Best Recipes for Fresh Figs

The painted Liberty Snake project moved along slowly for the month of July.  One reason for the slow pace was the overwhelming, albeit much expected, bumper crop of figs.  My original intention was to take these to the local farmer’s market for some quick cash, but with a pandemic looming and no firmly enforceable mask mandate in place, I thought better of that. Our freezer space quickly filled, and we gave away as much as we could.  Without a good means of drying and not inclined to can, I decided to make the best of things and learn everything I could about figs and how best to serve them up in gourmet dishes. 

Perhaps the best way to have figs is to eat them fresh off the tree.  When in need of something a little fancier, here are some ideas.  These are based upon one month of experimentation and a selection of the three best:

Labneh Figs:  These have a middle eastern flavor and are most exquisite.  Labneh is a cheese made from yogurt and may be difficult to find.  We could not find it either locally or in specialty stores so came up with these alternatives with marscapone/crushed with pistachio filling and ricotta/hazel nut filling.  To make them simply make an “x” in the middle of each washed and cleaned fig.  Bake them in a 400 degree oven for ten minutes and fill each with the cheese of choice, sprinkle with ground nuts (pistachios were the best!), and then drizzle with honey.

Fig Sauce Yeast Bread:

This recipe was surprisingly simple and not too sweet.  The bread has no extra sugar and is sweetened by the figs alone.  For this you will need to boil down and mash enough figs to make a cup of cooked sauce.  Combine two cups of flour.  For a very hearty and nutritious bread I used one cup of whole wheat flour, one quarter cup of sorghum flour and three quarters cup of unbleached bread flour.  In a separate bowl, combine one package of yeast with 3/4 cup of water. Slowly add the flour mix and knead for about ten minutes.  Add more flour if this is too sticky.  Work in one teaspoon of salt and two tablespoons of olive oil.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double in size (about an hour to and hour and a half).  Punch down and place in a 9 x 5 inch bread pan and let double in size again.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes.

Traditional Fig Pudding with Wine Sauce:

1. Cream  ½ cup of butter

2. Add 2 eggs and 1 cup of molasses

3. Add 2 cups of finely chopped figs, ½ teaspon grated lemon rind, 1 cup of buttermilk and ½ cup of chopped walnuts.

4. Add 2 ½ cups of all-purpose flour with ½ teaspoon baking soda, two teaspoons of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

5. Bake for one hour at 325 degrees in a greased 9-inch tube pan.

Serve hot with hot wine sauce.

Wine sauce for plum pudding:

1. cream ½ cup of butter and 1 cup of sugar

2. Stir in 3/4 cup of dry sherry, Tokay or Madeira   can add 1/4 teasp of nutmeg

3. Heat over a double boiler.

A Liberty Snake for the Elderly

My next Liberty Snake was painted with thin washes of indigo and crimson over muslin sized with white gesso.  After allowing this to dry overnight, I placed stencil cut out shapes in a variety of ovals over the translucent washes.  I then stippled an opaque design around these.  I liked this effect overall and the rich surface that was created.   For a final embellishment, I used stamped designs in the oval spaces.  Most of my slogans on these snakes are now dedicated to segments of our population bearing the worst brunt of the present pandemic - in this case the elderly. 

This snake is also about twelve feet long and is hollow, so that it can be filled like a giant stuffed animal. 

An Optimistic Snake Design for the Americans with Disabilities Act: Celebrating 30 Years

With all my painted snakes sewn up, I turned to painting the remainder of the cut out, sized muslin.  I initially counted six more unpainted pieces, and calculated that I could finish these for the month of July.  Then I encountered two more, so it looked like this project would stretch into August, barring unforeseen difficulties and distractions. 
The first newly painted snake was completed in time to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.   He was part of a video sent to the ADA and Arts Access.  Of all the new snakes, the Don’t Tread on the Disabled snake came the closest to being at a rally, albeit a virtual one.

This snake uses the same stamp that I had used earlier on the Don’t Tread on Black Lives snake.  Since the ADA was fashioned after civil rights actions and legislation, it seemed an appropriate reflection.  While the former stamp was light on dark, this one was dark on light.  After the printing on this one, I spent a considerable amount of time working over the prints with fine lines and colorful details.  This design also incorporates some metal leaf, which I rediscovered while rummaging up supplies in my studio.

