Ever had one of those days?

I'm not sure whether to blame the outcome of my baking on absent mindedness or being fuzzy headed from allergies.  I decided this past weekend  to make the Peach Cobbler Cupcakes mentioned on another website.  The first time I made them, they were delicious.  Always wanting to improve on perfection, I decided this time to use fresh peaches that I roasted in the oven with a little butter and brown sugar to strengthen the peach flavor.  Didn't work.  I should have known better than to buy peaches this early in the season.  They were pretty much flavorless but since I didn't have anything else, decided to use them anyway.  Then for some reason, when I sifted the dry ingredients, I sifted the sugar along with the flour, baking pd and salt.  Uh Oh!  How in the world was I going to cream the butter and sugar if the sugar was already mixed with the flour?  So I decided to substitute oil for the butter, just throw everything together into the mixer and have a go at it.  Batter was delicious.  Then I made the struesel topping.  Did I put it on before I put them into the oven the first time I made them?  Couldn't remember.  So, first batch I topped before they went into the oven.  That meant the struesel settled down into the batter before they were done.  So for the second batch, I baked them first and at the 10 minute mark added the struesel.  Okay, they looked good but no peach flavor, weird consistency and they stuck to the paper liners.  What's the moral?  I'm not sure.  Maybe it's to not bake when my mind is all fuzzied up from those darned little pollens floating around in the air.  But now I have a challenge and that's to make those darned cupcakes over, getting it right this time so I'm sure they're as good as I remember from the first time.  When that happens, I'll post pics and the recipe for you here. 

Whisper Portrait

Whisper Portraits

It's easy for me to get into a rut painting only those pieces in demand by the galleries that carry my art.  When I take a break to work with other techniques and media, I get to have huge fun while stimulating my creative juices at the same time.   These two are paintings in watercolor of a beautiful face on heavy watercolor paper.  Once dry, I collaged over the painting with imported rice paper, some with flecks of gold, and then highlighted with oil pastels.   The result is an ethereal looking portrait of a gorgeous face behind a sort of textured veil. 

I just posted these two from my personal collection today for sale on www.myotherstore.etsy.com.

Thanks so much for taking a look.