Welcome to Margie Guyot's updated blogsite! I do plein air landscapes plus studio paintings of still lifes in oil. You may still visit my older blog (greatlittleoilpaintings.blogspot.com) to see everything painted prior to 2010.
I could feel my arteries slamming shut as I painted this -- super-rich! Definitely NOT on my diet! After I painted these two, I packed them up again and took to sax quartet rehearsal. We always have refreshments after our practice. It's a good way to get rid of diet no-no's.And yes, I did eat a piece of this one.
"Hint of Mint #4" -- oil on canvas 6x6" -- Margie Guyot
"Hint of Mint #5" -- oil on canvas 6x6" -- Margie Guyot
"Hint of Mint #6" -- oil on canvas 6x6" -- Margie Guyot
"Hint of Mint #7" -- oil on canvas 6x6" -- Margie Guyot
When I'd realized I'd sold the first 3 versions of "Hint of Mint", I realized uh-oh: I needed to paint more for some upcoming shows! So I made a mad dash to Traverse City, home of Simplycupcakes. The weather's been typically lousy (dark, gloomy, spitting snow), and given the choice between doing housework and painting -- well, there's no contest!
This is such a beautiful-looking cupcake to paint! From Simplycupcakes, in Traverse City, Michigan. It's made of strawberry cake, topped with chocolate ganache, strawberry buttercream and a slice of a fresh strawberry. I'd painted a couple of this one the day before and removed the strawberry at the end of the session. Fed it to Henny Penny, the studio chicken. These cupcakes hold up remarkably well, but I knew the strawberry slice would turn it funky in a hurry.
People ask why I'm painting multiple versions of cupcakes. Well, I've got 5 shows this year and I need cupcakes in just about every one of them. It's kind of a fun break, painting small canvases. I've done so many large still life paintings, it's kind of a lark to work differently. Each time I finish a canvas, I turn the cupcake a little to see a completely different view. It's not like I'm copying the same finished painting. THAT would be way too boring.
Len Mayhew, owner and baker at Simplycupcakes, made this gorgeous cupcake this morning. Yes, that's a slice of fresh strawberry on the top. Couldn't dilly-dally -- had to paint these as soon as I got home. It's made from strawberry cake (!), with chocolate ganache, strawberry buttercream, fresh strawberry slice and sprinkles of some kind of sugar (little white balls). It smells wonderful!
It was a typically cloudy, dreary day. By 4 PM I had to quit painting -- it was just too dark to see what I was doing. Since I plan on doing more paintings from this one, I removed the strawberry slice and gave it to Henny Penny, my studio chicken. Packed the cupcake safely away (so the studio kitties won't lick it). I've always got strawberries in the fridge, so I can easily cut a replacement.
Earlier I'd done the "non-choclate" version of this cupcake. That one has pink frosting and yellow cake. Simplycupcakes came up with a new version, with chocolate cake, cherry filling, white chocolate buttercream, a cherry-covered chocolate on top, sprinkled with shaved chocolate. Whew!
I think this is a very pretty cupcake. Almost reminds me of a tuxedo. I really enjoyed painting it!
Whew! I'd been running behind on my posts! Trying to catch up this morning. All these cupcakes come from Simplycupcakes in Traverse City, Michigan. They're no ordinary cupcakes. Len Mayhew makes them from scratch every morning, in small batches. The Lemon Love cupcakes have lemon curd filling and are topped with fresh lemon zest. The Triple Cocolates have chocolate buttercream, chocolate ganache, etc. They all smell wonderful!
I'm finding it interesting to zero in on each cupcake, examining it from different angles, rather like an astronaut approaching a new planet. Hmmmm.... what does it look like over here?
The most challenging part of painting these is the frosting patterns. All the twists & turns! So easy to go into a panic. Painting these has been good for me. I'm looking forward to starting a series of small flower paintings. I figure if I can paint frosting swirls, then I sure as heck will be able to handle rose petals!
"Hint of Mint #1" -- oil on canvas 6x6" -- Margie Guyot
"Hint of Mint #2" -- oil on canvas 6x6" -- Margie Guyot
"Hint of Mint #3" -- oil on canvas 6x6" -- Margie Guyot
However garish the green frosting might seem to some of you purists, as an artist, I enjoyed painting these. A new color is a treat. For 30 years I worked on the assembly line at Ford Motor Company. Our plant made Lincoln Town Cars. I always paid attention to the car colors. I had my favorites. At the beginning of every model year, I had hopes for new, exciting colors. But they were Lincolns: very sedate colors -- grays, browns, black, navy. One year they had 3 shades of white! Oh, boo-hoo! How I longed for turquoise! So you can see how much I'm enjoying this green frosting.
Hint of Mint is another wonderful creation from Simplycupcakes, a gourmet bakery in Traverse City, Michigan, that specializes in nothing but cupcakes. This one is chocolate cake with mint buttercream frosting, topped with an Andes Mint. The smell --- oooh la la!
I'm trying to do at least 3 paintings from each cupcake. Each one I try to do slightly differently, turning it at a different angle, exploring the many "moods". I especially enjoy looking straight down at it (#2 here). It looks almost like a miniature galaxy. Gives the viewer the impression that he/she is about to fall face-first into it. Whatta way to go, eh?
One of my artist friends came over today to spend the day visiting and sharing my studio. She decided to paint a purple hyacinth and I worked on this very tempting chocolate cupcake. It's another creation from Simplycupcakes in Traverse City, Michigan. Their website describes it as:
Mocha : Dark chocolate cake topped with mocha flavored buttercream and finished with a chocolate covered espresso bean.
After I finished painting this, we decided it was time for a lunch break. My friend had brought homemade soup. Once we had 2 bowls full, we declared it dessert time -- and of course you can guess what we had! Split in half, I figured it wouldn't kill me, calorie-wise. And goodness sakes -- it was delicious! We also had 2 glasses of champagne with it. Ha ha!
I'd just finished "Owl" and it was only 1 PM. No snow yet. Big snowstorm expected tonight, dumping up to 10" by tomorrow afternoon. It was the perfect window of opportunity to zip down to Traverse City, to SimplyCupcakes and get a few new varieties to paint. It's about a 45 minute drive for me, so I was very happy when they gave me 4 today. It will keep me occupied while snowbound!
Here's the description from their website (www.simplycupcakestc.com):
Cherry Royale : A sour cream cake filled with our homemade tart cherry filling made with local cherries (Friske Orchards) with a thin layer of white chocolate ganache and a generous portion of cherry buttercream and topped with an Imperial red chocolate covered cherry from Cherry Republic!
I imagine it's delicious. It won't be, by the time I'm finished painting it 3 or 4 times. There are several galleries that I want to place these cupcake paintings in, so I may as well do several paintings from each cupcake. The chickens will get them when I'm finished. Trying to watch my waistline, so I can't pig-out on sweets like I did when I was a kid.
Many thanks to SimplyCupcakesTC for generously providing me with cupcakes!
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