Despina's blog is…

In the July/August issue of the UTNEReader:

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Fellow Studio 1482 members Michele Bedigian, Greg Betza and Dominick Santise and I have been working collectively on a series of prints and promotions titled “Seasons of 1482“. The project began last year and we’ve just launched Seasons 2010 with our spring promotion and a new website. Please stop by and read more about the “seasons challenge“…

This is my piece for Spring: tapestry.awakening.pure

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Here are a few of the drawings I made at the demo site in the Meadowlands, NJ. The old Giants/Jets Stadium is being torn down slowly but surely. I was surprised to see so few people working on such a big task. Maybe I was there during lunch? That’s what it felt like! Whatever the case, it was a real contrast to the 50K plus crowds that this place has seen through the years. Kinda sad.

Here’s a stairway to nowhere:

Here, some rubble-walkers:

Here’s the familiar shape of the stadium with a newly blasted “exit”:

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last night we had our first meal from my vegetable garden. I snipped a few leaves of lettuce and arugula and made a nice big salad for Greg and myself. delicious! Can’t wait for the tomatoes, cucumbers and peas!!

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Here is another drawing I made during my trip

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“You ain’t seen nothing yet”

These are the words I heard upon entering the Conservatory at Longwood Gardens. The kind old man on his scooter noticed me in my state of shock and awe after seeing the beyond-words-beautiful entrance, and felt the need to warn me about the rest of the place. He was not kidding! This place is just sooooo stunningly gorgeous.

This is the drawing I made from the entrance. Let me explain parts of it: The cage-like structure shaped like a Victorian perfume bottle, is sort of like a humongous tea infuser. But instead of tea, it holds an array of aromatic flowers and as you walk through it, your olfactory system is truly overwhelmed. It is to scent what the Greek amphitheatre is to sound. The columns you see in the drawing are a few of the many that are covered with “Creeping Figs” and make the space feel like a fancy jungle. Everywhere you look you are confronted with the prettiest flora ever. I dare anyone to walk in this place and NOT feel like they “died and gone to heaven”. (Another quote from the day.)

-Despina

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I just got back from a trip to The Brandywine Vally, PA. My husband and I have been wanting to take this trip ever since we met in Parsons. We heard about the Brandywine River Museum with all the beautiful Illustration by artists like Howard Pyle, and all the Wyeths. After 12 years, We finally made it!

Besides the GORGEOUS paintings of the permanent collection, the museum is currently running a great Exhibition showcasing original art of a few Caldecott Award winning Illustrators. It was nice to see the work I have come to know so well through the years up close and personal.

I recommend this trip to anyone who loves illustration as art.

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An early signal of Spring. Almond trees have a long history of mythology and symbolism. I think they are beautiful to look at and to draw.  -Despina

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I recently went to the 3rd annual Village Voice Food Show at the Armory in NYC. Needless to say, I was a happy camper.

I thought the night was off to a bad start when on my way to the event I realized that I forgot my sketchpad and pens at home. But it turned out, I was better off because it would have been impossible to handle juggling them along with endless paper plates and cups filled with NYC’s finest culinary treats. Instead, I borrowed my husband’s i-phone and used an APP called doodlebuddy to jot down my favorite savory and sweet fares.

Pretty fun night as I combined two of my very favorite things: drawing and eating. Not necessarily in that order(depending on the moment!) Kinda like George Costanza, when he combined eating with, well…you know.

So here are a couple of my i-phone food doodles. Thought I’d share.

To test run the APP, I drew my friend Rob while we sat in a pub before the show:

Here’s real true doodle of the armory filled with a massive gathering of hungry people:

Swedish meatballs with lingenberry over mash potatoes from SmorgasChef:

Thai noodles with DELICIOUS cucumber and spicy spices:

An UNBELIEVABLE dessert- served in a contemporary clear plastic rectangular cup, buttermilk pudding with some fruit(should’ve written the details down) and get this- cumin seasoned croutons. I love the trend in desserts of mixing in a savory element. I think the more ridiculous the combination the better! Here’s a DoodleBuddy of it:

Lobster Luke’s BUTTER INFUSED Shrimp Sandwich. These guys actually had a contraption where a roller sits over a a container of melted butter. They rolled the bun on the roller giving it a good dousing of irresistable irreplacable butter:

A pulled pork sandwich from a place that makes really good things…sooo sorry to them for not remembering the name! It was really good:

So, no offense to these restaurants, but I can’t recall where I ate this simple but delectable skewered meat with celery. There was a shaker there on the table and I used it to liberally shake out what I soon after discovered to be some hot stuff! LOVED it:

So, I think it’s time for my favorite of the night. The food that sticks out most in my mind is one from Bunny Chow. A South African cuisine restaurant located down on Orchard Street. They had what they described as small loaf of bread stuffed with your choice of  vegetable or lamb curry, topped with a mango chutney and toasted coconut. The side of carrot salad had mango in it as well. It was really something:

Besides the food, there was a really great variety of beverages. I tried Prosecco for the first time. And an awesome beer called Witte. It’s so light and bubbly, I called it the champagne of beers. Yum.

Over all, a good night.

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