Stop Motion

While we're in a little movie space here, here is a delightful animation that I think you'll enjoy. I did, anyway.

Oren Lavie: 'Her Morning Elegance'

A Movie made by cats

Jay Walker's Library

I stumbled upon this website recently. I admit to experiencing a wave of envy. Wow. What an incredible library. I'd be so thrilled to possess even one of Jay Walker's books or artifacts!

Japan

I don't watch television. It's enough for me to view these images of the dreadful effects of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. But I feel ok about posting this one on my blog. It is one of the less horrific, more poignant and eerie: A car, a fish and a piano. Maybe Dali's most surreal art imitates life.

Chicken Pesto Pie

This recipe comes from the little 'Variety Club' charity cookbook and was submitted for the cause by the 'New Gallery' cafe and bar in Khartoum Place in Auckland. It's quick to make, and very tasty!

600g chicken thighs, skinned, boned and diced

1 small onion, chopped

1 bay leaf

50g butter

½ cup basil and pinenut pesto

6 tablespoons flour

½ cup cream

400g crusty pie pastry*

¼ cup each roughly chopped fresh basil and toasted pine nuts.

Pre-heat oven to 200ºC on fan bake if possible.

Mix first three ingredients together and cover with salted water. Simmer until just cooked. Strain stck and reserve.

Melt the butter, add the pesto and cook gently for one minute. Add ½ cup of the reserved stock and gradually add cream, stirring until well incorporated. Add the cooked chicken.

#Line a 23 cm pie dish with crusty pie pastry. Fill with chicken mixture, top with fresh basil and toasted nuts.

Cover pie with pastry lid. Bake for 30 minutes until golden. Serves 6 -8.#

For individual pies, change that last bit and replace with: #Using a cornish pasty pie press or individual pie-dishes, line, fill, and cover separate serving pies. Make holes in the top and paint with milk. Cook for 10 -15 minutes until golden. Serves about 9.#

* You'll need more pastry if you make individual pies of course.

Insects in art

Franz Marc

Just a little addition to my last post - this is the painting of Franz Marc's with which I am most familiar, and the reason I immediately recognised the little print in Te Papa.

Franz Marc, along with Kandinsky, founded the "Der Blaue Reiter" group.

Marc had a theory of colour that involved ideas of the spiritual. He used bright colours, and often depicted animals, especially horses, in his works. He was influenced by the impressionists, moved toward expressionism, and later began to incorporate elements of cubism into his paintings, until finally his last works became very abstract, foreshadowing that movement.

He was killed in action in 1916, at the age of 36 years. Pity.

In a nutshell, in this painting you can see the forest animals on the left, and on the right the trees are being chopped down and the animal's habitat being destroyed. At the time Marc worked, the railways were being extended throughout Europe, and industrialisation was encroaching upon and profoundly changing the landscape.

If you want to know more, this is where I got this image and there is more information in: http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/marc/overview.php