Ohhhhh look at that purple edged pepper flower. Gorgeous the peppers start out black then change to a gorgeous blood red. The fish peppers are stunning. The orange pepper is clearly a moruga scorpion but I had it labeled a scotch bonnet. Then eggplants. Yaaaasssss #growshit #hotpeppers #urbanoasis #citysteading #cityfarm #pepper #hotpeppers #grow #suburbskills #garden

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A big fat jubilee tomato. It is a place creamy golden yellow, cad yellow medium shade. The next pic is a ripe fish pepper in person you can see the stripes, on here it is barely visible. They are so pretty. Next are small gochujang king peppers, sweet and hot and very pretty shade of orangey red. Then and unknown pepper. These start out absolutely black and they are gorgeous. The taste is... meh, okay. Hot AF though. The other peppers are lemon spice jalepeno and sweet lunchbox peppers. These blue gold tomatoes are so pretty. The shoulder are almost black and the other side is pale yellow and creamy. They have gotten progressively sweeter and sweeter. I love them. I'll absolutely grow them again. So good. #growshit #hotpeppers #urbanoasis #citysteading #cityfarm #pepper #hot #proudplantmom #grow #tomato #heirlooms

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I haven't done a food post in a long time. This is homemade one pot lasagna style hamburger helper. Ground beef and an onion sauted until browned. I did large amounts of fresh thyme, oregano, basil, with a bit of rosemary. I let that get happy. Then a full jar of pasta sauce, what ever is decent. Add in a full jar (the jar the sauce was in) of water. Bring to a full boil. Add in a box of some sort of pasta. It will not look like there is enough water, but that is the way it should be. Cook the pasta until it is right for you. Add in a cup of shredded mozzarella, mix. This is a good fast meal that makes huge amounts of leftovers and can be altered for whatever you have around. The key is cooking the pasta directly in the sauce and water. It absorbs the water and the sauce. The starch in the pasta thickens what is left. Leftovers are even better since everything gets super thick. My wife pointed out that it needs a dollop of ricotta to make it lasagna style. And she's right. So do that too. #onepot #weeknightmeal #easy #tastyaf #foodporn #foodie #growshit #grow

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The Bride eggplants continue to wow me. I looked out over my garden and saw dozens of blossoms. Slightly larger than regular eggplant blossoms and this deep shade of lavender, just wow. Nestled inside the giant furry leaves are dozens of those gorgeous white with pale purple striped eggplants. I got these seeds from @kitazawa_seed and had great germination. I gave away a bunch of plants to friends. I wasn't expecting the plants to get this big! They are gorgeous!!! #growshit #suburbskills #cityfarm #garden #citysteading #nothotpeppers #tasyandpretty

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I forgot the ridgeline on the cabin. Lol. Practicing different texture tools for the woods behind and around the cabin. Really digging the swirls around the branches and the look. This is payne's gray and a hint of vermilion that was left on my brush. It made a lovely purple in the middle not at all visible in the print. Really digging the coffee bags for their ability to hold and print the finest of lines to nice bold lines too. #printmaking #collograph #collagraph #trashprintmaking #minipress #craftpress #drypoint is this still a collagraph?

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I decided that if I was going to do eggplants I was going fancy. These bride eggplants are gorgeous- white with just a hint of purple stripes they stay thing and get quite long. I'm very excited. All my plants are covered in fruit. I'll be making loads of garlicky soy eggplant!!! #growshit #suburbskills #cityfarm #garden #citysteading also picked a handful of peppers and a couple more cherry tomatoes.

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The first ripe tomatoes of this season. Soon I'll have so many I won't be able to keep up. #growshit #urbanoasis #citysteading #cityfarm #foodporn #grow #suburbskills #garden

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Picked a full quart of white currants today. Sweet and sour destined for jelly along with their red counterparts. #growshit #urbanoasis #citysteading #cityfarm #foodporn

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Notice his left eye? Idiot dog messed around and found out about it with a yellow jacket (Can't find a stinger) he always snaps at them.and finally one had enough. #dogsofinstagram

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When it comes to #trashprintmaking you win some and you lose some. Some of these experiments worked delightfully well while.others... well not so well. I've got to experiment with the cup again but the coffee bag works great. The face wash package was okay. I'd etch more deeply into the package for the next one but it worked pretty well. A few flops not shown here. #printmaking #collograph #collagraph #drypoint #prints #instagramartists #artplay #art

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More trash prints. These are made from a variety of coffee bags glued to backing. They work GREAT! #trashprintmaking #printmaking #collograph #collagraph #art #prints #instagramartists #artplay #maker #craftyfuckers #upcycle

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More trash prints. These were made from a take out cup and a fast food pie slice package. I sliced them open and cleaned them. I tested with pretty basic scoring and peeling to see how the material would respond. And the results are rad BUT not great for reproduction. The plates break down. I'm going to try a few more but I'll seal them. I really wanted to test them out. The big difference between both of these and the packages I used before the thickness of the plastic layer. On these it was super thin. I suspect it didnt stand up because of the thinness but also it wasn't adhered well to the card. We'll see what happens when I seal it. #printmaking #drypoint #prints #art #minipress #maker #artplay #instagramartists #collagraph

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Here is a thing which is about to happen. Today I find out.if it's over or going to happen. Deep sigh.

