Sunday, April 11, 2010

A Pleasing ART Challenge Painting

Alice Thompson's -  'April challenge' "Calypso Moon Artist's Movement" was to paint food -
food that is not necessarily good for you. 

Well people, I didn't have to look too far on this one.  I LOVE Mexican foodI dream about Mexican food.  I CRAVE Mexican food and know that a lot of it is fried and fat laden - beyond a dieter's caloric and fat recommended daily intake.  Just ask any of my peeps, most of the time, if I am on a weightloss journey and someone says, "Mexican??"  I am all over it!  That's probably why I am not extremely successful when trying to eat in moderation or eat within some 'diet' guidelines.
There ARE no mentionable Mexican food restaurants in my living area, but happenstance was that when we went to Salina, Kansas to pick up our artwork several weeks ago, I made the request that we eat Mexican at Gutierrez Restaurant, knowing I was planning to paint for this challenge. 

The noon meal is a buffet.  I went back a few times to that little buffet..because it was all home made and quite delicious.  So where is the bad in that?  Let me see if I can add up calories, sodium, sat. fat, cholesterol, and carbs for just this dish and of course, there were chips to go with that salsa. 
First - here is the painting, done from my photo of my plate.


"Olé"
6" x 8"
oil on Raymar canvasboard

This dish consisted of a deep fried shell beef taco, complete with a huge mound of cheddar cheese, a chalupa ranchera (homemade beans with sour cream, beef taco meat, salsa, more cheese, lettuce on a rolled tortilla), a beef tamale smothered in red sauce and cheese, a huge dollop of sour cream..and of course some home made salsa and deep fried chips. 
Bring on the margaritas (with salt on the rim) - I am ready for some more!  ☺
Ready for the approximate nutritional info for what you see above + chips???

Calories = 2669.3
Saturated fat = 56.1
cholesterol = 268.3
Carbohydrates = 235.1
Sodium = 7780.6
(and oo, did I mention maybe a little 'heartburn' ☺)

Oh I'm pretty close on 'chalking up' this one...been through lots of learning on how to tally it all...
way exceeded ALL the amounts MY guidelines (past, present and future) call for.

Good thing I drank iced tea with sweet and low...

Purchase info at Etsy.

15 comments:

Dana Cooper said...

This is a fun piece Patty, it all looks delicious and reads so well! It's a really good thing you had that Sweet n Low...wow, I may have to rethink Mexican food, but in my neck of the woods, wonderful restaurants abound!

myra anderson said...

I love this painting . . . it's beautiful and charming!

Pattie Wall said...

Thanks Dana. I'll bet you do have some wonderful Mexican restaurants in your area. My dilemma can be solved..and I am working on making better Mexican dishes myself.
Thank Myra! Appreciate your visits!

Earthula said...

Pattie, Fabulous to meet you...at

a buffet,with Margaritas... This is a special Event.

I love the sauce in the ceramic bowl, and how that red depth that skips along the diagonal while the yellows and ochres crisply step around it. The combination conveys the explosions of taste and texture, and smells...I think the orange shades are doing that, which always overrides caloric awareness.
Black olives, sour cream, cilantro flickers. DELICIOUS!


Do you love the white plate and fork? I do.
very Nice.


Great to meet you, thank you for your critique!
Bon Appetit!

Barbara said...

Hi Pattie.

This is delicious. Mexican food is the hands down favorite cuisine of both my sons. I don't think I've noticed what beautiful colors the food has, but here they are in all their glory.

The painting has a successful composition. It is comprised of three elements, varied in size and weight (and calories!); the number three is echoed on the plate. The tamale is the center of interest (although you gotta love a crispy taco), with the most detail and highest contrast. The dark salsa bowl is almost too heavy for the lower corner of the painting, but the highlight on the bowl echoes the plate, and causes my eye to circle the salsa bowl and return to the meal.

It is extremely appetizing, I think because the colors and textures are so true that they call to memory the smells and flavors of Mexican food. I hope you just made up those calorie counts. Don't tell me if you didn't.

By the way, I took a look around your blogs, and find we like many of the same things.

Lori Bonanni said...

Great food painting - I think cinco de mayo is just around the corner...

Vern Schwarz said...

Pattie, I just ate dinner, and now I feel hungry. Thanks a lot! Your description of your weakness is great, but the painting overrides all...I AM HUNGRY!!!........AGAIN!!!! Because I LOVE Mexican food, Great job, Ole my friend.

Gwen Bell said...

You painted this mouth party perfectly, Pattie! And I was just getting my Tex-Mex addiction under control. Love all the festive colors and textures. OLE! Muy delicioso! (or something like that)

Claire Beadon Carnell said...

A mexican feast! I love all of the different colors and the appealing look of the food. Thank goodness it is almost midnight, or I would be heading to El Ranchero for an enchilada!
(I also enjoyed seeing your gardening pictures. I am so ready to plant seeds and get mine going!)

Mark Adams said...

Patti - I have starred down at this plate often and often. One wouldn't think of Baltimore as a hotbed of good Tex-Mex but we are starting to get some real authentic Mexican food here. I was initially put off by the three separate elements of your composition but it has grown on me. It reminds me of a mathematical equation. For example: (x - h)2 + (y - k)2 = r2. The fork represents the = sign. Since Mexican food without salsa is like a cone without ice cream, your hypothesis is more of an axiom. I personally like the placement of the salsa, as it balances the tomatoes on the taco in the upper left.

Pattie Wall said...

Boy am I behind - in thanking those who have visited. Been busy to say the least - so thanks for your kind critiques, Elaine, Barbara and Mark. Thanks for your kind comments Gwen, Claire and Vern. I knew that this one left a little to be desired in the 'composition' dept...but it was the best I could get - from the photos I took. I am not a good one to make up something in a short amount of time that would have worked in to the mix.

Calypso Moon Artist Movement said...

Pattie, Welcome to the crew. I wanted so much to move the elements in this painting, particularly the fork. The negative area on the top right is too large a resting area for my eye. Your brushwork in this is very desirable. Time for some heartburn salsa!

Pattie Wall said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Pattie Wall said...

That area on the top right (maybe 'too large') of my painting was left that way to create a 'dynamic' (as opposed to boring) composition. I felt that including another object or food in the little space would have made the balance too ordinary and predictable. The fork was as it landed in the setting. ☺

Dean Grey said...

This painting is making me hungry, Pattie!

-Dean

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