weekend interview : jennifer sanchez

I love these paintings by Florida born, New York based artist Jennifer Sanchez. If you are craving bold color and lots of energy, be sure to check out more of her artwork in her artist interview today here.





Aren't these nice? Be inspired and have a good weekend!

weekend recipe : maple pecan cake

Recently, I made a delicious maple pecan cake for brunch, and I wanted to share the recipe with you today. The combination of nut and maple flavors are just perfect for this time of year. You'll love this cake warm with a pot of hot coffee or tea. Click here for the full recipe. Enjoy!

My new Christmas cards are here!

I promised that I had a surprise coming up this week! For the first time, I have made two archival Christmas card collections.



These little starry red and green trees were handmade with collage and the lettering is stamped by hand. They look so cute all in a row - you could use them as a holiday decoration for a mantelpiece or windowsill.



The second set features a Christmas-inspired botanical drawing, jollied up with a bit of acrylic and watercolor paint and more starry collage.



Each is now available in sets of 6 cards with matching envelopes in my shop. The cards are printed with pigment inks on archival papers, which means they won't fade or yellow for a lifetime. Hope you'll drop by and have a look.

Happy weekend (and happy holidays too of course!)

Autumn Color in Munich

Munich is positively bursting with autumn colors right now. Come take a walk with me today, and I'll show you around my neighborhood.

















The kids and I have been taking lots of "autumn walks" on sunny days, and we've been collecting beautiful leaves to brighten up our table and windowsill. Heather has been inspiring me with her many lovely autumn posts too.

Otherwise, the children have been battling various colds and fevers, which drastically limits my studio time, but I hope to have new artwork to show you very soon! I will also be sending out my November newsletter this week - with big shop sale news - so if you haven't already signed up, don't forget do that here on the blog or on my website.

How are the colors in your neighborhood?

xoxo
Stephanie

New Pumpkin Recipes Galore!

We've been cooking up our favorite pumpkin recipes this Halloween weekend! These are all great autumn dishes, and I'm happy to be sharing them with you here :)



We made Curried Pumpkin Soup with Creme Fraiche



a delicious Pumpkin Seed Dip with Lime and Curry
(this tastes great - you will be surprised!)



and Pumpkin Coconut Cookies for dessert!

As always, you can find all of the recipes on my art & food blog, kitchen sketches. Hope you are having a great weekend too!

A German-American Halloween

When I first moved to Germany 13 years ago, pretty much no one celebrated Halloween, and pumpkins were difficult to find. But times are a-changing and my German husband carved his first jack-o-lantern today.

The kids were fascinated by what came out of the pumpkin before carving, and I had forgotten how orange and eerie a pumpkin glows when lit by a candle. One thing I do like about having children is having a reason to celebrate some of the holiday traditions that I otherwise probably would just ignore.





I had to smile when I saw these treats at the German bakery today. Of course I'm a sucker and had to buy a couple for the kids. Alongside the fresh bread and traditional German pastries, muffins and brownies have started popping up everywhere during the past couple of years - and now it seems that we are going to be seeing Halloween-inspired goodies the last week of October too.

Tomorrow I'll be posting some savory and sweet pumpkin recipes, so if you are still wondering what to cook for Halloween dinner, come on by :)

Swedish Interiors: Ingmar Bergman's Home

I love these photographs of Ingmar Bergman's home on the Swedish island of Faro taken by Stephen Shore.



I stumbled upon an article about Bergman and his interesting life on the island in W magazine this morning, and I find Shore's photographs so poetic and fascinating. Bergman wrote and directed several of his films on Faro, and his home was a favorite gathering place for his 9 children (with 6 different women with whom he all managed to stay friends wtih!)

The house and property is now up for sale, and there are hopes that it might be turned into a retreat used for artists/writers/filmmakers' residencies. Doesn't that sound like a dreamy idea...

You can read the entire article on W and see more of Shore's photographs here.

My Kids at Work

We got brave this weekend, covered the kitchen table with newspaper, put on our plastic aprons, and got out the watercolor paints for Sophia and Lucy.



They had so much fun and worked so hard!







Here are some of the results...







Nice work for a 2 and a 3 year old I think, but of course I am hopelessly biased!

Also, I want to thank you for your kind, lovely comments on yesterday's post showing my illustrations. Your positive feedback makes me so happy, and I love our little community of online artists, art-lovers, and creative people. It's great to be in contact with so many like-minded people, and it makes me really appreciate the beauty of the Internet and how it can connect us all over the world! Who would have thought this would all be possible 10-15 years ago? It is pretty amazing.

I hope you are having a pleasant Thursday, and tomorrow I have some pumpkin-flavored surprises in store for you...

xoxo
Stephanie

exciting illustration news!

Something exciting happened to me today! My copy of the "Big Book of Contemporary Illustration" arrived, and...



my collage called "Sushi Magic" was right up front on page 6!



My "Caribbean Kitchen" collage made an appearance on page 299, and there are so many wonderful illustrations to look at throughout the book. I feel very,very honored to have been included!



I found illustrations from artists I already know and admire like Nate Williams



and Craig Atkinson from the UK.



This book is packed with delightful artwork in a wide variety of media from artists including Emiliano Ponzi



Amber Lloyd



and Lida Tsouhnika - who were all new discoveries for me.

Thanks so much to the author, Martin Dawber, for putting this lovely book together. If you are interested in getting a copy (no, I don't get proceeds :), you can order the book on Amazon here.

Hope you are having an exciting Wednesday too!

Fresh interview with Swedish Artist Elisabeth Dunker

Don't miss this week's interview with Swedish artist Elisabeth Dunker here. I love her photographs and unique sense of style.



She shares an amazing studio with artist/illustrator Camilla Engman. Who's ready to go to Sweden with me and visit Studio Violet? Today. Where's my ticket! Let's go!