Lemon Meringue Pies

 "Lemon Meringue #1" -- oil on canvas 6x6" -- Margie Guyot

  "Lemon Meringue #2" -- oil on canvas 6x6" -- Margie Guyot

  "Lemon Meringue #3" -- oil on canvas 6x6" -- Margie Guyot

  "Lemon Meringue #4" -- oil on canvas 6x6" -- Margie Guyot

 "Lemon Meringue #5" -- oil on canvas 6x6" -- Margie Guyot

Lemon meringue pies are SO much fun to paint!  But the ones I've seen in the grocery stores around here look so nasty.  I baked this one a couple days ago.  Alas, I think lemon pie wants to be eaten the same day it is made: it deteriorates so quickly!  In reality, this slice of pie looked nothing like my paintings.  At two days old, the meringue was shrinking and the crust was soggy and falling apart.  Had to use my artistic license to "pretty it up" a little.

The first painting I did showed the slice on a green Depression glass plate.  I kind of liked the colors, but thought I probably should do the rest on a plain, white background.  

I enjoy painting one view (and I always use a little viewfinder at the start), then turning it slightly for the next painting.  One thing I found rather amazing was how intensely yellow-orange the lemon filling was in spots on the shadow side.  And the meringue was quite dark when in shadow.  I just have such a blast, painting lemon pie!  Thinking of doing a few more.  

And what about eating it?  I doubt it.  It really is quite a pitiful, soggy mess!  This might be something the chickens will savor.

Lemon Love and Triple Chocolate

 "Lemon Love #1" -- oil on canvas 6x6" -- Margie Guyot

 "Lemon Love #2" -- oil on canvas 6x6" -- Margie Guyot

 "Lemon Love #3" -- oil on canvas 6x6" -- Margie Guyot

 "Triple Chocolate" -- oil on canvas 6x6" -- Margie Guyot

 "Triple Chocolate #3" -- oil on canvas 6x6" -- Margie Guyot

"Triple Chocolate #4" -- oil on canvas 6x6" -- Margie Guyot

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!

"Pitcher and Lemons"

"Pitcher and Lemons" -- oil on canvas 12x12" -- Margie Guyot

This water pitcher is such a challenge to paint!  But I love the colors and designs, so I'll keep painting it.  So far I've used it in 2 or 3 other larger paintings.  I wanted to do some smaller paintings, "companion pieces" to go along with some of my larger still life paintings.  I'm using elements from the larger paintings in these smaller works, so stay tuned for more!