A new edition to my work resume. . .

You may want to consider hiring me as the bartender for your next big party.  I have the creds, my prices are very reasonable, and I am pretty sure I can give you references.

How did I come upon this new addition to my work resume, you ask?  By accident, that's for sure, but I am proud to say that I rose to the occasion, all 4' 10 3/4" of me.  Here's the back story.

I recently became a docent at the Kampong, the renowned horticulturist Dr. David Fairchild's former home here in Coconut Grove.  Last Thursday the Kampong hosted a Twilight Tour celebrating the opening of the Mango Season and I was slated to stand guard and be charming in the Museum on the property. This was a job that did not qualify as high energy work.  Except I arrived early and Ann Schmidt, the woman in charge of the event, pressed me into service in the kitchen.  Need I mention that is not my natural millieu????

In a few hurried sentences she explained that she needed me to start creating the Mango Rum Punch that was the signature drink for the occasion.  The recipe was pretty simple:  1/3 pineapple juice, 1/3 white rum, a healthy dose of fresh lime joice and an ice cube tray of frozen mango cubes, picked earlier from the trees in the Kampong's garden..

I may not cook but I do like to drink, so I got the hang of the recipe and filled up several pitchers   pretty quickly.  Then Ann asked me if I could trot outside with the first pitcherful and set up the outdoor bar because the guests were starting to arrive.  Arrive they did, thirsty and ready to drink.  And guess who they found all alone behind the bar, at the moment, and for the next two frantic hours.  Simply moi.

"White wine, red wine or Mango Rum Punch," I inquired sweetly to the guests at the front of the fast lengthening line.  Business was booming and the Rum Punch was obviously a major hit, with one of the other volunteers running back and forth to the kitchen to refill pitchers while I stirred and poured and stirred and poured and stirred and poured  some more..  I don't mind telling you, I was very professional, smiling brightly, and wondering desperately when they would stop coming back for seconds so I could take a bathroom break..

I have new respect for bartenders these days.    I can tell you it's exhausting work.  As a matter of fact,  I think I'll drink to that.
 Skol!  Prosit! L'chaim!

No animals were hurt in this experiment. . .. .

I am learning to paint with a palette knife.  What was I thinking when I signed up for this? I have trouble cutting my meat, much less figuring out how to get paint on a canvas with a knife edge.

My Thursday morning painting class is taught by Mai Yap who wields a mean knife and is a wonderful artist.  I am totally intimidated and yearn for one of my trusty brushes.  My friend Sheila and I share the class with five confirmed palette knife painters who turn out incredible paintings while we struggle valiently on our side of the room.

Sheila painted a giant green pear this morning. When she was finished it looked good enough to eat.  In case you didn't know, fruit is very big when you're working with knives. I've already gone the apple and the pineapple route, so today I'm working on a kind of abstract horse.

What I really need to do is figure out what to do with the few thousand canvases that are piling up behind my desk and layered in the drawers where once upon a time I kept my fine china, long since transported up to Andrea.  OK, maybe not a thousand, but close to 50 at last count, and a dozen or more given away to family and friends. Prolific I am, that's for sure.

How you paint and what you choose to paint, I find, is very indicative of the painter's personality.  I'll bet Rembrandt had a dark side. One look at Van Gogh's "Starry Starry Night" and you can tell he had some heavy mental problems going on. Me, I live life in a hurry and paint in a hurry.  Every class I take I turn out three paintings to every one else's one.  If I could get paid by the piece I'd really be in the chips these days.

Here's today's adventure, on a 16x20 canvas. . .all done with knives.  OMG, I hope I didn't hurt the poor horse.
#   #   #