A pastel sketch from dunes

The weather was great today, so we took advantage of it and we visited a seaside town close to our place. Just out of the town there is a protected area covered by dunes where I chose to set my portable chair and started to paint. Oil pastel is a wonderful material (cray-pas Expressionist) for outdoor painting. All you need is a hard cardboard to back up the paper and a small box to put your pastels along on your lap. 

Painting with oil pastels

Tufia shore

Thanks for supporting by reading and sharing my blog. I wish you a Happy Holiday Season and a Happy New Year. 

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Pastel Painting for Pastel de Atun

Pastel de Atun, oil pastel, 20 x 16 cm

 Pastel de Atun (Tuna fish terrine)

Cooking mixture ingredients:

• 1 can of tuna fish 150 gr (- drain the oil well)
• 3/4 bottle of cooked bchick peas (400 gr.)
• 3 eggs
• 3-4 table spoon of Spanish tomato frito (or plain tomato sauce for spaghetti or pizza, not the concentrated paste)
• 3 table spoon of cooking cream
• 1 tiny tea spoon of cumin
• 1/2 tiny tea spoon of salt or more/less to your taste
• Pinch of black pepper
• A little butter to wipe on the mold

Sauce ingredients:

• 3-4 Tbs of mayonnaise 
• 1 tbs ketchup mixture

Put all the ingredients in a deep bowl and mix them well with hand mixer until it is smooth. Pour the mixture 2/3 high to individually buttered cupcake molds (picture below) or into coffe mugs layed with oven paper so it doesn't stick. Do not fill the mold with the mixture till top, it grows when it cooks (leave 2 cm. space) I cooked them in my vapor machine for 30 min. If you don1t have one you can  cook in the oven as well, place all the molds in a big tray filled with hot water covering the top of the molds with aluminum foil (this style called "al baño Maria" in Spanish) and cook about an hour in medium heat 160. If you want to know if it is cooked, stick a knife, if it comes out clean that means it is cooked. 

Remove the terrine from the mold and put sauce on top and decorate with ketchup.  Steamed potatoe and veggies goes well as side dish. 

The recipe is for 6 individial servings

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Free Mosaic Grouting Tutorial

Day 1: Glued mosaic tiles has to be set for at least 24 hours to ready for grouting (pic 1). Gently removing the mosaic (pic 2). Taking out the plastic wrap and the paper sketch. (pic 3). Sealing the wood with PVC base glue. I used 4 parts of water 1 part of Weldbond glue, I repeated the process twice (pic2) sealing all around the wood, back front, sides and let it totally dry for a day. (pic 4)

Day 2: Moving to open air area with work bench. Preparing the grouting materials first. Laying newspaper on the floor. Mixing the gout with water, the mixture should like a soft potato puree texture. (pic 1) Spread with the metal tool like comb shape. Not much ticker than 3 mm. Because you don't want to fill between tiles. The purpose is fixing the mosaic with grout to the selected surface.(pic 2) Once the grout firm thickness on the surface place the mosaic slowly starting from the edges. (pic 3) Place it well and check the sides, push gently the surface with your palms. (pic 4) Let it set for at least 24- 48 hours. Clean all the tools and grout inside the big bucket and save it in the 5 let plastic bottle. If you have left over grout put it in a newspaper and trash it. It is very important DO NOT THROW THE GROUT WATER IN THE SINK. It blocks the tubes. Bring your mosaic indoors, just in case if it rains you will ruin the process.

 Grouting materials + you will need a spoon, strong gloves, a cup of water, small plastic tray, bigger plastic bucket, an empty 5 Lt. plastic bottle. 

 Day 3: Moving to open air area with work bench. Preparing the grouting materials first. Laying newspaper on the floor. Mixing the gout with water, I  added black acrylic paint to make  a grey color grout. The mixture this time it should be a little firm, like a soft dough texture. Mixing well is very important, make sure until you have the right color. And remember, grout gets lighten when it dries. (pics 1, 2, 3) Spread the grout with your hand pushing in gaps of the tile but gently. Don't worry about the excess grout now and keep covering the whole area. Use a soft rubber piece to spread and push the grout in all the surface.( pic 4) 

Get the big bucket and put water, about 4 cm high. Wet your sponge and squeeze it very well. Start cleaning the mosaic, taking the excess grout. Repeat the process cleaning the sponge and rubbing gently on the surface. Do not rub too much, the gap should be filled with grout. (pic 1) Let the mosaic rest for 15 min. In the mean time start cleaning your grout and tools, remember to put all the water in the 5 lt. plastic bottle. (pic 3) Get a lint free clothing and start rubbing the mosaic gently. (pic 2) After cleaning all the surface bring the mosaic indoors again. At this point the grout color is slightly darker, once it dried it will look lighter. (pic 4) Now it is the time to put cream to your hands and rest...

The mosaic is completed. Tomorrow the grout color will be much lighter.  If you have any questions please do not hesitate asking me.

Over the clouds, 62 x 60 cm, vitreous glass mosaic

Day 4: I added this photo today so you can compare the diffrence of grout color. It is much lighter. 

This piece is for sale in Canary Islands, if you are interested in to purchase or commission a mosaic project, please contact me by clicking on contact 

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Carrots are devine...You get a dozen for a dime, It's maaaa-gic! - Bugs Bunny

Today, We were at El Burrero, on top of the hill overlooking to the beautiful beach view . I sketched the coastal composition to my small sketch book, enjoying the wonderful afternoon... 

