eggs in, the brighter the color will be. If you’re looking for pastels take them out of the dye sooner.
If your dyeing eggs with your kids, definitely go for more intensity in color. It will take less time to see the result and the kids could get restless otherwise. Take it a step further and bring out other craft items like sticker0 , sparkles and markers.
Follow Paula on instagram for the day today – @theglorifeidtomato
DIY colored Easter eggs!
by Paula D.
on April 15, 2020 11:48 am in Food / Holiday
I was a little overzealous after my successful baking venture with homemade pretzels a few weeks back. This past weekend, I decided to bake something for the Easter season, to get into the spirit. It would cheer me up, since obviously, I had to cancel my annual Easter Sunday Party.
I thought it would be fun to bake Italian Easter bread (Pane Di Pasqua). This bread is symbolic of the season.The eggs represent rebirth and renewal. The bread, the Body of Christ, and the sweetness is for celebrating after the Lenten season, where Christians reflect, repent and fast for 40 days.
And I’ll be honest, I also wanted to post my perfectly curated photo on Instagram. It would no doubt outshine all those sourdough bread pictures I keep seeing. I’ll show them!
Baking makes a huge mess.
God had another plan. He decided to teach me a lesson about one of the seven deadly sins… pride. My mother always says, “God works in mysterious ways”. Well, this time God spoke to me through baking. My Italian Easter bread went horribly wrong. The measuring, timing, temperatures, alive yeast (eek), cat hair in the dough, zesting and impromptu muddling made the experience difficult and overwhelming. The exact opposite effect I wanted, resulting in no Instagram glory.
Placing the eggs within the braid was a challenge.
Frustrated, I texted my friend Dave (great sourdough bread maker by the way) for some guidance and support. “I should just stick to eggplant parmesan,” Dave responds, “ Naw you got this!!”
I proceeded with more challenges. Braiding and stretching the dough was hard. Placing the eggs within the braid was difficult too. I won’t even get into the DIY egg dyeing part. Starting this project in the late afternoon was another amateur mistake. I was in the kitchen for 5 hours. Finally ready for the oven, I forget to make the temperature lower than the recipe calls for. I have a WOLF and it gets hotter than regular household ovens. After all that work, I almost burned the darn thing. All said and done, I didn’t finish up until 10:30p.m. I was too tired to wait for it to cool so I went to bed without tasting it.
The next morning I examined the bread. The eggs had brown spots on them. I’m not sure if they burned or if that was from the egg/water wash.
I sawed a piece off. I took a bite. The texture was hard then chewy, unlike the desired fluffy finish. The recipe called for orange juice, zest and anise. I put too much anise in. It tasted like an old bottle of anisette liqueur from your grandfather’s basement. And it was very salty, barely edible (sigh). All that work for nothing. This was definitely my first and last time trying to make Italian Easter bread.
The disappointing final picture. The brown spots on the eggs are a mystery.
I have a new appreciation for the art of baking and a new motto – stick to what you’re good at.
If you’re ambitious or an experienced baker, find the Italian Easter bread recipe here: www.curiouscuisiniere.com/italian-easter-bread/ I’m sure it’s delicious, if you’re good at baking.
Follow Paula for the day to day on Instagram – @theglorifiedtomato
