"Toasted Marshmallow"

Oil on museum quality, archival ampersand gessobord™ panel - 5” x 5”

Experience has taught me that two weeks away from the easel requires a slow progression back. Too often have I set myself up for a creative crisis by starting in on a complex new piece without warming up.  You wouldn't start a marathon without limbering up; the creative process requires no less. 

 

While camping on Long Key last week, I met a gifted pastry chef named Kelsey who had the site next to ours. My riding buddy Hugh, a.k.a. the "Beast," and I had a large bottle of Tanqueray Rangpur Gin and some Rose's lime juice and she had homemade marshmallows and a roaring campfire.  It was a match made in heaven.  I should mention it was cold, cold, cold.  Temperatures in the low 50's was not what I was expecting in the Florida Keys but with the help of a few Gimlets and the campfire we didn't feel the chill.  You can never go back to Stay-Pufts once you've had Kelsey's.  She was kind enough to leave us a whole bag of them when she broke camp the next day.  This painting features one of her creations freshly charred by the fire and seconds before being happily devoured by me.