West African Stew - Recipe

First time posting a recipe on the 'ol blog! But it seems I cook more than I draw lately (gotta eat!) so why the hell not. It's creative, isn't it? I made this tasty dish from Kristen Swensson Sturt's recipe over at Serious Eats. Kris keeps (kept?) an awesome food blog called Cheap Healthy Good that has tons of amazing recipes that are cheap, healthy, and... uh... good. (Not just a clever name). Her recipe is below with my comments/suggestions to the side. It's damn tasty and perfect for crappy rainy fall weather.


Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 cups onions, sliced into 1/4-inch crescents [I just used two small-medium onions]
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced [garlic from a jar is your friend if you're lazy, just put a big heaping spoonful of garlic in there]
• 1 pound sweet potato, peeled and chopped into 1/4-inch half slices (about the size of a checker) [typically 3 average sized potatoes]
• 1 large tomato, seeded and chopped [I used a variety of tomatoes from my garden and my friends, and have also made this with a drained can of diced tomatoes]
• 1/2 cup raisins [I would use a bit more raisins... I love how juicy and sweet they get]
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon [A little extra might be tasty]
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper [I love heat but this doesn't seem to need a lot - I only use about 1/8 tsp]
• 3 cups low-sodium, reduced fat chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 14.5-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 3 cups frozen chopped spinach [one block package]
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt [I added more... once you add the spinach it really needs it]
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• A yummy grain (rice, couscous, etc) [I like a whole wheat couscous]

Preparation:

1. If making rice, go ahead and get that started.
2. In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium high. Add onion and cook 8 or 9 minutes, until very tender, stirring occasionally.
3. Add garlic. Saute 30 to 60 seconds, until fragrant.
4. Add sweet potato and tomato. Saute 5 minutes.
5. Add raisins, cinnamon, cayenne, and broth. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover, drop heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes. Add chickpeas about halfway through simmering if you like them a little mushy, which I do. Otherwise add them with the spinach after simmering.
6. Uncover. Jack heat up to medium. Add spinach, stirring to combine.
7. Cook until spinach is totally thawed and chickpeas are warmed through, for me this was about 10 more minutes.
8. Season with salt, black pepper, and maybe a little garam masala (that makes everything better) Serve with rice, couscous, or any fun grain you can think of.

Spices + Herbs Collage

I started this spices lettering project a long time ago so I'm happy to have finally done something with it! Stay tuned for prints for sale.

I'm also excited to have spent the afternoon at the Buy Local First Fair here in Louisville where I met some very talented local artists. I feel inspired to reinstate Tuesday Coolsday but will focus on local artists (there are so so many!)

Now it's time to go watch 5.5 hours of LOST. How will it all end??

Cheers,

Cat Scott

Cat Scott - Louisville Graphic Designer and Illustrator

"Food for Thought" for Louisville Magazine

Tonight, Louisville Magazine is having a launch party for their May issue. I'm especially excited because not only do I have an illustration in this issue, but I have my very first contributor's blurb!

The story is about a woman in her 40's who decides to go to culinary school and finds her age, experience, and lack of distractions to be beneficial to learning. It was a very sweet and inspiring story.

I was excited to be able to use my "sketchbook style" here again. Thanks to art director Kelly Waterman for the fun assignment!

- Cat

Cat Scott - Louisville Graphic Designer and Illustrator

Delicious Apple

This is a doodle - I think. Does it count as a doodle if I set out to doodle it intentionally? It started as a drawing of an apple while on a mind numbing conference call at work, then words and shapes were added, and then I cross hatched while sitting in front of the boob tube. It's a departure from my usual drawn-from-life stuff, probably inspired by all the great psychadelic illustrations that I'm seeing around the web. I'll probably paint this eventually, but right now I have 7,489,698 projects going on. It will have to wait.

Speaking of projects, back to work!

...Does it count as work if I enjoy it?

Jason at LAX

I ventured East last week with Jason, a.k.a. My Biggest Fan. First stop was LAX, and since it's vacation, why not grab a beer before boarding our 4 hour flight? While drinking cold, refreshing, delicious Sam Adams (alcohol always tastes best when you know your coworkers are sitting at their desks), I sketched my traveling partner.

I drew with a Hi-Tec C, .4 mm, while at the Chili's To-Go (there aren't a lot of options in the American Airlines terminal!) . Tonight, in the comfort of my living room, I applied color using GAC 100 and acrylic paint. I learned about this acrylic medium from Andrea Wicklund, and I'm glad I did. It really adds a lot of interest and complexity to a simple cross hatch pen sketch without covering up the line work, and it's fairly easy to apply a few washes while catching up on episodes of Flip This House.

Immediately following the consumption of our beers at the airport, we saw Jose Conseco at Chili's and Jason shook his hand. So by extension, I think this drawing should be pretty famous, or at least chock full of sterioids. It also validates our choice in restaurant, because famous people eat there too!

Spicy!

I'm back from my vacation and will have goodies to share from my journey soon. In the meantime, here is a little something I have been working on. The goal is to have pretty little labels for my spice jars. After I individually wrote each spice name and scanned it, I saw a lot of possibility for art pieces, so keep your eyes peeled for some colorful spice collages!

Coffee Mug and Musings on Style

10" x 8" Acrylic on Canvas, $65, available for sale here

After I put the finishing touches on Lake George at Dusk, I had mounds of paint remaining on my palette. Not being one for wasting things (especially titanium white at $13 a tube), I grabbed a canvas and just started abitrarily painting. After doing a semi-realistic painting, it felt really good to get loose and impulsive.  I ended up with a painting that couldn't be more different.

