Betty Crocker ~ Art Journal Pages

7"x10" watercolor "Betty Crocker"
Why is it when you are trying to drop a few pounds for the new year, your cookbooks fall off the shelves, screaming "try me, cook me?" I stand by my goal and painted it instead.

This is Cindy and her portrait that I painted which won a SWA award. You can read about it on my blog post HERE. Cindy is a great cat painter and one of the reasons she got her cat Clementine was to have a ready model.
Not too long ago, Cindy and I made a long car trip to Little Rock to exhibit a CBC painting and we were in the car together 10 plus hours and the conversation would always turn to food. When she was a tall, willowy New York model she wanted little to do with the cooking of food, just partaking. One week before her wedding and at age 20 Cindy had a revelation that it was soon to fall her lot to be responsible for the food that would be served in her home. At that ninth hour, her dear mother came to the rescue with a plan that each night they'd cook together a new dish for dinner, including a side dish. She got down the basics of pot roast, meat loaf, smothered steak, fried pork chops, salmon croquettes, red beans with cornbread, creamed tuna on toast, and chicken fried steak. She laughs and says for the longest time she never wavered with the side dishes that went with the main course. For instance, if she served fried pork chops always expect to see gravy, rice and LeSueur peas on the plate. Cindy relates she learned well and that first pot roast was perfect and wowed her new husband; however, she forgot the left over roast stored in the oven and about a week later they began searching for this noxious odor. These days she cooks less and spends her spare time painting Clementine.

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The year began right with painting in my journal with friends at Maryann's and then dinner with a professional friend I'd lost contact with at Fish City Grill. On Sunday a steak at Hoffbrau and then parts 1-5 of John Adams and oh, my, it was wonderful. I have learned to spell Abigail and have since corrected it in my journal. This movie has given me a renewed appreciation for our country and the sacrifices made by our founders. David McCullough has done a great service to America to bring these characters alive.
Here's the day I painted my cookbook. This is one of my favorite possessions given to me in 1957, a first edition and fifth printing. The poetry I ever remember is on page 302 "Apple pie without cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze." I loved looking at instructions to make pineapple boats, grate my own coconut, and make sure I was serving my family from the basic 7 food groups. My mother sent me off to Tarleton Junior College, now Tarleton State University, in 1956 to major in Home Economics and Betty Crocker came along just like another text book that 2nd year. More boring medical stuff and oat bran muffins for cholesterol lowering and sometimes feeling like I'm moving in slow motion so - move it.

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Cindy and I went to the Gamut Gala opening of their new Art Couture Gallery and you can read about it on the previous post and see David Fisher in the slide show. Last night, January 13, he appeared in NCIS and fortunately he wasn't killed off. David we'll be watching for you again.
On Sunday a new dish at the Macaroni Grill and parts 6 and 7 of John Adams - winner of the 2009 Golden Globe for best mini-series/tv movie. On the credit extras on the dvd, I learned that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on July 4, 50 years after signing of the Declaration of Independence. Wow. Jack is back in 24 and what a horrible drawing. I put sunglasses on him to cover him up but he still looks like a kid down the street instead of big, bad Jack.
Check out our Artist Food Network for one of Cindy's Favorite Recipes.