Day 24 of the 30/30 Challenge – Blueberry Cheesecake
This Blueberry Cheesecake isn’t just any ordinary cheesecake. It’s from Cafe Lalo in Manhattan, which was featured in You’ve Got Mail staring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.
A few years back, Ben, my friend and director Robert Kidd Gallery in Michigan (who put together the Sweet Spots exhibit including two of my bakery display paintings) sent me a photo of Cafe Lalo showing one of the largest bakery displays I had ever seen. Of course, I had to go and get samples. This appetizing cheesecake spoke to me in its sliced up state, piled high with ripe blueberries.
Day 24. “Blueberry Cheesecake” by Beverly Shipko, Oil on cradled panel, 5 x 7 inches.
I remember my first visit to Cafe Lalo. Bonnie and I were going into Manhattan the day before the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to watch the balloons being blown on the Upper West Side by the Natural History Museum. It turned out Cafe Lalo was conveniently located nearby. It wasn’t too hard to persuade Bonnie to have lunch there, especially once I told her this was the cafe from You’ve Got Mail.
The array of desserts that greeted us was amazing! It was overwhelming, almost too much to choose from. Every baked good was different and showcased in one of the largest displays I have ever seen in a cafe. And each bakery shelf was several cakes deep.
After ordering lunch, we spent a lot of time figuring out what to order for dessert. One of our selections included this blueberry cheesecake, which was delicious – as was lunch. So much so that a visit to Cafe Lalo is now part of our annual Thanksgiving tradition.
My photo of the blueberry cheesecake shows how it looked on the shelf. Since I knew it was going to take most of the day to paint all those blueberries, I simplified the image in my sketch to help achieve my personal goal of completing a painting a day.
Well, halfway through the day I started wondering if I was going to finish. What a lot of blueberries – easy with its own reflection! I kept running out of fine brushes all day and ended up taking brush cleaning breaks frequently. I had to work more slowly and carefully than I would have liked since indigo blue was the primary blueberry color, and it stains everything it touches – clothes, hands, brushes – and bleeds easily into other oil colors.
This was my first dessert in two weeks. At the beginning, it felt like I was going through sugar withdrawal. Then I got into trying new subjects and had a marvelous experience the entire time, as you can see here.
Week 3.
With only one more week to go, I want to say thanks to all of you who have been following my journey this far. I appreciate the support and look forward to sharing my last week of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge with you.