BEE-licious!

This lemon honey bee cake was my sweet offering at our family Easter party. The cake recipe is Ina Garten's, or the Barefoot Contessa's,  Lemon pound cake recipe. I put my own little little twist on it by baking it in a honey beehive pan (doesn't everyone have one?), then adding a judicious drizzle of honey to the final top glaze. It was BEE-licious.

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Lemon thyme cake

Here is the same Lemon pound cake recipe, 

except I also added in some fresh lemon thyme, 

and garnished with candied lemon slices and lemon balm leaves.

The fox + the bumblebee

I made this little fox paintings today. She's quite obviously a drifter and a dreamer, just like me. I always take a big gulp before making a dark background on a painting, as I did for my pig portrait (see at end of this post), but I wanted the little bumblebee to show up well. I will tweak the background more in a day or so when he oils dry a bit. Here is the progression of the painting, from a rough sketch to a framed piece. 

detail

the painting in progress

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Miss Porchetta

Color Inspiration—Seaweed 2

[partial bits from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's] 

Seaweed

When descends on the Atlantic 

The gigantic 

Storm-wind of the equinox, 

Landward in his wrath he scourges 

The toiling surges, 

Laden with seaweed from the rocks

From Bermuda's reefs; from edges 

Of sunken ledges, 

In some far-off, bright Azore; 

From Bahama, and the dashing, 

Silver-flashing 

Surges of San Salvador; 

From the tumbling surf, that buries...

Ever drifting, drifting, drifting 

On the shifting 

Currents of the restless main; 

Till in sheltered coves, and reaches 

Of sandy beaches, 

All have found repose again. 

You may also like: Seaweed 1

To see more colors, click on the red "color inspiration" label below.

Color Inspiration—Delacroix's Lion Hunt

March—in like a lion... 

This is a detail of Eugène Delacroix's, Lion Hunt. Just look at the sumptuous colors that he used in this painting, created in 1861. I am in awe of the colors and brushwork, and energy, not to mention the dramatic lion scene. The subject of felines in the wild was one that really interested Delacroix. I've seen this painting at the Art Institute of Chicago—it's quite spectacular.

To see more colors, click on the red "color inspiration" label below.