Petrus Spronk is always making things rather than making pictures of things. Driven by the love of making beautiful things with his hands, he is a well known ceramicist from this area.

I recently interviewed Petrus and was inundated with stories, anecdotes and most importantly, lessons on staying in the flow of creativity - gleaned from a lifetime.

To discover these rather zen like anecdotal lessons, please head on over to the Ballarat Independent where this article is published in full.

Photo thanks to Seattle Municipal Archives

This page is the place where all my technically inclined articles on art and painting are archived. The topics range from details on painting materials, to the business of art, to specific art techniques.

As this blog has grown it has become more and more difficult to easily find these, which are published about once a month. This is a shame as these are often the most useful and popular posts. There is now a direct link to this page from all areas of my site, on the sidebar.

 As part of my continuous learning I go in-depth on a topic that interests me at the time and write up what I have learned. For me this is a way of consolidating the knowledge for myself, putting it in one place that I can refer to again in the future, and sharing my findings. I am quite particular and go to some lengths to get the information right, so I trust it will be of good use to more people than just myself. Each article also contains links to the most useful resources I have found during my investigations.

This post is part of an annual blog feature over at The Altered Page called 'Buried Treasure'. There you will find links to unearth the top posts on many art blogs.

Learn & enjoy and remember to check out my artworks on Flickr, and have an insider peek at my life as an artist on Facebook.

To use this page - First give the script that collects all the relevant posts a moment or two to load. It should be done by the time you get down to reading this sentence. If not, close your eyes, tap your heels together three times, and that should do the trick.

If you want to do a plain search of this blog, use the Blogger search box which is at the very, very top of this page on the LHS, next to the B outlined in orange.

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Easy. Versatile. Thrifty. Quick.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. I was really trying to get the texture of icecream into this painting.

Imagine a summer sky filled with fluffy white clouds. Now add a flock of birds. And now also a craving for icecream. It is really hot. You are lying on the grass looking up, squinting, and making shapes out of the clouds. You know your mind can play tricks on you when you do this. That's part of the fun of this game. You see what you are thinking about in the clouds and birds above. Banana icecream.

All artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store. There are prints and originals. This particular painting is drying and will be made available soon for $150. To find out the instant it's ready, get on the collectors list, yellow box top left.

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The meatless meals recipe

Due to all the floods that happened in Queensland this summer, Australia is suffering a banana shortage. Or not, if you are prepared to pay $13 a kilo! I can only dream of this at the moment. Luckily it's the middle of winter here which tends to keep icecream cravings in check.

This has to be the most astoundingly easy, super healthy and tasty icecream ever. Apparently it's done the rounds online, most often called one ingredient icecream. I first stumbled across it over at thekitchen.com and couldn't believe what I read.

It's so simple to make that it barely counts as cooking and the results are superbly creamy. This icecream is indistinguishable from the real commercial variety minus the weird food additives, and is actually good for you. It's cheap, fast, vegan, no fat, sugar free and stunning.

So how do you make this summer treat?

Take one frozen banana (peeled and chopped and placed in a container before freezing makes life a bit easier at the next step)
Put said frozen banana, peeled and chopped, into a blender.
Whizz madly until it reaches icecream consistency. It starts off slow so have patience.
You may like to add a little vanilla essence to enhance the flavour. Or perhaps some cocoa powder or peanut butter or honey or fresh mint...
What toppings would you like? Chopped nuts, sesame seeds, chocolate syrup, maple syrup, strawberries, au naturale....

One frozen banana equals one serve of perfect icecream.

Easy. Versatile. Thrifty. Quick.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. If you think that the image is a bit bright on your monitor, let's just say that in real life this piece has a 'startling luminosity'.

Gobble gobble fun time. All hands diving in to grab a slice. I was wanting to catch that moment when a group of hungry friends are sharing food straight from the oven, when talking halts and an entanglement of arms descends - no hesitation . That snatched moment when the food is still on the plate before it is all devoured a split second later. Trails of stringy cheese mandatory. 

