15 April 2014

| Drowning Time in Surrealism |

I've recently made an Instagram page solely for my art. Although I do share some of my work right here on BSOM and my private Facebook page, there are few avenues by which someone would be able to come across my work, which is why I decided to start my own InstaArt page as I'd like to share my work with a bigger audience. 

Although I do follow a ton of artists on my private page, I have found a whole bunch of new artists to follow on my art page, and have been thoroughly inspired and impressed by all the works I have seen. These pieces have inspired me in many ways, and have pushed me to want to try new styles/mediums etc. I already have a pretty big drive to try new things with my art, and have been experimenting a ton with new mediums and such. But all the inspiration I have found on Instagram has really pushed me to want to try different styles, including Surrealism.

I've always been fascinated by Surrealism, which was further fueled by an Art History course a took a couple of years back. Although I truly love Surrealism I had never tried my hand at it. My biggest challenge I had with creating a surrealist piece was where to even begin?! It's a lot harder to bring reality and the dream world together than what I had ever thought. I mean I can do a realistic piece, and I can do a dreamy piece but I had never combined the two, that it until now.

Like I said the biggest challenge for me was to combine reality and the dream world, but I happily stumbled upon my idea for a Surrealist piece by way of a total accident. A few weeks ago I wrote about my road trip to LA, I took all kinds of beautiful photos and it was one of these photos that inspired my Surrealist piece. Initially I had no plan on creating a Surrealist piece, just yet, I wanted to recreate one of the photos I took at Venice Beach onto a piece of cardboard (the idea of the cardboard was inspired by a Vine artist friend of mine). I had never painted anything on cardboard before but I wanted to try something new, and like I said a fellow artist friend of mine inspired me to do so as she had recently painted a piece on cardboard. So I sketched out what I thought I was going to paint (which was an ocean scene), showed it to one person and they said with disdain "you're going to paint an ocean scene on cardboard?" Of course there's always a critic, but he was just concerned I'd spend all this time painting a beautiful ocean scene and the paint on the cardboard would have an adverse reaction (like wrinkling or something). So I took that 2 cents.


I had already spent some time laying down the foundation, by way of sketching, for the ocean scene and I liked what I saw and didn't want to erase it. And so it was transformed into...my first Surrealist piece! Like I said I had had surrealism on my mind, and it just started coming out of me as I started crafting the foundation that was already before me. I honestly have no idea where the ideas came from in order to create this, but that just adds to the Surrealist affect I think. Initially I had a spaceship sinking in the ocean water, but decided last minute to add a clock instead, as my ode to the master Surrealist himself, Dali. This clock is what fueled the title of the piece which is "Drowning Time".



Anyways here it is from start to finish, I apologize in advance for the poor photo quality! : p



"Drowning Time"
Acrylic Paint on Cardboard
 
Until next time friends...Cheers!

<3 Noonie



P.S. I want to know what's your favorite Surrealist piece? 

Have you ever made your created your own?
Comment below! : )

14 April 2014

Sweet Potato Croquettes


I've been smitten with sweet potatoes for some time now, they're good for digestion, they taste delicious, and there is a plethora of recipes for how to use them online.
So of course I go on a hunt for a croquette recipe, because what better way is there to eat your veggies than mashing them all up and rolling them into a ball?

These little guys turned out to be one of my absolute favorites, I don't know if the word 'croquette' does it justice, its more of: 'if a falafel + hush puppy had a baby + filled it with sweet potato it would be this.' These are so flavorful + delicious, just thinking about them has me drooling.
Any-who, I hope you enjoy!



Directions:
1. Bake or boil sweet potato for 1 hour
2. Cook quinoa (1/2 cup dry + 1 cup water, boil, cover + simmer for 12 minutes)
3. Mash sweet potato
4. Put all of the ingredients together and mix
5. Place rounded spoonfuls onto oiled baking sheet
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes

Yield:
15 croquettes

Tips:
Add Flour!
On my first round I attempted to do these flour-less (from the blog I was following) and they were a disaster. While the flavor was good they were basically the same as the 'mash' so if you want to bake them and make them into croquettes add some type of flour.

Until we meet again,
Nelli




13 April 2014

One Sunday in Williamsburg

One sunday in Brooklyn I had the best brunch to date.
I went to Brooklyn Star, which if you haven't been is a MUST! They offer southern style cuisine which is absolutely delicious. This particular morning I had the Mesa Cakes with chorizo and black beans, it was to die for and by far my favorite 'american-mexican' brunch to date.




12 April 2014

Forgive Me Father for I Have Sinned | Part III

As the name implies this is my 3rd confessions post, here are my first few in case you missed them: 1 + 2. If you're new to BSOM let me explain. A while back I was inspired by Sarah, the author of the blog  Frugal by Choice, Cheap by Necessity. She does these really fun 'confession' posts where she "unloads silly things she's been thinking about". I liked her confession blogs so much, I've started doing them myself occasionally, which brings us back up to speed.

These are my confessions...
(Did anyone else think of that Usher song when you read that line?!)


Source

* I'm one of those 'start cleaning when I'm pissed' kind of people. There's just something therapeutic about washing dishes, or cleaning a room when I'm angry. I guess because it helps focus my energy on something other than being in a bad mood. I highly suggest you try it, unless of course you're the kind of person who might end up throwing those dishes in anger instead of washing them.

Source


* I'm SO excited Spring is finally here and Summer is on it's way! Not just because of the pretty flowers and bright colors that the seasons bring but because cold weather really affects my body in a negative way, inflaming my ailments which equals more pain! Definitely not a fun thing. It is a constant fight trying to keep my pain under wraps, and warm weather definitely helps with this. Thank God Cali weather isn't extreme otherwise I'd probably have to move to Florida or something.


* I hate hate hate confrontation. Like I would rather be punched in the gut than have to confront someone. I'm sure a lot of us feel this way, but it's just something I've always been afraid of. Hopefully one day I'll grow out of it.


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* Not to get too religious on ya, but I definitely believe in reincarnation. Nelli and I were just talking about reincarnation and about whether she believed in it the other day. Pretty interesting stuff.




Source

* Most of you know I am an artist, and I love to create bright and cheery pieces, as well as some darker works. However I wanted to confess that most of my 'darker pieces' have been created when I'm in a good mood and feeling chipper, as oppose to being in a 'darker mood'. When I'm feeling down in the dumps I confess I like to create bright and chipper works, as not only does it often cheer me up, but I think to myself 'hey I feel like shit, maybe I can make someone else feel happy with this cheery piece'. Kinda funny huh?

Until next time friends...Cheers!
<3 Noonie


P.S.
 I'd love to hear your confessions! 
Come on now don't be shy...What's your confession?
Comment below! <3