New painting: Gajrewali(girl with flower garland)

Hello from Hong Kong!!!  We have finally moved here..With my 4 month old it was a milestone just to move the furniture and take the flight. We are yet to find a apartment, arrange the furniture, make friends, get to know the city etc etc...hmmm long way to go!! 

Anyway today I am sharing with you the finished version of the girl with flower garland(Gajrewali).

Just like the earlier lady with a parrot painting I painted this one with acrylics, watercolors,gel pen and porcelain colors..

My little one is attempting to roll over.. Loves to look at my paintings.. I am thinking of making some for his nursery/room!!

Available here!!

Happy Birthday

Today I am sharing with you one of the pending art work post..You will recognize when this picture was taken from the slice of cake..heehhee..I know:)  Honestly this painting is not a recent one..I finished it a year ago ..but don't know why and how it got left over..I think that time I was into table decor and didn't post about my artwork so much..Now with my little baby and the move I find painting much easier than cooking and table decor..

You know my love for baking and cakes..This painting is the outcome of that..The idea came to me when we were living in Zurich,CH ..One early morning I was standing at the Paradeplaz to catch a tram ..there is a famous Sprüngli shop right in front where all their employees where getting the shop ready to open .. I saw one petite women carrying a lovely cake in this pose... I really wished I had her job and I would love to decorate cakes for a living..Sigh..

The painting is in acrylics... Though I painted the lady 2 years back but I did the background and touch-ups for the cake a year back..I painted her eyes in different style then compared to how I paint today..It is always fun to see older paintings..You notice the change in style!!

 For the roses on the cake I had checked out some 'how -to' videos on the You tube!!

I am busy packing and sorting my things as we move in 2 weeks time..!!

Available here!!

How to make baby face cupcakes

So finally I have got enough time to write a tutorial and tips for the baby face cupcakes I made for my baby's introduction party which you saw here!! So here are the steps..

You will need:

Chocolate cupcakes

Butter cream icing

Fondant or marzipan

Round  cookie cutter

Rolling pin and board

Edible black color pen

Food colors. I used blue as mine is a boy.

Spoon, carving knife.

Preparing cupcakes:  
Bake cupcakes. I baked 25 chocolate cupcakes. Let them cool. 

Preparation of the baby face base:
You can use either fondant or marzipan..both can give smooth finish and will not melt in hot weather like in Singapore..I used marzipan..I bought ready made marzipan. It was in natural color. So first I separated 3 parts of natural color for face and 1 part for cap and pacifiers.Put a few drops of blue food color in part for cap and pacifiers and knead the marzipan well for the color to distribute equally. I made 25 equal portions of marzipan.

Preparing the base: 
I soaked the cupcakes with strawberry jam. Then covered them with a thin layer of butter cream icing.

How to make the Baby face: 

1)Roll out one natural colored marzipan. Cut it round with a cookie cutter. Put it on the cupcake and press gently. 

2)Then roll out a blue colored marzipan and cut it in round. Then cut it in half. Press it gently on the top portion of the cupcake. 

3)With a knife make design on the cap base. Make a smaller ball and fix it on the top of the cap.

4)Make a 5 small balls and fix them in the place of eyes,nose and ears.

5) If you have edible pen then with it make dots for eyes. 

6) For lips I used a spoon. 

7) For pacifier I fixed a small blue marzipan ball on a slightly bigger ball and flattened them gently.

It took me something like 3- 3.5  hours to finish 25 cupcakes while my sweet baby slept. He was then 12 weeks and that was the longest he has slept between feeds in the morning. Just after I finished the last one he woke up. I almost felt like he knew what Mommy is doing and didn't want to disturb me;)

 Ok time for some tips: 

1) While kneading the marzipan with the food color if you are not wearing gloves and your hands get colored, the best way to remove food color from hands is by washing hands with shaving cream. It really works!!



2) If you don't have edible color pen then cut the tip of the toothpick and dip the flat tip in blue food color and make dots for eyes.

3) Do not add more than a few drops of food color in the marzipan as it makes it a little bitter.

WIP: Girl with flower garland

  Working on a sketch I did last year..You can see it here.. It was in a small sketch book.. I enlarged it. So far I have only finished her hair..hoping to finish her before we move to HK..will share whenever it is done:) You can see the finished version of this painting here:)

Spring doodle and some news...

I have been staying awake late these days..no not because of the baby..he is very sweet and sleeps at night and gets up only for his feeding in between..I am burning the midnight oil because we are relocating to yet another country!! I admit I love travelling and living in different countries and experiencing their cultures and learning something new every time..I started this blog when I was in Switerland..now in Singpore and end of this month we move to Hong Kong!!

But I must say that after I became a mother 3 months back, my nesting instincts have kicked in big time.. I dream of setting down in one place..making some permanant structural changes to the house (which I cannot do in a rented place) like changing the tiles, knocking off or building a wall in a room, have a false ceiling, wardrobes of my choice etc etc...Sigh I will dream on till little A starts going to mid school!

Doodling at mid night...It relieves me of stress..I will share with you some of the work finished and some in progress in next post!!