What is it about fonts that is so fascinating? I’m no expert, but I often stare at store signs, letterheads, website banners, street signs and product labels for a long time, guessing the name of the font and wondering why it was chosen. I usually don’t guess correctly, but I can see why some fonts are effective at conveying a certain character or message.

Last year I made some monogram/letter cookies after re-reading Jane Eyre, and I had so much fun with those, I flipped them into paintings. Do you remember my  “E” and “J” paintings for the Bronte-Along? Ever since, I’ve been meaning to make an entire alphabet set. Finally, I did it! A shot of my finished set is at the bottom of this post. Yeah, I’m giving you something to look forward to.

These letter paintings measure 2.5 x 3 ins or 3 x 3 ins. They’re pretty easy to make, so if you’re interested in making your own, here’s a short little tute.

Materials:

• Small canvases, 2.5 x 3 ins or slightly larger. I bought mine in packs of 5 at my local art supply store.
• Contact paper.
• Black Sharpie marker.
• Craft scissors.
• Acrylic paints and brushes.

Directions:

1. Print out the alphabet on plain white paper. Before you hit print, make sure that your letter is sized so that it fits into the frame of the canvases you’re using. Since I used a different font for each letter, I first typed the letter, highlighted it, tried out different fonts, and once I picked a font, made sure that it fit within a 2.5 x 3-inch or 3 x 3-inch frame. The easiest way to measure size is to make the rulers in your word processing document visible.

2. Cut your contact paper into squares, about 4 x 4 inches. Place one square over one letter at a time.

3. Trace the letter onto the contact paper with your black sharpie pen.

4. Cut the letter shape out. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect. Craft scissors with a nice pointed end are a great help in this process. Peel the contact paper away from its adhesive backing. This can be a bit challenging but eventually the contact paper and the backing will separate. Place your contact paper letter onto the canvas. You can reposition it as much as you want. Once it’s where you want it within the frame, run your fingernail over the letter a few times to make sure it really sticks in place.

5.  Start mixing your paint colors and paint over the letter. You’ll want to be a bit careful when the brush touches the letter. Try not to get paint under it.

6. Let the paint dry for at least two hours. I usually left the paintings to dry overnight.

8. Peel the letter away. You’ll get this nice white area. (sorry, I forgot to photograph the “T” I was working on. These are other canvases right after I peeled the traced-out contact letters away).

9. Paint in the letter area. I tried to use contrasting colors for each painting to make the letters pop out. If you’re not sure what kind of colors go well together, use a color wheel. I use one all of the time, for both painting and cookie decorating.

And you’re done!

Does this cat look familiar at all? His name is Master P. and I originally introduced him in this post and this post. Where he unabashedly expressed his disappointment at the way I portrayed him. Okay, I did make him look a tad silly. But come on! They were cookies. This is a painting. I think he looks a tad more dignified, don’t you?

I’m recreating many of my cookie designs as paintings. This one, still untitled, measures 2 x 2 inches. The model for this portrait is a friend’s Sphynx cat who lives in Boston. I mean, the cat and his owner live in Boston. Paintings and reproductions will soon be available in a little shop here. More on that later…

One of the projects I’ve been working on this year has been creating paintings from my cookie designs. I’m so new to painting and because I keep mucking things up, despite helpful and encouraging wisdom from artists like Rhonda and Lily, I don’t show my works here that often. I know one thing for certain: every time I paint, my respect for painters deepens.

Remember this fella? Captain Cat said when she first saw him that he resembled the previous U.S. President. We then had a good laugh over chomping his head off. (I later suggested that our current president take my Obama flag cookie and hand it out to Republicans whenever he hosts them at the White House and let them, literally, bite his head off).

In the painting, his face didn’t come out quite the way I had envisioned. Maybe I’ll attempt him again. I also wanted the fish in the background to be more vibrant. It turns out I was using a soft paint and no matter how many times I painted those fish, they just wouldn’t pop out the way I wanted. Oh well. Next time.

And here’s the (in)famous Jane Austen teapot cookie as a painting. The teapot cookie is in the banner. Ahem. I’ve often wondered why this cookie became so popular. Is it the way my husband photographed me holding it? Is it that so many people love Jane Austen? Is it because Ms. Austen’s silhouette is such a familiar image? In the end, it doesn’t matter. When I create something that people like, that makes me happy. And when people don’t like what I’ve made, that’s fine too. One friend told me she hated this painting. “Your work is so whimsical,” she explained. “This just feels, I don’t know, so serious.” Criticism can sting, but when the critic inserts a valid point, it stings less. Constructive criticism is always helpful, it makes me want to improve. And when it comes from a good friend, it’s a sign that the friendship rests on a solid, respectful foundation.

