Drizzle Me With Honey :Daily Art Practice
Couch Talk
Not much happened this week. My daughter was sick and that kept her home for most of the week. Aside from spending time with her, I didn’t do much else. We had a lot of wonderful snuggles and reading time and I did get some painting in while she was on the couch. I love being by myself during the week but it is great being reminded that she still needs me. I am looking forward to spending the holidays with them while they have off.
Baking
I am sure some of you have noticed that I haven’t been sharing any food pictures as of late. One reason is that I keep getting notified by WordPress that I am almost out of storage space for pictures. Mind boggling since I pay through the nose for my domain name and they want me to pay more for unlimited storage. So, I have been going back through my archives and deleting older posts. Second, I have been baking the same old things so I don’t feel the need to share those pictures since you have already seen them. From here on out I will only share new recipes that I try.
Recently, I ordered the book Layered: Baking, Building, and Styling Spectacular Cakes, through my local library. I have had SO much fun with this book since checking it out. I spent two days painting some of the cakes in this books, as the photography is gorgeous. I will share those in another post. Since we had a bunch of apples that needed to be used, I decided to try the Honey Apple Cake recipe over the weekend.
I think this apple cake would be delicious without frosting on it, maybe as muffins or bread. You can see all the chunks of diced apples through the top of the cake…YUM!
This was a 4 layer cake, a little ambitious for Saturday dessert. In between the layers is a ‘honey sour cream buttercream.’ It was made with a swiss meringue base so the texture was light, fluffy and not at all sweet. On top is a ‘oatmeal and walnut honey crumble.’ The general consensus was they liked it. My one son remarked that he enjoyed that the frosting “wasn’t too rich.”
I completed it with a drizzle of honey.
Painting Class
I am still trying to take at least one online class a week. The following classes were all free through Etchr Studio on Youtube. They have a lot of talented artists.
Sarah Van Dongen: Introduction to Illustration
I really enjoyed this class as it was my first entire painting in gouache.
Sarah Van Dongen: Gorgeous Gardens with Mixed Media
I haven’t ventured into landscape’s so this was new to me. I enjoyed the practice with gouache but definitely need more practice in order to feel comfortable with it.
Fiona Di Pinto: Painting Expressive Paintings in Portraiture
I am very interested in watercolor portraits and find it the most difficult part of watercolor. I found her approach interesting and easy to follow and was pleased with the final result. I purchased her mini workshop and am looking forward to improving my skills.
Tea Day
I am joining the T day ladies, hosted by Elizabeth and Bleubeard. My tea today was Zest Tea Energy Superberry Samba Green Tea, sent to me by Zest Tea. I really loved this flavor. The last flavor that I tried from this company, I didn’t enjoy because the bag steeped for a long period of time and the tea ended up being too concentrated. With this one, I steeped the bag for no more than 10 minutes and it turned out just right! I feel like this tea is a Goldilocks and the three bears scenario, too much or too little won’t be good. Now that I finally got the steeping time down, I think I will enjoy the rest of the flavors without having that punch of caffeine from a “too long steeping time” .
Happy Tea Day,
Kate
Your cake looks delicious. How sad to have to delete old posts. I love looking back at my blog posts on one subject or another, when I’m adding to what I have to say about a subject. I’ve always been puzzled about WordPress and how it can compete with Google’s Blogger, which is free and grants quite a lot of storage.
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Hi Kate, that’s awful about your blog-Blogger is pretty much unlimited space I think.
Your cake looks delicious, and I love your are-you always inspire me-hugs Happy T Kathy
Don’t you just love going through cookbooks and trying new recipes… I love it as much as making art! Can’t wait to see your illustrations from the book. Your desserts look yummy- especially the apple one.
Hope your daughter is feeling much better now.
Gouache does interst me but I’m not ready to try yet another new thing:) Your portrait is especially wonderful. Happy T day!
Hope your daughter is feeling better Kate. I must say your cake looks very delicious and beautiful Kate. Anything Swiss meringue butter cream has to be delicious. I have seen this book but I have never baked anything from it. I should see if I can get it from my library as it sound inspiring. I can’t wait to see your drawings of the cakes. I hope you have a wonderful T day and week ahead. Hugs-Erika
I am shocked about the Word Press debacle. As much as I badmouth blogger, it is still free. I can understand you have to pay for your web site name, but it’s too bad they limit your space.
Your cake looks yummy. SO much better than the cookies I made. And I love the paintings in gauche, which I have yet to use. These look fabulous.
Your tea sounds great. It’s good you have gotten the steeping time down. Thanks for sharing that incredible cake, your paintings, and your Superberry Samba Green Tea for T this almost Tuesday, dear Kate.
That cake!!! My mouth was watering as soon as I saw the top photo. I wouldn’t even dare to try a four-layer cake – this is awesome and it looks absolutely delicious. I also like the portrait that you painted, it has a lot of expression. Good luck with that class.
Bad with the pictures. Is data still a subject these days?
Sometimes I wish I would like sweet things – this looks great.
The portrait is wonderful. Have a happy T-Day đŸ™‚
Hi Kate, fabulous art and baking, as always. Sorry your little daughter was sick hope she has now recovered. It’ hard that your blog wants more money, that#s one good thing about Blogger, it’s free! Happy T Day, Valerie
Wonderful looking cake, Kate! I am glad you shared the pictures!!!
Your art is wonderful as always. I like that face – I may have to take that class too. Wonderful landscape and illustration! I tried a class thi weekend and hurried through it. My end result was less than stellar, but I liked it in the end. I am going to take some more as soon as I get some more time. Looking at your great creations makes me want to practice more!
So sorry your daughter was sick but glad you got in some snuggles.
Happy T-day!
The honey apple cake looks delicious Kate! I don’t think any blog options have unlimited storage anymore, not even blogger, as the storage given by google is about 15gb for everything, your email, your blogger photos etc. I’m self-hosted so I do have to watch space as well but the best thing you can do is optimise your photos to make the file sizes smaller. Domains usually cost around $12 a year so if you are paying more than that I would look at changing to another supplier. Your tea sounds delicious. Happy T Day Elle/EOTC xx
That cake! I’ve never tried to make anything like that, but it might be fun for the holiday season. Figuring out what’s best for blogging isn’t easy. It’s hard to delete old photos but better than paying extra. I use the free Blogger option and haven’t come up against a photo limit yet. I don’t share nearly as many photos as you do, though. Happy T Tuesday!
Sorry you daughter was/is ill. Hope she is better by now. What a beautiful cake.. The illustrations turned out perfectly.
I hope your little girl is feeling better. My girlies, all grown up, don’t need me any more so I got kittens. đŸ˜º Your cake looks fabulous. Your watercolor are awesome especially the portrait. Happy T Day!
I don’t think you need art lessons;; you seem so talented. I agree, nice to know your daughter still needs you. Happy T Day!
Your layered apple cake looks delicious, I haven’t baked for a while – need to get myself organised! Your painting lessons all looked interesting, hubby and I are still on catch up with Wanderlust so no time for much painting. Belated Happy T Day, Chrisx