So my question is this: WHY do I have so many different styles? If you cruise through through my portfolio (conveniently browsable through my brand new website) you might presume I'm an illustration rep promoting many artists' books. No, not the case.

A snippet of my random stylings.

I have been trying to learn and push my boundaries as much as possible. The illustration style I developed in college is an interesting way to work and gives me a unique look, but it's cumbersome and requires quite a bit of planning. Ever since the Illustration Academy, I have experimented in various ways, hoping my style will just slowly emerge. Is this possible?

And is it sooooo wrong not to paint exactly the same way every time?  I think it would get boring.  Doing something different or choosing a style that suits your specific task keeps things interesting and challenging.

These are the thoughts that keep me up at night. Speaking of which, off to sleep.  Have a great weekend!

p.s. Did I mention I have a newly designed website?  I was able to snag the domain name I was meant to have from the beginning:  www.CatScott.com

p.s. I choose D, brushing their teeth!

I Carried a Watermelon

These here little ditty was used for a fake ticket for a Dirty Dancing show here in LA. The recipient, a die hard fan (what 20-30 something girl isn't a fan?), will surely recognize the quote. I think the wobbly hand-written text captures the awkwardness that Baby felt after she uttered those words. And also I love doing type by hand whenever I get the chance.

Harp

This painting was commissioned by a friend for her sister and her husband who just had their first baby. They named their baby Harp after the instrument that was played in their wedding, but I’m sure it isn’t a coincidence that it’s also the name of a beer. The proud daddy owns a beer outlet in New York City. Hopefully they display it there and not in the baby’s room!

Harar

The latest for the beer blog.

Red Stripe

5"x7", pen & gouache on bristol

Buy prints here!

Don de Dieu

My 3rd beer painting. Head over to the beer blog to read more.

Blue Moon

What's this? 2 posts in one night?

Here is the glorious Blue Moon, the 2nd in my series of beer paintings... yeah, I know, it took a while to take off. Patience, grasshoppers. I have a lot of delicious beers in my fridge that I need to paint before i can drink - how's that for incentive? I even started a new blog just for this project because I am so excited about it!

Newcastle

* update 8.3.07 - replaced photo with scan *

A small, quick, oil painting of a delicious beer. I had an oil paint-filled summer in 2002, but I didn't have the patience for it, so I quickly gave up. Now, 5 years later, I am starting slowly (and small) and will figure things out as I go. It's great fun! Of course, it sort of sucks not being able to scan it right away - this is just a crappy snapshot.

This is the first in a series of beer paintings which will be for sale. This one is not, however - I am trading it for the delicious cupcakes painted by Ms. Sarah Fox. I just got a really cool assignment that will keep me busy up until early next week, so the beer series will continue after that. If you have any requests, let me know and I'll make it happen!

Orange Blossom

This is the illustration I spoke of. This is a special gift for my dear friend Leigh Ann and her husband, Jeff. I don't want to get into the gory details, but I will tell you that the orange blossom is a symbol of fertility, love, and togetherness. The bee is fertilizing the flower. So it's sort of a good luck charm for them.

RedHot

A gift for my brother, Phil. This is his favorite condiment. Excellent on frozen pizza.

This is pen & gouache in my moleskin watercolor sketchbook.

chicken noodle soup

Post for my Girls Who Draw assignment, "What's for Dinner."

mmm.... wine

I did a lovely vector illustration tonight for my college friend Annie. She is making t-shirts made for a bachelorette party (she is the maid of honor) - they are going wine tasting and then gambling (they always go together). I had some fun with this... Illustrator is a fabulous program. I probably could have spent hours on this tweaking the shapes making them all beautiful, but there are other things on my to-do list to check off.

(can you believe it? 3 new posts and a new bonus sketch in one night!)

banana peel

REVISE 5/30/07

I colored the peel and liked the way it turned out. I almost went to paint the background the dark mahogony of my desk, but then decided I liked the peel standing alone. I have learned that my hi-tec C's are not waterproof.


At work yesterday, I ate a banana. Then I drew the peel.

I can't exactly whip out the watercolors at work. It's hard to squeeze a sketch in as it is. But I do plan on coloring this - It's on my long list of sketchbook work and actual illustrations that I plan on doing. Tonight after work, instead of doing artwork right when I got home (which is usually 7:00), I went to a friends house, at chinese food and played the Wii. I had never played it before, and I think I needed it - I have been feeling very stressed out lately with things - it was so much fun! I Haven't played a video game for years. Not since college probably, when I was REALLY bad at Tony Hawk. I think I gave up video games after attempting that game.

Now it's time for bed, gotta wake up at 6:00 tomorrow and do it all over again. But I won't leave my sketchbook on the scanner like I did last night... I missed my moleskin today.

I have decided I'm just going to stay up tomorrow night until I finish Dwight. I think that all-nighters are the only way I will be able to get any of my personal work done.

highlighter art

Back from the cruise. It was fantastic. I'm super busy finishing up my art history class and I will be able to post some fun cruise drawings. For now, enjoy the lovely highlighter art that I did at work today. It really helps me to take a break and draw - it helps clear my mind when I get Designers Block. I guess it's like what cigarette smoking is for other people. They take "smoke breaks," I take "art breaks."

I don't like the fat juicy pen that I drew this with. I am definitely preferring the Hi-Tec C's that I got in Japantown... I just didn't have any available to me at the moment :)