The best hot chocolate known to mankind...
Is mine.
Guideline-style recipe (feel free to mess about):
Boil a kettle of water, and heat some milk (I usually do about a cup and a half of full-fat milk) on stovetop. Mix 1/4 cup each sugar and natural cocoa (dutch cocoa will give you a darker drink, natural a redder colour) in a dry bowl. Pour a bit of the water into the sugar and cocoa, mix until liquid-pasty-ish. Add a BIG spoonful of honey and a dash each of salt, cayenne/chili pepper, and cinnamon. Alternately you could try salt and ginger powder, maybe cloves or cardamom too...Need to try that myself.... Mix together well, pour into the milk, pour into mug.
Whipped cream would be good on this. *sips*.
Also: I think I have artistic attention deficit problems.
Current ideas (in order of how long they've been waiting):
***(Acrylic, big) -- Two paintings from Bakker's Prince of Nothing, the first book (Cnaiur's father's death at the hands of Kellhus's father, and Akka's first apprentice's death... Isthar or something was his name?). I've been overcooking them for over a year. One's only clear in my head and sketched on a canvas board, the other needs maybe 20 minutes more of work, but is otherwise finished (why I haven't finished yet, I don't know).
***(Acrylic, big) -- Cello-woman ("Play Me Beautiful" and "Shut In"). I'm not sure if this comes before or after that last, as I totally forgot about it for three and a half years, but somewhere near the top. I've got an empty canvas waiting for the main painting ("Play Me Beautiful"), and another canvas that's got rough blocking on half for the other themed part ("Shut In").
***(Watercolour, medium-large) -- "Quest for Perfection", the one with the girl hopping from scale-to-scale, like stepping stones.
*** (Design/fabric art) -- a purple sparkly PRINCESS skirt. Also: I want to watercolour-paint a few designs for gowns-- of both the flowing flowery type and the more formal long-skirt type, but definitely don't have the time to actually make, or occasion to actually wear any, especially none of the more formal designs in my mind.
Also, thinking of some really big-major-scary projects, along the lines of graphic novel format. These would all probably be pencil --> inked and coloured with marker (*puppy eyes*) or paint, a few would have frames painted in acrylics or watercolour on bigger pads or canvases:
***auto-biography of the last five years or so of my own life: basically my hard-times and my recovery, my boyfriend, and the (mostly) very very good times of the last year-and-a-few-months. It might include some of the daydreams and co-worked creative projects Joe dreamt up and I've agreed to do.
*** similar biographies of various characters. The latest one I've wanted to do is Kitty, Katherine really, who is a minor character in Raymond E. Feist's novels of the Serpentwar, and whom I've been doodling on my calculus class notes for a few days now-- a former thief who grew up on the streets of Krondor, whose sister was murdered and who murdered the man who killed said sister; who was caught and saved and kept safe; now the wife of a rather nice young man named Erik Von Darkmoor, who only happens to be a former blacksmith become possible soldier/officer/saviour of the Kingdom of the Isles. (I'm in the middle of the third book right now. I read them all a long time ago, and I don't remember the details of the plot in the rest of this book and the next; please don't spoil me if anyone has read it and reads this).
Only problem with that would be that Ray Feist has declared a NO DERIVATIVES policy on fan-work. I think that's a bit tyrannical, but... whatever. I'll choose some other characters. Hmph.
*** Illustrated stories from Celtic mythology, and a few from Greek stories.
I suppose with these latter ones, I should probably write them first. Any advice from experienced illustrators and graphic story tellers would be appreciated.
Plus a random project or two-- I feel like dragons, wind and mist or clouds and moons, clear skies of twilight and sunrise, flowers, trees, and possibly a couple of tattoo designs. I've wanted something involving trees, probably on my back or possibly leg, for a while now (several years). At the moment, moment being the last half year or so, I want an aspen cluster, in various seasonal colours of that famous gold for the older ones, bright green for the younger, possibly accompanied by flowers near the bottom? I see aspens as a symbol of where I come from. Barring severe brain damage, I doubt I'll forget 'home', but I also see trees in general as a strong stabilizing elemental-type force, one of good (I mean, has anyone ever heard of an evil tree?).
although, I am on Spring Break... should be interesting to see what I can get done. hmmmmm....
