Trying a Different medium , Painted Cookies

I have to start this by sending apologies to Maggie Austin Cake.

After taking one of her  two day workshops on classic sugar roses and

reading her book, (Maggie Austin Cake: Artistry and Technique)

 I thought the easiest thing for me to try alone 

were the painted cookies that she so elegantly designed.

 I decided to stay away from Maggie's lovely Impressionist

painted cookies. So, for my first crude designs

 and not knowing how the few colors and petal dusts I had would work 

I plunged into trying to paint trees and then a simple blossom.

 Feeling the first attempts were messy and bland .........I wanted color. 

Remembering Gene Davis' striped paintings I tried mixing bright colors. 

Using some old paste food color I had I soon discovered that 

they take forever to dry and keep coming off on my hands and clothes.

What a mess. Maggie mentioned using Vodka and paper towels help erase.

I erased a lot over the weeks I worked on these cookies.

 Continuing into thinking of simple styles by past artists I thought, 

"AHA, Jackson Pollack and his drip paintings"

The only trouble was I could not get the paint to drip

 so ended up just scribbling with layers of color.

Then remembering the pointillists....tried dots without a design in mind.

 This group of 4 cookies are designs that I let develop.

You have to let each color dry before continuing although

 I tried to watercolor with vodka and some colors ran together.

 Tried Munch's Scream a couple of times and 

ended up erasing a lot of the dark color I had layered 

that kept running together.

I had invested in two black food pens that were not 

fine tips so used a lot of black by accident.

 Just playing with colors and trying light and dark shades.

Each cookie is approximately 3 inches in diameter.

These are sugar cookies (recipe in Maggie's book)

and covered with white fondant before the painting began.

I had bought some wafer paper and tried steaming it as Maggie mentioned. 

Instead I found that painting it gave some 3D shape. 

I drew on the wafer paper, colored it and then cut it out. 

Using piping gel I glued the small images to the painted cookies.

I have a lot to learn and need a lot more equipment 

and certainly more colors and pens and time.

For now I will go back to textiles and using some thread

 and fabric, work again with a medium I know a bit more about.

But, this has been a fun adventure and who knows what else may happen.