Tuesday, February 09, 2010

here goes something


Ever since the hubby and I graduated from college, I knew I'd be needing a {creative} outlet. Wedding planning and setting up our first home provided that for some time, but 2010 has finally brought some more significant creative changes to my weekly schedule.

First, I went on a shopping spree to Blick. My wonderful in-laws gave me a gift there for my birthday at hubster's suggestion. Met a delightful young art student who endured my onslaught of questions and painfully obvious lack of artistic training. (So do you know what kind of painting you'd like to do? Nope. Would you like to use natural or synthetic brushes? Don't know. What supplies do you have already? Uhhh... none? So what questions do you have? Ummm... all of them?) Fortunately he didn't ask when I last picked up a paint brush, colored pencil, or had any sort of artistic training (6th grade?). Painted a few canvases for our kitchen when I got home. I'm a fan of how they turned out...



One project down (I think... still can't decide if I'm done yet) and so many marinating in my little brain I almost don't even know how I'll paint anything else. I'm afraid all the ideas will try to explode onto the canvas at one time. I spent a significant amount of time staring at my acrylics and just pondering all the pictures that are sitting in those little colorful tubes... waiting for an artist to take the time to draw them out. There's a lot of potential in that little tube. I love to just think about the paint surrendering to the artist. When a piece is done, you don't see the original paint at all, but it wraps itself around the artists idea and brings it to life. Ahh... creative potential.

Anyway, another adventure I'm beginning is {cake} decorating. This is ironic for many reasons: (1) I'm not a fan of cake. I was the girl who had birthday brownies, birthday cookies, birthday ice cream cones... but not birthday cakes. I don't even like pancakes. I especially don't like frosting. But as of yet, they don't offer {steak} decorating. If you hear of a class being offered, let me know. I'm there. (2) I've often failed at cake baking. I love to cook, but bake? Not my forte. (I'm trying though, and improving slowly). Until further notice, however, Betty Crocker has agreed to help me out and she's packaging one of her secret recipes in these little boxes for me at Target. Many thanks to Betty.

I do, however, love cake {decorating}. There's the key. (1) Cakes mean celebration. Birthdays, weddings, babies, holidays, "just because I love you" days... and I definitely love all of those. (2) For some reason in our culture, cakes have become a reflection of who you are. When it's your special day, the cake is all about you. I love to roll up my sleeves and spend my creative energy on making people excited about who God has created them to be. (3) Cakes are colorful. I. Love. Color.

My dear friend Becky gave me the kit for the first class to get me headed in the right direction. Like any rebellious student would, I opened it before class began and experimented on my own. Here's the cake I came up with for my little sister's 20th "Happy Bloomin' Birthday". I now know after only 2 hours of class all the things I did wrong when I made it, but it still makes me smile.




What a cutie. Happy birthday lady! Welcome to the twenties.

2 comments:

  1. okay, so i double love painting on canvas. i was addicted to his hobby last fall. loving the tree. :)

    MacKenzie
    http://mackenzielorene1.blogspot.com/

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  2. ok, seriously. LOVE the tree paintings!! also, you can decorate me a cake any time you want. i would way rather eat a cake than decorate one. :)

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