Well, this one took a long while to complete, and was much more challenging than I anticipated. I approached it by doing a quick sketch with charcoal, then taped off the background entirely. I have only done this a few times in the past, but I find the colors of the background in this piece almost as interesting as the foreground, and I wanted to remain focused on the details of the image. It also adds an element of surprise for me when I peel off the tape, and see how the image relates to its surroundings. Although I thought the cupcake paper would present more of a challenge than the cupcake itself, in the end it was the opposite. The pink portion was done in many layers with drying time in between, and then subsequent sanding. I purposely left some of the scuffing from the sand paper to add texture and dimension. Thanks to my friend Lori Workizer for the fantastic reference photo, which she took one afternoon while we visited a local cupcake shop, where they bake mini cupcakes daily. We sampled a few and took a few more home. 12" x 12" Oil on artist's wood panel $300
"The Ballerina II" by Torrie Smiley - 
I know it's not the focus of this photo, but the apron I'm wearing was signed by the entire kindergarten class I team taught back in 1983 when my daughter Amy was just starting school. Her signature is on there as well, so I love to wear it when I paint.
