Being thankful.....

Collage on 5"x5" cardstock

in all things...give thanks!!!

steph

The Yin and Yang of tea...

I'm not a master in these areas of  Yin and Yang

but I remember growing up being part of this whole process of striking a balance in

what I eat and especially when I am down with a cold or flu

my mother would diagnose if it is a "heaty" cough or if I have a "cooler"

body constitution and that I need a balance..

and so she will seek a diagnosis from the Traditional Chinese Medicine man who will prescribe me some herbs and she will concoct the mixture of herbs which may take a couple of hours..

and what's left to be served from a 1 litre pot is a bowl of concentrated 250 mls of herbal drink.. ;0

and no wonder my siblings had found much excuses to drink theirs near the kitchen sink.. ha ha...

well, today's tea is more prophylactic

as I have been eating much "Yang" foods (ie heaty food with spices or deep fried) lately..

My choice of tea is American Ginseng Chrysanthemum tea

it's a cooling tea and certainly is refreshing.
Contrary to the concentrated muddy colored concoction, this is pleasant and light...
a good balance...most certainly...

Happy Tea Tuesday dear Kimmie and all Tea Tuesday bloggers!!

Kindest
steph

helping....

we were taking a stroll one day..

and what got the attention of my sister 

was this....

an injured ant being "carried" by another...

to a safe place..

away from the road...

where danger lurks....

a true representation

of

a helping hand...indeed...

and perhaps there's more to it....

it got me wondering about "relationship"

what was their relationship?

does one render help only when one is related?

or does it come much easier when trust is built?

well, in our humanistic ways...

we, 

care

love

respect

show kindness

etc

AND so..

I pay tribute to friendship..

our kind of friendship,

dear bloggers..

indeed your friendship is special to me..

Sunday comic art. Collage on ATC sized cardstock 

THANK YOU!

for all your encouraging comments

it's been a year since I blogged 

and this is where

I post my little experiments wherever my art muse takes me...

not knowing or expecting anything more

than just an online visual journal..

but you have helped me to love my creative journey,

the process,

the experiments..

I look forward to posting..

Have a good week everyone!!!

stay happy!!

steph

facing fear....

6" x 6" collage on cardstock

"what we're talking about is getting to know fear, becoming familiar with fear,

looking it right into the eye- not as a way to solve problems, but as a complete undoing

of old ways of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and thinking.

The truth is that when we really began to do this, we're going to be continually humbled."

Pema Chodron

steph

PS: Go to Michelle Ward's GPP challenge for techniques used in this piece

let's scrape and monoprint it....

2 more backgrounds to share with you

for your personal use..

have fun creating!!!

steph

Tea at the countryside

we were at the countryside on Sunday..

and these were some of the sightings.....

the banana flower- this may be cooked or made into a delicious salad

fig trees..the figs are used for brewing tea..

bread fruit may be sliced and fried with a batter

 the ornamental banana- the Moosa

and we had a hearty lunch

from the left, local pickled vegetables with sliced fish

sesame chicken and fried sweet potato leaves with garlic

and hot lemon grass tea with traditional Asian cakes made from farm fresh ingredients...

right in front is the baked tapioca with coconut, 

top left is steamed glutinous rice with palm sugar served  with grated fresh coconuts and

baked jackfruit cake on the top right..

Happy T Tuesday!!

steph

Backgrounds to share

Thank you everyone for your kind thoughts..

It was one of those rare moments...

anyways

I've made some backgrounds to share with you...

you may wish to download and use them for your personal art..

These backgrounds were created with layers of acrylic paints and water medium..

scrape them with an unused credit card. 

Note: Michelle Ward posted her latest Crusade 44 and it's about "in a scrape" go check it out!

Cheers!

steph