A pear will never fall into a closed mouth

Last week I was out drawing on the landscape sketchbook again. This is the view from Aguimes town looking to Arinaga, it's a great plein air painting spot. I would like to comeback another day with my pastels or oil paints. I have the 4 o'clock sun light coming from my right side, so it was quite strong. I think morning light will be much better or a midday light.

work in progress sketchbook

"View from Aguimes to Arinaga", sketchbook page 4

At the studio, I worked on some unfinished oil paintings and there are few more to go through... In the mean time I set a new still-life composition for painting with oil pastels. I used heavy-weight acid-free craft paper which has brown color. This paper holds oil pastels nicely and blends good with warm colors and also gives very good contrast with cold tones. I used Sakura Cray Pas Expressionist 50 color oil pastel set.

work in progress oil pastel painting

detail

"Still-life with pears" by Birsen Ozbilge

Oil pastel on acid-free craft paper, 8" x 11" (21 x 29 cm)   2016

Available, click on SHOP

Recently we bought some pears to make "Poires au vin rouge" (Pears in red wine) dessert. The recipe originally from France but very popular in Spain also. My mother-in-law used make it and I got the recipe from her. It's a super easy recipe if you follow the right measures, no fail guaranteed. Enjoy it!

These are the ones I cooked! Light and delicious...

POIRES AU VIN ROUGE (Pears in red wine)

Ingredients:

3 cups dry red wine (750 ml) Almost a bottle

1 cup sugar (250 gr)

6-8 medium firm pears, pealed

2 cinnamon sticks

4 whole cloves

1 orange zest strip, 7 cm long

1 bay leaf

a few peppercorns

In a pot combine the wine, sugar and bring to a boil stirring until the sugar dissolves. Add cinnamon sticks, cloves, orange zest, bay leaf and peppercorns and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the pears, cover the lid and cook about 30-40 minutes until they are tender but not too soft. Remove the pears from the syrup and let them cool. Discard the orange zest, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cloves and the peppercorns and reduce the syrup in high heat until thickened enough to coat a spoon. Let the syrup cool also. When it's cold pour it over the pears, chill it at least for a few hours before serving. Serve it with cream fraiche or spray nata. (This dessert has much better taste the next day or the day after, so it can be prepared in advance).

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"Yin and Yang" the fusion of the two cosmic eggplants

Work in progress

The other day we went to a nearby beach called "Playa de Vargas" which was very calm and quite.  A lovely day for a plein air sketch... At the end of last year they built a wooden platform and stairs for the visitors and swimmers. I set on the rocks, towards the new platform, I worked about half an hour on the sketch below.

Playa de Vargas, pencil drawing on sketchbook, January 2016

Do you like eggplants? They are very popular in Mediterranean cuisine. It's easy to find them in every season here in the Canaries. I usually cook two whole eggplants divided in 4 half pieces. After we eat first two pieces I transfer the others in the shape of "Yin and Yang" into an ovenproof crystal plate, so they fit nicely and peacfully :) The next day we heat them in the oven. The recipe is intermediate level. It takes about an hour to prepare. It is a little bit different than the typical Turkish "karniyarik" recipe which has no béchamel sauce and cheese. I am sharing my recipe below. Have a great week!

"Yin and Yang Eggplants" by Birsen Ozbilge

Oil Pastel on pastel paper, 11,5" x 8,2" (29 x 21 cm) 

Available, click on SHOP

*************************************

EGGPLANTS WITH BEEF AND BÉCHAMEL SAUCE

Ingredients:

2 eggplants
250 gr ground beef
1 onion
2 tomatoes
1 tablespoon of tomate paste
1/2 cup of sunflower oil
2 table spoon  of olive oil
salt
pepper
paprika
200 gr shreaded gouda cheese

For béchamel sauce: 

(Also, you can buy 500 ml ready to use one from the supermarket)
3 table spoons of flour
1 cup whole milk
2 table spoons of butter or olive oil
salt

Cut the eggplants in half, peel their skin in 1 inch long stripe shape. Put them in a salty water about 10 min. In the mean time cook the chopped onion with olive oil about 10 min until soft and golden. Add the meat and mix it well, cook for few minutes until it gets brown. Add the tomatoes and tomatoe paste, salt, pepper, cover the sauce pan and cook for 20 min. in medium heat. Start the béchamel sauce, heat a small sauce pan with flour and the oil, mixing them until it's a smooth paste, stirring a minute a half more. Than immidiately remove from the heat and add a little milk mixing quickly until it gets homogeneous liquid. Lower the heat place the pan on the stove again add more milk and keep mixing until it gets thick. While keeping your eye on the béchamel and mixing it oftenly, put the oil in a frying pan and heat. Dry the eggplants with paper towel. When the oil is very hot fry the eggplants both sides until they are golden color. Place them on a plate with paper towel. 

Heat the oven 200 degrees for 5 min. and place the eggplants on a ovenproof dish. Layer them with meat sauce and pour béchamel on top. At last the cheese and a pinch of paprika. Cook for 30 min. Take it out and wait for 5 min. to serve. A puree or rice would be nice side dish. Bon appetite!

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Do you make new year resolutions?

Calvin and Hobbes

Do you make new year resolutions? I wonder if it works... I prefer to keep diaries and put little weekly goals on them. Generally, at the beginning of the new year I give myself few days of break. Afterwards I start to organize the studio, put things together, clean and tidy. This is good enough for beginning of the new working year, than it rolls. I am not in a rush, 358 days to go for another year...

