Friday, 29 March 2013

Chocolate Days ...


Chocolate days are finally upon us
and the house is slowly but surely filling bits and pieces of family
not actual bits and pieces... no arms and legs are arriving devoid of rest of bodies
but one by one the actual people are arriving
not to mention Easter treats and eggs
and fun table decorations which starting to transform the dining room
in a suitable chocolaty way
mind you not so much fun to paint... all that paper was a bit of a pain
and the temptation of having them on the table in the studio was all but unbearable at times


But they survived intact and are in place on the table set for the coming feasts
and family fun over the next four days
which also places them at the furthermost point from the studio
and therefore safe from my chocolate nabbing tendencies
although these little baby eggs in the reference photo I took for the painting
have already been gobbled  sacrificed themselves for the sake of this post


I came down this morning and was greeted by this wonderful sunlight
as we start to see change of seasons in sun rise times, if not in relief from the relentless heat
I love the light at this time of the year
almost as much as I love putting together Easter baskets and cards
and unlike last year we haven't got a house filled with chocolate rabbits stalking us
we have shown considerable restraint and are just snacking on the occasional mini egg
all right not so occasional but better than the rabbit scoffing of last year


So the cards are made and ready to be added to baskets
except for Phantom's who is getting a different card
she loves the cartoon Adventure Time, which I talked about in a post last year
 and I found this awesome photo
as part of the Big Egg Hunt eggsibition in London
and felt it was just perfect


So I am now off to paste it onto some card
and finish finish filling the baskets
and maybe snack on an egg

Hope you all enjoy the Easter season
and have a great time with family and friends
I will be visiting you in dribs and drabs over the next four days
as I squeeze time in between family madness ...xx

Linking up with Paint Party Friday and Sunday Sketches ...

If you missed my last post or two the links are here ...
I did a step by step of my painting process in

55 comments:

TwinkleToes2day said...

Wow Tracy, I am mega impressed with the amount of self control you displayed before, during and after the event of painting that bucket full of creamy milky goodness, mmm *drool*, nom, nom, nom. Bravo! Have a wonderful weekend and a Happy Easter to you and yours :0) Mo x

Anonymous said...

Have a wonderful Easter, enjoy the chocolate eggs! Lovely cards too!

bellefrogworks said...

I admire your restraint - only a few mini eggs doesn't count at all! Have a wonderful Easter

Unknown said...

Happy Easter, have a wonderful long weekend!

www.dorissdaughter.com said...

How wonderful, I love all your Easter themed paintings. Have a great holiday :)

Valerie-Jael said...

Have an eggstra nice and hoppy Easter! Valerie

denthe said...

Oh, I'm in love with those colours! Very good of you to restrain yourself (more or less ☺)

Jez said...

Your colours are all so amazing, and the first painting makes me think of a garden of colourful flowers - and we need that so much with the weather we are having here. I have drunk that painting in so deeply it will stay with me all day to cheer me.
What a miserable family we are, with no-one giving a 'thank you' for chocolate, or chocolate eggs, when they add such colour and fun to your day. We'll have a non-choc Easter. Enjoyed the post as always. Have a happy family get-together. XX

PaintingWrite said...

Wonderful colourful illustrations - those egg plants (do you see what I did there!) look fantastic - what a great idea for table decorations!

I can't remember the last time I had an Easter egg, even before I stopped eating dairy I never really bothered with them although my sister did kindly send me a vegan chocolate bunny last year which was pretty lush!!

Enjoy your Easter celebrations!

Netty said...

am speechless at your wonderful restraint, such will power certainly has to be admired, albeit from afar.
As usual great sketches Tracey and your bone knife and fork set is fabulous.
Happy PPF and Happy Easter, Annette x

http://nettysartadventures.blogspot.co.uk/

Catharina Engberg said...