Guideline-style recipe (feel free to mess about):
Boil a kettle of water, and heat some milk (I usually do about a cup and a half of full-fat milk) on stovetop. Mix 1/4 cup each sugar and natural cocoa (dutch cocoa will give you a darker drink, natural a redder colour) in a dry bowl. Pour a bit of the water into the sugar and cocoa, mix until liquid-pasty-ish. Add a BIG spoonful of honey and a dash each of salt, cayenne/chili pepper, and cinnamon. Alternately you could try salt and ginger powder, maybe cloves or cardamom too...Need to try that myself.... Mix together well, pour into the milk, pour into mug.
Whipped cream would be good on this. *sips*.
Also: I think I have artistic attention deficit problems.
Current ideas (in order of how long they've been waiting):
***(Acrylic, big) -- Two paintings from Bakker's Prince of Nothing, the first book (Cnaiur's father's death at the hands of Kellhus's father, and Akka's first apprentice's death... Isthar or something was his name?). I've been overcooking them for over a year. One's only clear in my head and sketched on a canvas board, the other needs maybe 20 minutes more of work, but is otherwise finished (why I haven't finished yet, I don't know).
***(Acrylic, big) -- Cello-woman ("Play Me Beautiful" and "Shut In"). I'm not sure if this comes before or after that last, as I totally forgot about it for three and a half years, but somewhere near the top. I've got an empty canvas waiting for the main painting ("Play Me Beautiful"), and another canvas that's got rough blocking on half for the other themed part ("Shut In").
***(Watercolour, medium-large) -- "Quest for Perfection", the one with the girl hopping from scale-to-scale, like stepping stones.
*** (Design/fabric art) -- a purple sparkly PRINCESS skirt. Also: I want to watercolour-paint a few designs for gowns-- of both the flowing flowery type and the more formal long-skirt type, but definitely don't have the time to actually make, or occasion to actually wear any, especially none of the more formal designs in my mind.
Also, thinking of some really big-major-scary projects, along the lines of graphic novel format. These would all probably be pencil --> inked and coloured with marker (*puppy eyes*) or paint, a few would have frames painted in acrylics or watercolour on bigger pads or canvases:
***auto-biography of the last five years or so of my own life: basically my hard-times and my recovery, my boyfriend, and the (mostly) very very good times of the last year-and-a-few-months. It might include some of the daydreams and co-worked creative projects Joe dreamt up and I've agreed to do.
*** similar biographies of various characters. The latest one I've wanted to do is Kitty, Katherine really, who is a minor character in Raymond E. Feist's novels of the Serpentwar, and whom I've been doodling on my calculus class notes for a few days now-- a former thief who grew up on the streets of Krondor, whose sister was murdered and who murdered the man who killed said sister; who was caught and saved and kept safe; now the wife of a rather nice young man named Erik Von Darkmoor, who only happens to be a former blacksmith become possible soldier/officer/saviour of the Kingdom of the Isles. (I'm in the middle of the third book right now. I read them all a long time ago, and I don't remember the details of the plot in the rest of this book and the next; please don't spoil me if anyone has read it and reads this).
Only problem with that would be that Ray Feist has declared a NO DERIVATIVES policy on fan-work. I think that's a bit tyrannical, but... whatever. I'll choose some other characters. Hmph.
*** Illustrated stories from Celtic mythology, and a few from Greek stories.
I suppose with these latter ones, I should probably write them first. Any advice from experienced illustrators and graphic story tellers would be appreciated.
Plus a random project or two-- I feel like dragons, wind and mist or clouds and moons, clear skies of twilight and sunrise, flowers, trees, and possibly a couple of tattoo designs. I've wanted something involving trees, probably on my back or possibly leg, for a while now (several years). At the moment, moment being the last half year or so, I want an aspen cluster, in various seasonal colours of that famous gold for the older ones, bright green for the younger, possibly accompanied by flowers near the bottom? I see aspens as a symbol of where I come from. Barring severe brain damage, I doubt I'll forget 'home', but I also see trees in general as a strong stabilizing elemental-type force, one of good (I mean, has anyone ever heard of an evil tree?).
although, I am on Spring Break... should be interesting to see what I can get done. hmmmmm....