This week, I set a still-life composition with Artemis figurine which we bought it more than 15 years ago in Ephesus, Turkey. They call her "Lady of Ephesus" also, she has bunch of tits, strange right? Did you know "Pomegranate" is the symbol of prosperity and ambition? The pomegranates are on season now, we had two, so I cut one of them in half to show the inside part. Oh! The gorgeous silk scarf was recently gifted to me and the small black one with tiny flowers was my granny. It was a challenging drawing with this color combination of such limited palette. After I draw the composition, I built the mid tones and blocking the bright colors such as the flowers, by the end of the hour my light was gone so, I call the day off. Next day, I worked on the darks and the shadows and lastly the light areas.

work in progress

detail

"Pomegranates with Lady of Ephesus" by Birsen Ozbilge, 2016

Oil Pastel on pastel paper, 11,8" x 9,4" (30 x 24 cm) 

Beside the studio work, I've done few plein air sketches. One of them was a sailing boat passing through the coast. My main attention was putting the right colors of the sky and the sea. The boat was so far for the details, so I got some help from my camera's zoom. But I kept it simple without giving so much details. Have a nice weekend! 

Plein air pastel sketch work in progress

pastel drawing on sketchbook

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Happy New Year! A plein air painting before the year ends...

Just before the christmas I set a composition with these beautiful cyclamen flowers and my recent handmade linocut greetingcard that I sent to celebrate my supporters this year. I would like to thank all of you for following my blog and especially to my sponsors for being generious to support me every month. 

As you know I have been working both outdoors and indoors this last year occupied with two ongoing projects, In this coming year I will share the process of the artworks and the finished artworks. Also, I will talk about the local exhibitions, some artists you may like to know. I will make new video tutorials for people who like to see work in progress.

I will keep posting the blogpost links on the social networks but lately I see there is a lot of movement going on which makes the posts go down very fast and fade from the feed page. So, in order to reach more people I prefer to send the posts by e-mail. Please feel free to send your e-mail address to contact form to join my e-mail newsletter. (Your e-mail address will be safe with me)

work in progress

The weather is unusually warm for the end of December. the other day we went to a nearby beach to enjoy the afternoon. I took advantage of being outdoors and sketched people who were laying down on the beach. 

Sketch from Hoya del pozo beach

Last week, I was painting en plein air by the coast near Tufía. This is a great spot for painting, it's very quite place and it's easy to access, walking only for 5 minutes. I used acrylic painting on colored canvas sheet, working as quick as possible before the light runaway. 

sketching by the coast

"View from Tufía" by Birsen Ozbilge
 10,6" x 7,4" (27 × 19 cm.)
Available, click on Online Shop

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Getting ready for Xmas and New Year

Last week we arrived home and It took me for few days to organize the studio and start working on something new. I decided to make limited edition linocut print artworks for the "New Year" card. I had all the materials for this project; which are linoleum sheet, cutting tools, printing rolls, special red ink, acid free thick card paper and some metallic acrylic painting for the details. This small size of work finished in two studio working day. I was pretty happy for the result. I sent them out today, precisely to people who supported my profession this year. If you wish to receive a special greetings for the next year, click on "BE SPONSOR" and choose from options.

 

Preparing the linocut

"Happy New Year" by Birsen Ozbilge, handmade linocut print, 

(Edition of 10 only) 10,5 x 15 cm , December 2015

 





On Monday we went to visit Seasonal Art and handcrafts Fair in Maspalomas. There were very nice handcrafts, clothing and other interesting objects. As usual I didn't get anything from these goods and instead I bought a portable wooden easel for myself. That's the life of an artist! Now I have another plein air gear to enjoy painting at outdoors. 

 



My new outdoor easel.

 



A short while after we stopped by at the boardwalk of Maspalomas. It was a lovely afternoon, I do not complain about the weather we have in the Canaries :) So, I set on the side wall sketched enjoying the beautiful sea view... Hoping to comeback soon for plein air painting.

 

Sketching by boardwalk of Maspalomas

"View from MasPalomas" sketch, pencil on paper

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Watercolor Plein Air Painting in İstanbul

I am away from home, so I couldn't find enough time to post lately.  About ten days ago we came to Istanbul, the city where I am from originally. Usually I take with me a watercolor set for longer trips. This time a pocket travel watercolor set was gifted to me on my arrival. (see below) I haven't tried this new set yet, but I would like to show you how I prepare this light pack for plein air painting.

Travel watercolor pack

Last Sunday the weather was great. Still having the ''Indian summer'' in the city. So we visited a nice neighborhood called ''Ortaköy,'' where I used to live in the early 90's. I used my watercolor set sitting by the port. Enjoyed painting and being outdoors. İt was crowded overall but I preferred using a simple composition. (see below)

work in progress

work in progress

''Fisherman in Ortaköy'' by Birsen Ozbilge, watercolor, 12 x 17 cm

Last Saturday, we were at the famous ''Galata Bridge'' having a tea break. I always carry a small sketch book with me. I did a quick sketch drawing of the new bridge. (see below)

work in progress

''New bridge on Golden Horn'' sketch

Last week on Thursday, we visited a collective exhibition in Göztepe area.  It was very nice to see the works of my old University classmates.

Visit to my old classmate's collective exhibition at Gallery Ark (Recep Batuk, 

Yiğit Yazıcı, Hakan Kamışoğlu)