A new look, a new painting, and a new passion

It's Sunday night, I'm not working til Wednesday, and Tommaso is hard at work translating a TV show, so that means... lots of time to update my blog!
I've changed the look of the blog. No biggie, but I think it looks a little nicer. Still wish I could get a custom designed background though *hint hint to my graphic design buddies*

I've also uploaded a pic of a new acrylic painting, a self-portrait... well, kinda new. I painted it in December, so it's not the self-portrait mentioned in my last post and it sadly doesn't count toward my 11 in 2011 goal. It was actually a separate, very specific exercise. I usually take forever to finish a painting, using a lot of glazing and meticulous detail. With this painting I basically gave myself one evening to complete it, and challenged myself to use more "messy" brush strokes and hardly any glazing. I liked the freedom of allowing myself to be more messy and more liberal with color. Painting the hair into the background was fun and the scarf had about 5,876,194 colors, so that was interesting. It was a good exercise, and although the painting turned out less proportional, less "tight", less realistic than I generally like, I think I'll visit this technique more often.
Also, it reminds me of the Fayum mummy portraits somehow. Maybe it's the (ginormous)eyes. Or maybe I just have too much art history in my brain right now. Thoughts?

(Edited to add: The lighting is really poor quality in this picture, I will try to get a better pic later and re-post)

So, I've definitely been painting more, but I've also discovered a new outlet for creativity, which brings me to my "new passion". Cooking. That's right, Mom, cooking. I've always thought of myself as more of a baker, and honestly I was a little scared of the stove top. I tended to burn things. But lately, out of nowhere, I've found a love of cooking and amazingly I'm actually pretty good at it. I've been making all sorts of lunches and dinners for myself and Tommaso, and I'm finding that cooking is a great stress relief and a nice break from the boredom of having zero
work in low season. I may even start posting some of my favorite recipes.

That's it for now, gonna turn in early tonight. Buona notte.