1991

20 x 28"

In the glory days of Hewlett Packard, employees were treated to food at every 9 AM break. By the time I started there in 1985, the food had been cut back to every Friday morning – but that persisted for a several years, until a downturn gave the company the excuse to eliminate these treats altogether. St. Patrick's Day in 1991 fell on a Thursday, but either someone was in a cheerful mood or they got a deal on a lot of unsold green cupcakes... whatever the reason, we had green cupcakes that Friday morning. A moment before I bit into mine, the texture, shape, and color of the frosting got my attention, so I set it aside, drove home with it perched on the dash, photographed it, ate it, then painted it. I finished the painting seven weeks later. 

This was a really fun image to paint – the frosting was done almost entirely free-hand, a rare treat. I had an 8 mm movie camera shooting over my shoulder during the entire painting process, and have a time lapse motion picture of the creation of this painting, as a result. 

This painting appeared in the 1991 Sonoma County Fair and also in the Cultural Arts Council "Food" Exhibition in 2004. 

Original available 

Giclee prints available: image sizes are: 18 x 25 1/4" (90%) and 10 x 14" (50%)