French Pastries late, 1990s

3×4 ft, oil on canvas, sold

Childhood memoriesof Belgium and, in later years, the lovely pastry shops encountered in France,inspired this painting. It was like magic  to revisit my childhood and go into French pastry shops to see the creativity used to make these small pieces of edibleart. The pastries always look so beautiful that I feel it is a pity to eat them. Then I had the idea of making a beautiful still life that could be enjoyed for a long time.

This painting is in honour of French pastry chefs as well as my love of eating pastries.When in Belgium as a child, but only sometimes, my parents would let me have wonderful and beautiful pastries. In Brussels they know how to make food, and pastries are great there.The chefs pay much attention to their mini masterpieces. It is impossible not to stop when passing a pastry shop and go inside to look at the colour combinations and the sculpture-like shapes.

The fantastic taste of these pastries is the only thing that is missing from this painting.The challenge was to effectively create the differences in textures and delicate nuances with a paintbrush. The pastries seem like they are coming to us from a dream, floating on the little paper doilies. Yes sometimes I still dream about them!

She’s a Leopard Too: Tapestry

My mother, who is a tapestry weaver, really liked this painting. She made a beautiful tapestry based on it that is just the same size as the original. It is included here.