Artist Anika's World - Blog of Crafty Art World

Drawing Day Again

Posted On 05-27-2009 , 5:45 PM

I can’t believe it’s been a year already! June 6, 2009 – Drawing Day. Mark it on your calendars, email it to friends, blog about it, just get it out there!

June 6th of last year was the first international Drawing Day and now it’s coming again. This is day dedicated specifically to art and I ask, beg, that you participate. The ultimate goal of this day is to get 1 million people world wide drawing on the same day. It’s not just for artists, either. The drawings can be done by adults or children, men or women.

The rules are as followed:

1) pick up a pencil
2) draw something
3) put it online

That’s it. Simple.

Why’s it so important to me? Well, that’s easy. It’s a complete day dedicated to my favorite action. Who wouldn’t love that?

But it goes deeper than that. For years now, we’ve been hearing about schools pulling money from their art programs. As a society, we’ve been putting less and less emphasis on sharing art with the next generation of artists. But now we have a day specifically dedicated to that exact thing and I, for one, am not going to waste it.

So, if you are looking for more information, visit DrawingDay.org. If you are already convinced, then do something about it. You don’t have to buy anything or donate money…just take the day and draw something, then post it where others can find it.

Don’t be ashamed if you think you can’t draw, either. Honestly, those artists among us will be honored for your participation and promise not to judge. Scout’s honor…or, even better: artist’s honor.

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P.S. You can also follow DrawingDay.org on Twitter!

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Cake Testing

Posted On 05-17-2009 , 8:05 PM

This isn't exactly an art project...but it is my latest project anyway and inquiring minds want to know about it.

Those of you who follow me on Twitter already know that in a few weeks I am making the wedding cake for a couple of my friends. This weekend was my test run. It has been years since I quit my job in the bakery where I learned to decorate cakes and I honestly have not done much baking since. I am clearly out of practice.

The cake I am planning is a chocolate cake with chocolate & white frosting, all done up gothic style (you'll see pics when I make it). My test cake was a white/chocolate swirl cake with chocolate pudding filling and chocolate icing. The decorations that I used on the test and the cake itself are nothing like what I plan for the wedding; they were just a way to get back into the habit of baking and icing decorations. Here is my finished piece:

Now before you submit this to Cake Wrecks, remember that it was only a test! A test that I learned quite a lot from. For example:

It is drastically different to bake a cake in your own oven at home than to bake one in a fully stocked, specifically-built-for-this-purpose bakery.
- I don't have near as much counter room as I need and was forced to use the top of my washer and dryer for additional space.
- Not to mention how difficult it is to keep one's fiancé from sticking his fingers into the bowl!
I also discovered that it is much more difficult to mix your own colors than to use the pre-mixed buckets of colors lining the back of a bakery wall....and never try to mix colors in a ceramic bowl.
- My bowl (not to mention my hands) will be pinkish-purple for the foreseeable future.

My most important discovery, however, was that whipped icing really won't work for cake decorating (something I should have known, but come on, can you remember the details of a job years after you've left it?). The whipped icing won't smooth correctly when icing the cake and won't hold its shape when trying to create roses, pearl chains, and other decorations. Hence the blob that are my roses *sigh.*

I've forgotten a lot since I left the bakery, obviously, and am very grateful to have done this practice run. I imagine everyone at work will be equally grateful, as I am bringing it in tomorrow in the hopes that someone will eat the thing.

Let's see: the wedding is at 5 o'clock on a Saturday. This test, which was a two tier cake vs. the three tier cake I will make for the wedding, took nearly 5 hours. I'm going to have to get up at about 6 in the morning to make the cake the day of the wedding. YIKES! Wouldn't take so long if I could bake it all at once, but each tier of the cake is two layers thick (making a total of 6 layers for the wedding) and I only have 2 cake pans.

Plus I was asked to make a special, no-icing cake for the bride, who hates icing. Hmmm...maybe I'll start baking the Friday before the wedding and just do the icing on the day of. Can't do it all before-hand, as a three tier cake won't fit in my fridge.

I want a bigger kitchen!

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