I missed the last post with the forks and knives, but followed the link back(thank you!).
The best thing is to wait for a while when you really want to buy something you perfectly well knows that you don´t need. But it is HARD. I like how the forks and knives turned out, and you´re right ; it is the last tiny details that most often does IT for the painting. Yours did the trick,(is that the right way to say it? -It kind of popped up from nowhere-You know I´m not englishtalking and TELL ME if I don´t make sence!) they look perfectly like Trace style after the last lines (Which I actually saw).
I love your way of decorating the easter table too! Lovely bright happy colours!
See you Trace! Take care!

Anne Manda said...

Fun and lovely, wonderful colorful Easter painting! <3

WrightStuff said...

Happy Easter my friend. I've sent you a man-sized egg with a special someone inside. As it's so warm in your parts, I fear the chocolate may melt all over him... Oh dear... What will you do?

Ginny said...

I admire your restraint. I am not sure (no, I know) those chocolate eggs would not last long in our house. I always enjoy seeing your work and reading your words. both make me happy. Have a wonderful Easter.

Deanna said...

You did a great job with the paper in the baskets and I love your violate bunny cards!

Deanna said...

You did a great job with the paper in the baskets and I love your violate bunny cards!

Debbie said...

You are so creative in your writing, and in your art! Chocolate for the cause -- I love it!

GlorV1 said...

These are great Tracey. Very creative. Love them all and now want candy.:) Happy Easter and PPF!

Marji said...

Honestly - I can't imagine a mini egg living longer in my studio than about 30 seconds - the time it would take to remove its little foily wrapper and pop it in my mouth. You are a far better person than I am when it comes to will power. But, I guess for the sake of art - those little eggs could stay a little longer :) Happy Easter!

Theresa Plas said...

Squee!!! Love 'em all!!! Happy PPF and have a wonderful Easter Tracey!

Helen Campbell said...

I love your Easter baskets! How fun to have both family visiting and chocolate all the the same time! Happy Easter!

Arnoldo L. Romero, MLA said...

What a fun post, Tracey. Your gorgeous artwork and clever decorations have me in the mood to start decorating for Paschal Sunday. May your weekend be filled with many blessings!

Dianne said...

I adore the squiggly pen lines that you add to your work...shading and highlights...it all comes together in the end. and of course chocolate makes it wonderful too! Happy Easter holidays to you!

Anonymous said...

yum! So lovely and fun and those colors are amazing!

Tam Hess said...

I can't open any chocolate in this house. I'm like a vampire, I will smell it anywhere in the house and gobble it up. The squiggle pens are awesome! Love the bright colors!

Joy Murray said...

So colorful and bright. What a fun post. Easter candy is the best. I look forward to my Easter sugar coma every year. Now you give me treats for the eyes, what a great life.

Linda Kunsman said...

Love your colorful baskets and sketch Tracey! Good of you to make some sacrifices for the sake of art :):)love your cards too.Happy Easter and happy PPF!

Unknown said...

Love the cards... have a really happy Easter... :)x

Faye said...

Saying: Happy Easter seems a bit unnecessary. You are already having fun, I can see. Your painting of the candy baskets is wonderful. I would have eaten most of it before the drawing was done.

Unknown said...

Love those Easter pails. The colors are fabulous! So bright and cheer!!

PiaRom said...

love the bunnies and if I´d had so much chololate around, sooner or later I would have the same cheeks rabbits have :) happy easter Conny

sharon said...

Beautiful illustrations. Hope your Easter goes well, happy Easter

Alicia C said...

wow your Easters sound sublimely chaotic and entertaining!!! And i remember last years rabbits they were fiendishly fun! Have a great Easter!

stefanie stark said...

Your Easter decoration looks fantastic beautiful! What a wonderful idea with the multicolored papers and the pretty chocolate eggs inside. It looks awesome! I am happy that the eggs have survived the painting session in your studio ;) - Happy Easter to you and the family!

Giggles said...

I was going to call you a liar liar pants on fire...until I read the whole post!! I was going to nail you for grazing out of the rest of the bag sitting right next to your computer..... to stave off the ruining of the display.... or at least replacing the missing ones... lol

Love the vivid colors!!

