16" x 20" acrylic on canvas
Currently showing at Ice House Gallery, Bakersfield, Ca

Holy Cow for sure!  This was the last painting for the 2010 Art of Cooking Calendar - which went to press last week.  Woo hoo!!!  If you're my friend on Facebook, you've already seen this.  So - excuse me for repeating. I'm just so thrilled to have the last painting done - and this one turned out really cute - if I say so myself.  But let me share with you that getting the idea was a HUGE challenge!  Not sure why, but I had a total mental block on what to paint for this recipe - Grilled Steaks with Bleu Cheese and Chilis.  Maybe I was just brain-dead from painting 12 other calendar paintings (we have a recipe for Jan 2011 too.)  Maybe I was just clue-less.  Maybe . . . .  who knows???  I did one painting that I thought would work,  but both my husband and my calendar partner - Holly Bikakis - didn't think it went  with the recipe.  So I pouted a little ("poor me" - thought I was done) and put my "brain" aside for a while, and then thought some more.  Finally I decided to have fun with this one!  I re-read the email from Cathi Guerrero who submitted this recipe to go with a Graveyard Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon.  As she said about her recipe -   "It’s very California… what with the grilling, the cheese from our happy cows and jalapenos from our fields."  Well how cute is that!  So I came up with a happy and colorful little cow in a vineyard with chilis all around!!   This painting truly does reflect the recipe.  And I'm done painting for the calendar!!!  Life is good! 

This creative struggle reminded me of something K.D. Lang said on a tv interview at her studio.  She said something like - here's my recording studio where I go in and compose a few songs, then I have lunch over here and then take a nap - then go back and punch out a few more songs . . . .  Like - uh - nothing to it.  You gotta get those ideas!!!  Of course that's one of the many challenging and fun parts of being a painter.  And I do feel a sense of "got it!"   Finally . . . .

Okay - if you're NOT my friend on Facebook - why not???  If you're not afraid of Facebook and want to by my friend, you can join me here:  http://www.facebook.com/claudia.true  It's an amazing way to keep in touch with lots of folks.

Let me share something else with you:  it's an amazingly beautiful Fall day here in Kansas!!!  I hope you're having a beautiful day, too!  And that you enjoy this fun little painting!!