Oooookay.

My alarm woke me from a strange dream this morning. I was dining at a nice restaurant - like Chez Panisse, it emphasized fresh local ingredients. I had a three-course meal and was eating a tender lamb shank.

Now, I wasn't dressed up, because I was only eating before I went to a Giants baseball game. In fact the person dining next to me was doing the same thing, because he was in a fan jersey.

(no subject)

I was chatting with the farmer from whom we get our CSA box at the market Saturday. He thanked me for the house-cured bacon we gave them for the holidays, saying that the family had enjoyed it for breakfast recently. But when he told the kids that someone they knew had made it, they responded

"Aw, dad. Everything we eat has to come from someone we know or have a story."

They won't appreciate it until they rebel by moving to the city and eat only mass-processed food for a few years...

the mask, it progresses.

We're using paints made from ochres and gum arabic, in an attempt to stay period. The color is yellower than the picture shows - the flash washed it out somewhat - but it's not the bright yellow that I would like. Or that I could get using some good toxic period colorings like orpiment (an arsenic derivative) or a lead-based paint. Either one is a bad idea to put on a mask, I think.

Since it needs to "read" as yellow from the audience and the ochres are not producing a bright color, we may end up washing over the ochres with acrylics. It's too bad, but hey, that's why it's an experiment.

( Read more... )