A Snake for Voting Rights

Rummaging around for more work to finish I came across a third painted snake that had not been sewn up.  This one was the voting rights snake. 

This one, like all the rest,  was originally intended to be stuffed and rounded out so that he could carried around at rallies.  Even though they are not likely to be paraded around live any longer, I still leave a two foot long hole in the center of the body that is sealed with velcro.   Who knows if they might be stuffed animals again one day? 

The voting rights snake  uses a square block print with a repeat design, embellished with small round stamps This particular snake seems like an appropriate one for such a pivotal election year.

18 feet.  Acrylic paint on sized muslin.

Liberty Snake all Sewn Up

Looking in my archive, I see that I had stopped the Liberty Snake project in late 2017 or early 2018.  The reason I gave in my last blog post was that I had lost my access to a sewing machine and was loathe to sew these eighteen foot long art works up by hand.   One of the reasons for beginning them again, however, was the realization that I would not have access to a sewing machine in the future unless I purchased one.  Not being a seamstress and not therefore having a reason to own a sewing machine after this project was finished, I resigned myself to doing these last pieces by hand.
Another factor in my leaving this body of work incomplete,  however, was simply laziness and boredom.  I have a bad habit of abandoning  projects when I am nearly three quarters of the way through.  The allure of the new and the enticement of fresh supplies would entice me away from the work to be done.  That changed with  this great pandemic of 2020.  As exhibitions, book readings, courses, and client purchases dropped off one after another like dominoes, it behooved me to put the break on all purchases of new art equipment and supplies.   Instead, I rummaged around my studio for what available materials and projects almost completed.  I counted two painted “snake skins” that needed to be sewn up.  My last blog post featured the first one.  Here is the second one.   It would have been great for a rally for reproductive rights!

As with my previous snake, I put my small collection of old mother of pearl buttons to use for the eye.

Catching Up on Summer Projects

I have been very active in my writing and in my studio. But I have been finding it difficult to keep up with promotion via all media outlets. Just as keeping up with the outdoor work makes housework neglected, so too, does keeping up instagram and Facebook pages cause a blog post to be neglected. To remedy that, I’ll be posting the work that I have been doing with little text or expository remarks. Hopefully it will not take too long and my blog can become active once again. I’ll begin with the latest projects and then work backwards from there to a place in time when my blog posts began to go fallow.

For this month, I decided to attempt to finish up a project that I had begun in 2017: my Liberty Snakes. These are large painted snakes that I had originally done for social rallies. The first one (and the last!) was the March for Science in early 2017. Considering the dilemma our country is in now with a raging pandemic along with a concomitant viral anti-science epidemic, many of the slogans on those snakes would be especially appropriate today. But others are pertinent still as well.

The slogan on this snake says "Don't Tread on Black Lives," but it is a bit difficult to see all at once because the painted snake is so large - about 20 feet long. I began my project anew by sewing up the painted snakes I had made earlier. This one was created for a Black Lives Matter march but never made it to an actual march, although it was displayed briefly at the local arts center. So this one, like all the others, must only attend virtual rallies now!

The patterns were created by a twelve inch square carved block of linoleum printed in white and silver acrylic over black gesso. The details were highlighted by painting back over the printed form.

I think that one really good reason for my not wanting to finish this large painted snake project was the lack of access to a sewing machine. So this snake, like all the subsequent ones, had to be sewn up by hand - which took hours! But doing so was relaxing for its slow pace. I decided to use up some antique mother of pearl buttons for the snake’s eyes.

Common Ground on the Hill Arts Award

A new award from old friends!  This year was to be my long awaited come back as an instructor at Common Ground on the Hill at McDaniel College in Westminster Maryland.  I had been working towards this for about nine years and then Covid-19 hit!  To my great surprise, my old friends presented me with an art award and the ceremony was last night.  I am eagerly looking forward to my Robin Tillary hand carved cedar flute - better than a statue.  https://www.commongroundonthehill.org/artsaward.html