I inherited a bunch of old rolling pins when Bev passed last year. Nobody wanted them....so I took them. I was going to give one to each of my kids, that would leave 2 for me. That's 5 rolling pins Bev kept....she was a bit worse of a hoarder than me. One of the pins was from Germany, and was worth a little bit of money on eBay. She likely got that one when her (then) husband Jack was in the Army and she was pregnant and flew over and lived there, delivered a baby there (Dave), and by her own admission ate a ton of sauerkraut there. She claims the reason Dave is so smart is because of her German diet. I couldn't give these pins away, my kids wouldn't want them, would they? I decided they would make an interesting display on the wall, line them all up. I toyed with how to do this for several months. Then one day I was set up at the Farmer's Market, and the man across the way from me who makes bird houses had some new projects set up for sale. It was a board that you hang on the wall and railroad spikes were placed in such a way that you could store your wine glasses (upside down) between the spikes. For hours I gazed at it, then in an instant I knew that those railroad spikes could also hold rolling pins. He agreed to make my display board...Dave was summoned to bring the 5 rolling pins so the woodworker could have them for measurement purposes. His daughter suggested some open space at the top of the board for some "balance". I agreed, with the thought I would paint something at the top of the board. So, for months now the board and the pins have been displayed in my kitchen. But nothing has been painted in the open spot at the top. I didn't actually like the idea of painting directly on that board, so instead I thought I'd hang a painting in that open spot....so I could swap it in and out of that spot on a whim. For a while I thought I should paint a sign that said "The cook is armed! Use caution if criticizing the meal!" Or something to that effect. But no, that might not seem as funny to others as it did to me. It needed to be a pie. And it need to be long but not tall, because of the open space dimensions.
Today I ended the procrastination on this project. I had previously done a search of "pie paintings" to see if it might work. There is NOT a lot out there! I found two, one with potential. I shamelessly copied the still life, but free-hand (so it would fit on my 4x12 inch canvas). And I altered a few details here and there. It's been some time since I attempted anything this complex and I felt it best to jump in with both feet. After a simple sketch on the pre-painted (red) canvas, the first thing I painted was the rolling pin, I liked it. Then the pie edges, because I feared they would not look like the crimped edge of a pie unless I used some painstaking precision. Uggh, this pie might take all day with painstaking precision and I haven't got the time! The sketch of my pie was just an oval, I had to figure out the crimping on my own. I dabbed some dark brown, then some light brown, then some yellowing brown, then some whitish brown....and by some miracle it looked like a crimped edge. That gave me the confidence to keep going. It's not a great painting, it's kind of "primitive", but it's the effect I was looking for - the primitive wood board with the old railroad spikes and ancient rolling pins...it had to look like an old painting.
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Found this with a google image search "Pie Painting" |
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My Rolling Pin Display board |
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My 4x12 Painting |
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