This is one of my all time favourites so far. Of course I like all the paintings I've done, but it's human to have favourites.

All the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store. Very limited edition reproduction prints are ready to go right now. If you love and want the original, it is drying and will be made available soon. To find out the moment it's ready, get on the email list, yellow box top left.

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The meatless meals recipe

I have to admit that I am too lazy to make my own pizza dough. When I want pizza I want it now not in several hours time when the dough base has risen (or not! - what a story that was) and is finally ready to begin cooking. And I find the store bought pizza bases to be too thick and chewy and generally unpleasant. I doubt I'm alone.

There is a third way. Pita bread. If this is too dry for you, try a softer wrap bread such as the sort for souvlaki or burritos. The idea is the same. These flat breads come in packets of half a dozen or more and kick butt for taste over preprepared pizza bases.  They're usually much cheaper. And they offer unbeatable effortlessness. 

To go on the pita bread base I do make my own tomato sauce paste. It's really simple and really flavourful.

Tomato sauce paste
60g sundried tomato
1/2 medium onion
1 fresh tomato (around 100g)
1 teaspoon dried oregano

Put all of these in a blender and whizz until smooth.
This makes enough sauce for 3 pizzas of approximately 30cm diameter, which we find is just right for two people. Remember, the base is really thin and not that filling.

Vegetarian Toppings
Not sure what to put on your pizza? Here are two of my personal favourites and a list of ingredients to consider if you're a bit stuck.

'Mazing Margarita
tomato sauce on the pita bread base
sliced fresh tomato 160-200g
salt and pepper
a mix of grated cheese on top - 60g mozzarella and 30g tasty

Cook in the oven on a pizza stone for 20 minutes at 180C.
After it comes out of the oven, drizzle with olive oil, then spread 1 clove of minced fresh garlic all over the toppings and cover with fresh basil leaves (10-12g).

Mushroom & Olive
tomato sauce on the pita bread base
100g sliced fresh mushrooms (I know, not very seasonal)
40g sliced olives
salt and pepper
a mix of grated cheese on top - 60g mozzarella and 30g tasty
Cook in the oven on a pizza stone for 20 minutes at 180C.
After it comes out of the oven, drizzle with olive oil, then spread 1 clove of minced fresh garlic all over the toppings and cover with fresh rocket (around 25g).

Choices, choices, choices.
Marinated artichoke, mushroom, feta cheese, olives, spinach, onion, caramelised onion, fresh tomato, roast tomato, sundried tomato, capsicum, roast capsicum, fried eggplant, fried zucchini, avocado, fresh basil, rocket, egg (yes, just crack it on right before it goes in the oven), pineapple, corn, cooked potato slices, cooked pumpkin, cooked sweet potato, garlic, oregano, rosemary, thyme, pesto (in addition or replacing the tomato sauce)

What else would you add to this list?

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on board. Summer to me means loads of baking hot sunshine pressing down on the land and the air shimmering in heatwaves. These are the essences I have aimed to capture here. Do you feel the dry desert heat looking at this? With the air shifting all around you?

This painting will be available in the Official Art Store as soon as it is dried and ready. Find out exactly when that is by getting on the email list for collectors. It's the yellow box in the top left.

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Summer! Celebrating the cornucopia of feasting of my favourite time of year. 

Sunshine.  Sunshine.  Sunshine. Hot. Hot. Hot!!! I love it. It's the season for beaches, barbeques, lazing outside in the shade and drinking lots and lots of water.

What do we have coming up in the recipe department? Well there's the easiest icecream you could ever hope for, dippy things, pizzas, wrappy things, cold drinks, cooling salad-meals, light soups and the obligatory noodles. I'll try and keep the use of the oven to a minimum. Who wants the house heated like that in the middle of desert temperatures anyway?

And in the painting department? Come along for the ride. I'm happily exploring all sorts of techniques and styles as I create the visual accompanyment to the recipes. See what I've done so far over here. And YES they are all for sale. If a painting whispers to you to give it a home, you absolutely can!