My favorite Bob Ross quotes - Monday Motivation

I hate to admit it but when Bob Ross was on television I was not a fan. Something about the show drove me nuts, never sure if it was his voice, the way he painted, maybe it was too quiet - I couldn't put my finger on it.

Looking back from where I stand now I would say it was watching someone paint - when I was barely touching art supplies. I had been convinced by others - and then myself - that it wasn't a worthwhile pursuit.  Sadly, I went through the better part of a decade creating no art. 
It was a mistake.
Just as it was a mistake that it took me so long to appreciate Bob Ross.  ("but there are no mistakes, only happy accidents.")

TREE pose, watercolor and ink, Erin Rogers Pickering

Now I create art pretty much on a daily basis, and though I don't watch his videos - I love reading his quotes and his thoughts on art and life - All gems!

These are some of my favorites:

--> “The secret to doing anything is believing that you can do it. Anything that you believe you can do strong enough, you can do. Anything. As long as you believe.”

-->

"Whatever makes you happy, you put in your world."

 

-->"Talent is a pursued interest. In other words, anything you are willing to practice, you can do."

"You need the dark in order to show the light."

-->

"Trees don’t grow even, they don’t grow straight… just however it makes them happy."

"

-->Create your own world right here on the canvas."

-->

“Just let go — and fall like a little waterfall.”

 And my all-time favorite....

"Every day is a good day when you paint!" 

I am off to follow Mr. Ross's advice.  I hope you enjoy your day and spend some time doing what you love!

You can find more of my art in my Etsy shop Erin Go Paint.
Or check out my daily illustrations on Instagram

  -->

Lemon Bars - gluten free dessert

 Earlier this year family we had family in town to see a Community Theater performance that my daughter was in. They came to the house for pre-show dinner, and my niece made lemon bars.

Now my daughter loves all things lemon.... Ices, sherbert, ice cream, cookies, pie, pudding, you name it - if it's a sweet treat and it has lemon, she is all over it.  She was so into the lemon bars I was afraid she would miss her curtain call. But, we jumped in the car in the nick of time, with lemon bar number 3 tucked in a little dish for her intermission snack.

Since everyone was enjoying them as much as her we had precious little leftover. We baked another batch ourselves before the week was out.  I even made it in a pie dish a few months later for PI day at school.  Such a delicious buttery shortbread crust and creamy lemon custard - there was none left over that day!

It's an simple recipe to adapt to Gluten-free, just sub your favorite GF flour. It is especially easy if you have a baking partner - while one zests and juices the lemons, the other is mixing the batter. 

We used The Pioneer Woman's recipe but there are ton of recipes out there (all quite similar) and I highly recommend trying one.  The lemon bars are very much a crowd pleaser!


You can find more of my art in my Etsy shop Erin Go Paint.
Or check out my daily illustrations on Instagram

What I learned from a Gluten Free Chicken Wing

I think I have always been intimidating by cutting meat. I felt like I didn't know enough about meat to cut it properly, so I avoided it. And bought everything as parts, and left any roast carving to someone else, anyone else!
Now I am not sure how you could really mess any of it up - but still I avoided because I thought I couldn't do it.

I have have more than a few assignments for Simply Gluten Free Magazine that involved cutting, carving, chopping, etc and my confidence has grown over time as I try more things.  I have found I can carve a turkey, open a rock hard raw spaghetti squash, butterfly a pork chop, create lovely pineapples cubes from a whole pineapple - and make my own drums and wingettes from whole chicken wings!

It was challenging for the first few but I got the hang of it as I went along. Also I figured if they weren't perfect nobody would care - the family was just eagerly anticipating the wings that were soon to be on the grill. So, no judgements, no mistakes, no problem.

I saved money buying the whole wings as opposed to the pre-cut packs, and put on a pot of stock with the end tips while the the wings were marinating.

 from May/June 2017 Simply Gluten Free Magazine

My chicken wing chopping experience was like most things in life - best not to fear, face it head on, give it a shot, keep trying, and practice makes perfect!

And now matter how badly you butcher them - in the end they all tasted delicious.

If you enjoy my art you can find more in my Etsy shop Erin Go Paint.
Or check out my daily illustrations on Instagram