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thing-a-day project / february 2010

Un, deux, trois

OK I'm going to preface this by saying that I hate how these turned out, but here is my last class assignment for February: 3 line drawings of your hand (why are hands so hard?!). I do feel like they got progressively easier to do though. Practice makes perfect(ish). I've been bad about Thing-A-Day so the plan is to transition into Thing-A-Week for the rest of the year.

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Quick Almond Macaroons

I wanted to make something really easy for today's thing, something I could make with a headache THIS BIG. These macaroons (from a Nigella Lawson recipe) are suuuper quick and easy: mix egg white, sugar and ground almonds into a paste, add a sprinkling of flour and almond essence, plop onto lined cookie sheets and bake off for 20 minutes. I was going to do step-by-step photos but I'd licked the bowl clean before I could stop myself.

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Anyway, this is what they look like when they're done. Sweet, crunchy, chewy, nutty goodness.

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Last-minute homework rush

I know I've been slacking the last week. I blame spreadsheets for killing any desire to do much of anything by the time I get home.

Last weekend, I started taking an art class at Parsons. The homework for tomorrow's class was to do 2 sets of drawings, with each subject getting a blind contour treatment and a regular contour drawing. The trickiest thing about the blind contour is to stay on the paper and not draw on the furniture. And finding the strength to go on after you see the finished result.

Blind Contour: ZOMG

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Regular Contour: An improvement

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Blind Contour: Nice lungs!

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Regular Contour: ...Except they were supposed to be boots.

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The point: Eyes are useful in drawing.

Short story brainstorm

Ernest Hemingway is known for (among other things) a really sad six-word story*. "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

Ideas for future consideration:
Overnight, his onyx hair went white.
Day one: half a medium banana.
Her arthritic fingers glow with rings.
Outside, summer rain on tin roof.

(*@AlexBlagg said on Twitter, "Sorry Ernest Hemingway, but 'Slain Model Identified By Breast Implants' is the saddest six-word story ever told" in reference to a news item that broke in August '09. I would have to agree.)