by niya christine

Summer Salmon & Really Good Wine

YUM

YUM

I’m just here today to remind you that cooking outside with loved ones, friends and well behaved furry ones is a really lovely thing right about now. If you have my book The Art of Daily Cultivation, this beautiful recipe from Shauna Prince is on page 110. And if you don’t have the book, you now have one of the best parts of the book. See, I don’t consider myself a foodie, but I am wise enough to have talented, festive foodie friends. Thank you Shauna and Daniel!

BBQ’d salmon with lemon, capers, and dill

Ingredients – serves 8

2 whole fillets of salmon (skin on or skin off, ideally wild, around 2 ½ pounds each fillet)

4 medium lemons – two sliced in rounds (with skin on), one juiced, one sliced in wedges for garnish

1½ oz butter

1/2 of a medium white or brown onion, cut in thin slices or wedges

3 tablespoons of white wine (optional)

1½ teaspoons of Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons of fresh dill – chopped. Plus sprigs for garnish

1 – 2 tablespoons of capers (to your taste)

Salt (approx. ¼ tsp Kosher salt)

Freshly ground pepper (approx. ¼ tsp)

1½  tablespoons of olive oil

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in Creative Practice / Creative Space Design / Project 365
 by niya christine

365 Story Paintings Deluxe Hardcover Book: LIVE on Kickstarter

The Deluxe Hardcover Book Funding Campaign

Kickstarter campaign to get the book into people’s homes and hands.

…..HELLO…..Exciting News!

Yesterday, I launched a Kickstarter campaign in production the past 3 weeks to raise funds for the deluxe hardcover book of the 365 paintings. This book was in the proposal cycle for a traditional publisher, however that cycle is long one and this book has momentum.

WHY KICKSTARTER?

The book was envisioned from the onset of painting daily in January 2013: 12 months, 12 different themes with strong narrative drive to make for an entertaining visual narrative. But when subscribers, followers and customers began coming to me asking for help… really craving to carve out creative productivity in their very busy lives—when they wanted to know my secrets, the structure and how I dealt with the challenges and organizational battles—that’s when the book of painting stories took on a life of it’s own and became a resource for life design.

People are craving a bit of reflection and self expression in their days. I realized I was their lab-rat and this fascinated me, so I began to pay more attention and take extensive notes.

Now I have a book in progress and I need funding to make it happen. It’s a lovely book. A deluxe edition coffee table art book, over 200 pages. A memoir and structure for readers who are making something special in their life, even if only to change up some habits to be a better friend or parent. The structures and principles I discovered and developed work for anything you want to do. Especially if it’s something that really matters to you that you never seem able to get to on a daily basis.

So please spread the word. Let’s get this book funded together. The rewards are big and fun. Check it out on Kickstarter. Whether you decide to pledge your support or not,  I do hope you will pass it onto people in your life you feel just might be. Networking makes this all pretty special. Thank you!!!  Creatively yours, Niya.

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in News & Events
 by niya christine

Wildflowers #3 | Emerge

Painting by Niya Christine. 365 Project. Copyright

#69/365 Paintings

If only I knew what these flowers smell like. This must be how my friends/subscribers here from the Midwest, East Coast, Canada and other ‘white’ places feel. That there are buds tightly coiled under foot, in the trees and bushes. You see, I’ve been feeling a bit guilty parading all these brightly colored wildflowers across their desk every morning. Some folks are saying “ugh, we are still under snow…” while others are saying, “thank you, I needed this reminder.” Perhaps April or May would have been a better choice for flowers, kites, hot air balloons. Honestly, I needed the color myself. This winter was SO cold. See that little bird like character? He seems to be sailing upstream on a piece of watermelon or something. Like he’s lived amongst exotic flowers all his life, and this is just ‘ho hum’ another day in the life.

Project notes: These pieces feel crazy, wild, chaotic and not comfortable. Pretty much the whole time I’m doing them, it’s a blur. And then in the end I investigate what’s just happened and am generally surprised it’s not a vat of black oil with little dried flower looking chunks floating around. That it becomes something at all continually amazes me.

in March | Fabric & Flowers / Project 365
 by niya christine

Because She Dances…

Mixed Media Painting by Niya Christine. Copyright

#53/365 Paintings

The Dancer

Behold the brand of beauty tossed!
See how the motion does dilate the flame!

…Fire, to no place confined,
Is both our wonder and our fear;
Moving the mind,
As lightning hurled through air…

Excerpts from “The Dancer” by Edmund Waller

…………………

I have always felt the dancer creates a new character at play with each motion. Even the stage is a character. A whole society is at work. With each whoosh there is an echo from the human condition. Pain, neutrality, anguish, ecstasy, lightness of being, disappointment, heartbreak, a new beginning, another death. You name it, it’s all there in every smokey move—clear as the light around her that shape the prayer of the dance.

 

in Feb. | Love & Character / Project 365
 by niya christine

Clarabella — the chromatically gifted pig

Watercolor by Niya Christine. Copyright

#42/365 Paintings

Some pigs have all the fun.

Clarabella was a heartbreaker from birth. Her superpower is that when she giggles her body lights up in moving colors akin to that of a discotheque. It leaves the boy pigs bewildered; stupified by love. Their tails curl up tightly and they leave the scene before she sees her power over them.

I’ll have what she’s having. ; )

………………..

Project notes: I love sundays because all the palettes get cleaned and refreshed with new color mixes for the week. It’s a day for rough sketches and wild ideas. This week I look forward to learning from Carla Sonheim’s class: Imaginary Animals. She’s a subscriber here. I love her work and philosophy the Art of Silliness.

in Feb. | Love & Character / Project 365