let them eat cake

Once again, it's been a while since my last post. January has been a pretty busy month. I am working on three new paintings right now: one is almost finished, one is moving along, and one is in the beginning stages (although I had a really good idea for it last night). I would love to have the first two done in time for the next First Friday Art Walk (which is this week) but I don't know if that's going to happen. I think my chances are pretty good that I'll have the first one ready, but we'll have to see. There is a lot of snow in the upcoming forecast, so maybe I'll be able to spend extra time in the studio as a result.

One of the paintings I'm working on is a "birthday painting". For the past few years, I've tried to do a painting featuring birthday cake around this time. My friend Buck told me she used to do this when she was an art student. I loved the idea, so I took it (with her blessing). Normally I don't look at an actual cake or a picture of a cake when I do one of these paintings, but this year I decided that I needed an edible prop. I baked a cake, cut it up, and took pictures. The cake came out a bit lopsided and the photos weren't quite what I was hoping for. I brought almost half of it to Heather's house and begged her to share it with friends and family since I figured it would never get finished here (I'm not a huge cake fan, although Terry is). Less than a week later, I was visiting my sister and her family, and they surprised me with a birthday cake. It was a week before my actual birthday, so I wasn't expecting it. Another surprise: they sent me home with all the leftovers! At first I protested (more cake in the house), but then I thought, "Aha! A second chance to get some decent cake photos." This cake was not lopsided like the one I baked, so it would make a better prop. I photographed it when I got home and I am now currently using one of those pictures as a springboard for my idea. On my actual birthday, Terry and I went out to El Camino (my favorite restaurant!) with Heather and Matt to celebrate. Dinner was great, the drinks were amazing, and at the end of the evening, the waitress (who was also celebrating her birthday) brought us over a free chocolate dessert with a candle in it...another sweet surprise, and thankfully this time, it was not more cake.