Good job, and Happy Easter to you my dear.....eat chocolate....drink spirits and jump into those Merry shoes you wear so well!!

Big hugs Giggles

Unknown said...

LOL !!! I love the comment about having to take the sacrificial egg...haha! You're so funny! The drawings ate terrific and you did a great job depicting your Easter buckets/baskets. I started picking at the stuff I got for my son and ended up putting at the top of my closet. Not so sure that will save those little jelly beans but worth a try... Just another day to go!!

Sabina said...

What adorable bunny cards! What I really love though is the lovely teacup in a previous post. That's probably my fave illustration so far.

Joni Nickrent said...

Happy Easter...love your delightfully sweet treats!

Jehanne's doodles said...

Happy Easter! how cool the large egg hunt. My kids would love it. Love the baskets! However Adventure time Rules!!! Hope you have a great Easter and the kids enjoy.

kat said...

Hello Tracey, those eggs look so good in their flower pots and tissue paper, so lovely! I bet little and big hands will look forward to grabbing a yummy egg and peeling off the crinkly paper! It all looks and sounds like you're well set to enjoy this Easter week-end , best of wishes to you! xx

Debbie said...

Hello and Happy Easter! I love your sketches this week. Its hard for me to not snack on yummy chocolate eggs so you are much better then I at restraining yourself. (Unless of course my husband eats them first) Have a wonderful weekend with your family!

manomij said...

I remember the bunnies from last year. Happy Easter Tracey!! Don't eat to much chocolate :)
ManonX

Anonymous said...

Such delightful and creative art for Easter ~ Happy Day to you ^_^

Unknown said...

Happy Easter

Alexandra MacVean said...

Your artwork is so much fun. I really love your bright colors. Now, how do you get such bright, crisp colors? What paper do you paint on and do you mix your watercolors and artist pens to get this look? :)

GalleryJuana said...

Love how you merge art and the easter egg hunt traditions. I had a look at your previous post on the forks set illustration and enjoyed seeing the art from start to finish. Thank you for posting your process.

Lorinda.C.F said...

Happy Easter Tracey! I hope you enjoy your family as much as I know you'll enjoy your chocolate (with families you just never know... ) xoxo

EVA said...

What wonderful and colourful Easter paintings! Yummy!!

Hope you have/had a great Easter.

minnemie said...

Had my share of eggs yesterday, but they were the Peanut M&M sort. OF course when they are that little, they don't count for calories and you can have as many as you want, right? Well... I'm paying today.:-/ Love your colorful art and amazed that you stuck it out and drew that paper! Looks lovely, but would have driven me to... EGGS!

Anonymous said...

Amazing restraint on your part, Tracey. My painting would probably have consisted of lots of little empty foil wrappers if I brought those lovelies into my painting space. I bought no chocolate at all this Easter. DH thought it was awful that I didn't buy one for our son this year but really, the boy is 21 now. He can buy his own chocolate. I think DH just likes to snitch from DS's basket so was hoping there'd be one. Love your bunny cards!

Anonymous said...

Great colors!

aimee said...

what a tasty prop! i might eat the painting too!

Neesie said...

So I missed wishing you a Happy Easter but by the look of it...you did anyway!
Those mini eggs are evil...pure evil I tell you! They just keep coming at you! ;D
I haven't heard of Adventure Time so I went back to check it out (obviously I'm no early bird and I really don't want to start on the margaritas at 5.30am ~ p.m. yeah bring it on!)
Give me Bear Grylls buck naked any day!
Fantastic colourful painting ~ good enough to eat...if only I had a little space left in my waistband!
Elastic waistband BIG pants here I come :$
xoxo

soulbrush said...

I am so late in checking all my PPF blogs, Happy PPf for last week- nearly time for this week.

pauline said...

omg, i LOVE ADVENTURE TIME!!!
your paintings are awesome Tracey... xox