Peacock Cake

Daniel couldn't figure out what he wanted for his birthday so only a few days to spare, he sent me a text saying he wanted a peacock cake from the Cake Boss. You know, the one from TLC. He was of course joking but he does not know me very well because I will take it as a challenge almost always! Ah Hah! So....my first attempt at cake decorating:

Luckily my boss told me about an awesome store called Country Kitchen which has practically everything for cake decorating. I found edible glitter for the center of the feathers. I got a completely plain, uniced round cake then I created the peacock body out of rice krispy treats. I frosted it all then mixed my own colors with food coloring and decorated! I wanted it all to be edible but couldn't come up with what to use for the small feathers on it's head. I asked the airhead at the cake place to help me with ideas and she replied, "Uhhhh I don't know what a peacock looks like....hahahaha". Weirdo. So Mom and I decided fancy toothpicks were the only way to go. The last photo is the finished product before lighting the candles. There was no way 24 candles were fitting on there so I just made the numbers out of them.

Yum.

Negative Space

Progress....I was thinking this was going to be a quicker process but this painting has a mind of it's own and just when I think I know what I'm doing, different things appear that make me change my mind. The thing I love most about this painting are the negative spaces. The spaces and shapes created where there are no flowers or leaves. I've been totally drawn in by these. LOVE it!

Iris

A work in progress... hoping to have it done by the July 10th deadline!

Iris update

I am in the middle of working on flower placement. It's one of the hardest parts. The background is finally done so I'm pretty pumped about that. Had to get more paint to finish that. I personally think odd numbers of things are more visually pleasing but this particular painting will have an even number of flowers. I have mixed feelings about it right now but I'm having a hard time figuring out where the last one should go so sometimes it's just better to go with what you've got and know that you will make anything work. Sorry no pictures yet. I'm not ready for that. So happy to have my apartment back together (sort of) and to work on this!

Kroger Design a Reusable Bag Contest

My entry:

Winners are based by online votes. Here's what you need to know to place a vote:

Go to: www.kroger.com/green

Near the top of the page click: Vote for a Design

On the right side of the page click: Search Bag Designs

A green box will pop up; my Bag Number is: 46019

Or you can type in Lauren M. and my design will appear. Click to VOTE!

You are allowed ONE VOTE PER DAY so PLEASE vote often!

The top 5 winners get their design put on a bag. I'm atleast hoping for that since the person with the most votes has accumulated over 1,000 votes. That has to be cheating. I just don't see how that's possible because the voting period hasn't even been that long. The most votes drop after the top two entries so I'm hoping to get in there somewhere in the top 5 with my core of faithful voters! I wish winners weren't all based on votes. This allows some pretty un-original designs to win. So let's step up for the orignal designs and vote for mine!

Iris & Ostrich

Some things I did last night:

"Mista Ostrich", marker and watercolor

You can see the watercolor line. I started out with watercolor because I thought that's how I wanted it but then I decided to just draw him. My lines were way off at first.

Iris study. Prismacolor markers are the BEST! More to come...

Mandala for Phyllis

Mandala for Phyllis - 12x12'', 2009

Last night:

"Corks" - 8'' x10'', Conte & pastel, 2010

I was telling my boyfriend last night some people feel most alive dancing or singing or being on the water or in the snow but I feel most alive when I'm drawing.

A New Year

For my birthday I purchased myself a new set of soft pastels. Here's the first two things I've tinkered around with:

"Peacock" - pastel, 7'' x 8'', $25

"Big Jake" - pastel, 8'' x 10'' - SOLD

And here's a painting not for sale. For Christmas my mother instructed me not to buy her anything. So I didn't, I just painted her something. This is our dog, Baby. She's an old woman but we still love her... the dog, that is. (Ha!)

Hope you all are having a lovely new year. I think mine promises to bring some changes... which I need badly! Please e-mail me at myerslg@verizon.net if you have any questions about my artwork.