Carrot Cake Art

I have friends that love the kitchen, food is their art.  But it always kind of makes me feel bad to eat it when somebody spends all that time and energy making it lovely.  (but I do anyway, I bite the bullet, I take one for the team and eat the lovely lovely food anyway oh woe is me.)

Somehow this carrot cake that Martha Stewart taught me to make had the opposite effect.  I couldn't wait to cut into this bad boy.

My sweet little daughter -who bytheway is an adult teaching our elementary children to read- my sweet little daughter asked me if I stuck real carrots in there. I think she meant 'is there a raw carrot still on those greens that you inserted into the middle'?   It made me so happy to know there's still some child inside her because it was the silliest question.  Of coarse there's a raw carrot inserted inside, silly child.

Ok so this sleek machine, this turquoise shiny wonder, this, this is what transports the rare artcake...        Isn't it just splendid, wait, I'll answer that.  Yes, why yes, it IS splendid.  Just the mere thought of taking a cake into any environment in this beauty is pure joy.  I almost need to be wearing white gloves when I carry it.

For the record, Martha knows her stuff about carrot cakes.  Everybody who took a bite kind of moaned in ecstasy while eating it.  It was a successful Easter Dinner over the river and through the woods at Grandma and Grandpa's house this year.  The cake is now gone and our insulin levels are evening out.

A High Wire and an Umbrella

She needed a high wire and an umbrella, so I gave her that today.  There's a lot of ladders, just incase she needs to get down. (since that high wire is tied with a bow)

Hairdo.  Teeth.  Boobies.  Oh, and that clear crackle texture on her bodice is that Tim Holtz Rock Candy Crackle stuff.  Look close its right under her boobs.

She has cankles, but she's still beautiful to me.

detail.

You can see that Rock Candy texture here in this photo.

This texture was accidental, but I like.  I painted this on a big 'ol wallpaper book cover, maybe 18x18?  The paint didn't want to stick so I fixed that problem but good, I put a super duper 2-part epoxy sealant over it.  Now its not going anywhere.  I need to put a second coat on it tomorrow.  I think I could run over it with the tractor then and it will survive...??

Studio Report

The top of a paper mache' egg box, drying.

One of the drippy drippy rabbits, this one is the Commandments Rabbit.

detail of the Commandments Rabbit.

Here are some details of the painting I'm currently working on.

It was drippy too.  I had paint everywhere, glorious. The March wind blew outside all afternoon long and the strong spring sun blazed in through the windows.   I'll try to post again tomorrow, and hopefully there will be some finished artwork to show.

Gelli Printing Is Highly Addictive

Look at this owl, made with a homemade gelli printplate.

And another.

I couldn't stop.

Why stop?

I switched over to making forests...

Then I went to ladders and leaves.  Now I realize that these are somewhat of a mess, but they each have areas that I love.  Please be thankful I didn't post all of them, there are gazillions, each one better than the next one-even if only to me.

Easter Decorations: Progress Report

I bought all these paper mache' Easter items last year right after Easter for mere pennies.  This is a basket, unfinished, but I wanted to share the process...

Its a Twinkle Bunny basket

Today I'm going to paint the inside with Lumiere iridescent paint.  Yum.

Ok so this is a canvas pouch I'm working on.  For those of you with the wonderful magical iPhone Six, the large one, well, you know its tricky to always have it on you.  I set mine on Command Central whenever I'm in the house and sometimes miss hundreds of calls.  I like having it on me, but my pockets aren't always big enough and Dr. Oz says not to stash it in your bra.  (I tried, it wants to fall out.)  One day in the Hobby Lobby I found these plain canvas bags for decorating on.  Its very flat and plain and its goes on cross-body and just sits right up next to you perfect as can be.  Is this the answer?  Its not my purse.  Its my Fancy's purse.  His own personal purse to ride in alongside me, his true love. I should have bought a thousand of them, but instead I grabbed one, not realizing what a perfect solution it would turn out to be.  I need to paint them in every color to match every outfit.
You can bet next time I'm at the Hobby Lobby I'm buying them all.  I promise to take a picture of where its located in the store, and of the packaging, I'll get you the scoop.
This particular one (alas, the only one), is my "I Do What I Want" bag.  Because, hey, in my dream life I do do what I want.  Yes, I know, I said it.  Do do.  Only because I WANTED to though.

This is the back before.  Before I wrote the poem.  Ode To My Beloved.  Yes, my iPhone 6 Huge is my beloved.  I'll come clean and just admit it.  Might as well.  So I wrote a poem about it, about our love affair.  Its currently drying over in the studio but the poem I wrote and painted on it talks about how I love him so, I'll take him everywhere I go.  Over hill and over dale and then we'll go to the mall sale.  On and on, its insane and I know this.  Picture of completed purse coming...

This, darlings, is my new favorite product.  These fake plastic-like eggs come in a carton at the GitMo for a buck ninety eight.  Its like they're plastic but they have a paper mache' feel to them.  And they have a rough texture so they take paint so nicely.  I can't stop buying them and I can't stop painting them.  Once again, its keeping me off the streets.  *GitMo is code for WalMart incase you didn't already know this.

This is the beginning stage of a paper mache' egg box.

More of the eggs, in progress...

This little guy is a paper mache' bunny from JoAnn Fabric.  I got 3 of them for next-to-nothing right after Easter last year.  They've been sitting in the art room waiting patiently all year long.

This is their time to shine.  Lets see what becomes of them.  I snapped these pictures of the first layer of paint and they were drippppppppy.

Don't forget to gesso them first.  Very important.

I squeezed in a couple of watercolours on those ledger pages.  Springlike.

And this, well, this needs to be sketched.  I ran out of time making all those eggs.  Its the chard for my Spring Green Soup.  I had it all laid out like soldiers when I realized they look exactly like Morels.  Or trees too.  Cool.

Art time ended once I realized Jorma was playing right down the road.  How fabulous.  Even more fabulous is that I scored tickets, which is miraculous.  Like an Easter Miracle kinda sorta?

Jorma, doing his thing.

Jack playing a gorgeous bass guitar.  It had abalone inlay?  That's what it looked like to me.  So fancy.

This was underneath the paper mache' bunnies.  Another Yum.