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A little #print sesh. Did 4 prints of one of my favorite buildings in my neighborhood. The supah chicken place, except super chic closed for retirement and something new is moving in. Anyway I'm still figuring out how to wipe the plate to get the look I want. I have a tendency to over wipe, so I forced myself to wipe the shaded side of the building less. It worked. Unfortunately I made the texture too uniform so it's one even gray. I need to add highlights and darker areas. 2 new plates. Smallish these are also buildings I've done before. The first in gray card is the supah chicken building again but as it is now. They updated their look around 6 years ago. The other is the same building as the post from yesterday. I've got a few more buildings to document. I might try a little book of these prints. We'll see. #printmaking #drypoint #prints #art #minipress #maker #artplay #instagramartists #collagraph

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This tiny print makes me soooooo happy. It's a recycled plastic chunk that I scratched into dry point style. I used a fine needle and a craft knife edge to score the various lines. The stuff is soft but stands up to the pressure of the press well. I made 5 prints and notice no degradation of the plate. The plastic was scuffed from its previous life as a plastic totes and being scrubbed with industrial scrubbing pads. It really works well for this subject, a local restaurant that has been around for a looooong time. #printmaking #drypoint #prints #art #minipress #maker #artplay #instagramartists #recycledart #urbandecay #urbanlandscape

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Working on a plate from an old image of a now gone place in my neighborhood. I need to go out for a walk to take some pics of the area for a series of plates of this changing urban landscape. We'll see how it prints in a few days. #collograph #collagraph #printmaking #prints #art #minipress #maker #artplay #instagramartists

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Herbs!!! A fistful of sweet mint bound for ice water! Eggplants and peppers and tomatoes. Finally pots if herbs keep my dog.out of my garden space. We've got sage, rosemary, mint, basil, and more basil. Harvested my first bunch of basil today and it was a decent amount. Were.going to do some.basil chicken on the grill. So happy. #growshit #urbanoasis #citysteading #cityfarm #grow #suburbskills #garden

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Peppers hot and medium. That first pepper is a ripe fish pepper tiny but we're going to find out the heat level, supposed to be around jalapeno. The plants are gorgeous. Allepo peppers and nora paprika peppers... not pictured are my scotch bonnets. Also filling out with fruit. #growshit #hotpeppers #urbanoasis #citysteading #cityfarm #pepper #hotpeppers

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Tomatoes of all sorts. Grape, cherry, and full sized. I cannot wait for them. #growshit #urbanoasis #citysteading #cityfarm #foodporn

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We try not to buy many things in full plastic packages, but it happens. This clear plastic package was cut open, transferred to, drawn on, then dry pointed and inked before printing. At least now I can give these unrecyclable packages a second life before they hit the trash. This was a lot of fun. #printmaking #drypoint #prints #art #minipress #maker #artplay #instagramartists

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A few more prints from plates made over a few weeks. Also return of disco chicken, sort of they don't translate to b&w so well. But some interesting things learned. Different papers sealed down have different textures. Adding sand adds darkness but it follows brush strokes. Modeling paste is a beast to wipe and it absorbs ink, but give it up when printed, also, it makes brilliant whites when wiped with cotton. The new press is killing it. #printmaking #collograph #collagraph #prints #instagramartists #artplay #art

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My replacement press arrived today and I did some test points of a few plates I made. Really happy with the concept if not the complete execution on all of these. The little cabin print makes me super happy- the cabin totally works and the sky used a chemical reaction between glue and acrylic to make a super fine crackle. It is perfect for the webbing of branches that you look through the trees and see. The oval print is meant to look like a rearview mirror of what you see on the highway as you drive. It doesn't work at all. But I learned a few things. I'll try again. Also the plate is made of a chunk of old detergent bottle. #printmaking #collograph #collagraph #art #prints #instagramartists #artplay

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This dog.... fireworks went off and he hasn't move from under my legs for an hour. I've never had a dog so scared of fireworks. #dogstagram #dogsofinstagram

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Worlds collide. I'm beefing up my printing knowledge. (Many many reasons, but not.gonna go into.it here.) I'm reading 1980s book The a complete Collagraph and it has this recommendation for @generalpencil charcoal pencil. Cool. #pencil #penaddict #RSVPstationerypodcast #pencils #erasable

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