Overlooking to El Burrero

Drawing sketch, Playa del Burrero

My mosaic project is almost ready for grouting. I will let it wait for 24 hours to set the glue completely and later on, the wood surface has to be painted with a sealant. This will protect the wood base from water damage during and after the grouting the mosaic. I use the same adhesive for  sealing process but the proportion is 20% weldbond to 80% water. The best way to seal is to use a product that will soak into the fibers of the wood, sealing these, rather than creating a skin on top of the surface. 

Over the clouds, mosaic (before grouting)

In the mean time, I am working on an oil painting commissioned portrait project. It takes many working hours. I can only share with you a detail of the painting from work in progress. This is the 3rd layer only in the skin area. But I have much work done on the faces and on the background.

Work in progress

For the food diary paintings and sketches, I will share a delicious carrot salad recipe. Here is the sketch I had made earlier this yummy carrots.

Delicious carrots

Sketch, carrots

Carrot Salad

2 big carrots (skinned and shredded)

250 gr yogurt natural 

1-2 spoon olive oil 

1 garlic dent

1/4 tiny tea spoon of salt 

pinch of dry mint

Heat a pan with the oil, sauté the shredded carrot in low heat about 10-15 min. Until it is cooked. Put in the salad plate and let it cool about 5-7 min. Mince the garlic very well and mix with yogurt and salt. Pour it over the carrot and mix them together with a spoon. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle dry mint over the salad. (Optionally you can decorate with parsley)

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Salema, a rare fish from Atlantic...

PDF e-book "Early Works" is published.To read the e-book best way; I suggest to view it on a desktop, laptop or a big screen tablet, downloading the file first and open it from the file folder instead of viewing on your web browser. The e-book has Interactive links, feel free to click on them to listen my voice on SoundCloud.com  Enjoy it! Click on the link.

Cover image of "Early Works" by Birsen Ozbilge 

Last week I advanced a lot on the mosaic artwork, hoping to finish it by next weekend. Sealing the wood and grouting will be the next steps. I will share with you the process. 

 "Over the Clouds" mosaic art work in progress

I carry my little sketch book with me all the time.When I find a little spare time to disconnect from all the world, my pencil and sketch book. Here I am drawing and trying to leave precious moments from my life in Gran Canaria...

Playa del Burrero, Gran Canaria

Last week we had "Salema", a rare fish caught from Mogan area. I made a little research on it and found out that If the fish had eaten a special seaweed can cause hallucinations when eaten., chances are very little I mean... I don't remember having any hallucination experiences, though :) Anyways, I decided to paint this beautiful creature before us to eat it...

Salema (Salema Porgy - see at wikipedia) 

 I like marble surface to mix oil paintings

 Salema work on progress

We like to steam our fish and vegetables. It is tasty, healthy and easy to clean. This steamer has two levels, so we put on the first level potatoes and carrots for 35 min programme. After 15 min. We add to the second level an oven bag with marinated fish (with onion, parsley, lemon, salt, black pepper). And last 4 min. We add the broccoli on the top level. We serve it with simple green salad and open a cold white wine. Voilá! It's so easy isn't it? Tip: Give a small whole  to the oven bag.

Steaming the fish and the vegetables

Have some Tortilla! A Spanish Potatoe Omelette

This week I was working on the mosaic artwork. It was a quite challenge to put these tiny vitreous glass pieces together in some areas. But I enjoy creating difficult artworks... 

Last week started to work on a commission portrait project; "A mother and son", in the background the Marina of Las Palmas will be shown. As usual, I created the composition from the scratch with the collaboration of the client. I took hundreds of photos and selected the best ones for sketching and painting. This project is slowing down my cookbook paintings project. Preparing the canvas and materials for the project which takes lots of time. But it will pay my bills, now is the time to get dirty with paints...

Molino del viento (windmill) at Arinaga

This is a quick sketch from yesterdays small break. The new windmill in Arinaga, a coastal town very close to us. This 90 m. tall windmill is the tallest one in Spain. When it functions it creates energy for 20 thousand houses.

Tortilla, oil on canvas 29 cm x 21 cm

Here is my recipe of  the typical Spanish tapa "Tortilla" (small appetizer can be eaten hot or room temperature) which is our breakfast speciality...

Tortilla (Spanish Potatoe Omelette) 

3 potatoes peeled, cut in 1 cm cubes

1 onion, chopped in small pieces

1 garlic dent, chopped in tiny pieces

4 eggs

1 glass olive oil or sunflower oil

25 ml milk

1/4 dessert spoon salt

Pinch of black pepper

In a big bowl mix the eggs with milk, salt and pepper. In the mean time first fry the onion until they are soft and golden color. Take them out and add to the egg mixture. With same oil fry the potatoes until they are soft but not over cooked. Before taking out the potatoes add the garlic for a minute than add them to the bowl, mix it well. In a 20 cm non stick pan put a spoon of  oil and heat a minute. Add the mixture, cover with a lid and lower the heat to medium temperature. Cook about 5 min until the bottom part is firm. Get a flat plate bigger size than the pan, turn the tortilla upside down on the plate carefully. Put the pan back on the fire and slide the tortilla in to the pan again. Cook another 5-6 min until the both sides are golden color. Buenprovecha!

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