Remember this guy?

Although I spent most of the year-end holidays trying to get more sleep (and coming to terms with the fact that, omg, I really am a parent now), I did manage to do some fun, creative things during my few conscious moments. You may recall the first time I tried to transform my beloved bulldog into a print; it didn’t really work. Wolf told me that my cookies have a very physical character to them, and that if I were serious about transforming them into more permanent formats, painting would be better. For once, I agree with my dear husband. And as you know, I’ve painted a few other cookie designs such as my Dachshund and my baby German Shepherd. Which, by the way, are now available in my Etsy store as limited edition giclee print repdroductions!

So here’s Mr. Bulldog in a painting. And soon, he’ll be in greeting card format, just in time for Valentine’s Day!

Finally, I finished the Blue Dachshund painting. I followed the original cookie design pretty closely, although in this version, the doggie is a bit chubbier. Or as I like to think, healthier.

I have one more cookie I’d like to transform into a painting, either the Cool Dude or the Bulldog.

Suggestions are welcome!

Normally I paint outside because I prefer working in natural light, but it has been so hot here in southern California that I decided to bring everything inside. The Santa Ana winds, seasonal winds that blow from the east to the west, have been moving through town and it is hot, hot, hot here. I doubt I would be exaggerating if I suggested I could cook dinner on the pavement. It is that hot. Oy.

The next painting is of my beloved blue Dachshund. I love that little doggie, though my husband doesn’t like little dogs, and said that if I ever brought a Dachshund home, he might have it for lunch if he couldn’t find anything in the pantry. Of course he wouldn’t eat a dog, but he is Norwegian, which means he’s a barbarian genetically. Anyway. When I first created Mr. Blue Dachshund in a cookie, he marked a huge turning point in my work. Bored and often frustrated with pre-cut cookie cutter shapes, I decided to take a different approach with him, so I outlined his shape onto a piece of plastic and cut my own stencil from that. I used that stencil on a few cookies and practiced drawing his features on top of the base layer of icing. The first few attempts were dreadful, and that’s when I learned to first try new designs on wax paper. (the trial cookies didn’t go to waste; my husband ate the no-good ones…)

I hope to finish this one in the next day or so. In the meantime, I’m enjoying being inside, grateful for air-conditioning, and that Nunuk, who is at least 20 times larger than your average Dachshund, likes to lie at my feet while I work. Occasionally when I pause and look at him, so calm, so sleepy on the floor next to me, I think, I have a good life. I do.

I’ll be back with the final version soon. Cheers.

Remember this guy? I jokingly call him “Top Dawg.” About two years ago, someone sent me a photo of a baby German Shepherd, one of my favorite breeds, and I couldn’t resist transforming him into a cookie design.

As I mentioned previously, my baking activities are slowing down. That doesn’t mean the cookies are far from my thoughts. Au contraire, my friends. I’ve been pondering how to transfer my designs to more permanent formats for quite some time, and earlier this year I tried my hand at creating replicas through programs such as Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Though the results were okay, okay didn’t cut it for me. Something was missing.

“Maybe you should try your hand at painting,” my usually stoic Norwegian husband suggested. “The thing about your designs is that they are very physical. So if you want to recreate them in some other way, I think you need to do that in an equally physical format.”

Had I been in a cartoon strip, I’m sure you would have seen question marks appear above my head. Painting? An equally physically way? I was confused, mostly because I couldn’t visualize what Wolf was suggesting. And I’m most definintely not a painter. But Wolf often has interesting observations and suggestions. Eventually, I found myself at the art supplies store looking for painting supplies. After showing some photos of my cookies to some art students who work at the store, I came home with a few tiny canvases, a bucket full of acrylic paints and brushes and the students’ advice to practice on scrap paper first. It took a few piles of paper to get the hang of using brushes and controlling the amount of paint I used. Painting IS different from piping icing on cookies. In just the past few days, my respect for real painters has grown exponentially.

Well, here’s my first attempt. Let me know what you think.

“Top Dawg,” by mari pfeiffer. Acrylic on canvas, 8 x 10 ins.

]]> http://www.mischiefmaricookies.com/blog/cookie-becomes-a-painting/feed/ 9