February 21, 2007

Starry Night


James named his cookie art - Starry Night - and said, "Doesn't it look like a starry night?" I asked him how he thought of the name. He replied, "I didn't, the guy with his ear cut off did." Anyhow, here are the two - for comparison. I think he's right - it does indeed look like Van Gogh's Starry Night - or just a starry night.

Tangent 1 - I remember taking a road trip down to see the Van Gogh exhibit when it came to the Getty. There were insane crowds - but they provided a good chance to be "accidentally pushed" inches away from the canvas to really admire his brush strokes.

Tangent 2 - The cookie art resulted from a desperate situation. I started making cookies (which I do every other dayish). But, this time, I was an egg short. In an attempt to make it work, I used the last egg and then an egg-amount of water (whatever that is). The dough was great. The cookies were very flat. So, I decided that decorating the pancake cookies would be the perfect way to mask the mess up.

Tangent 3 - I took a Native American Lit class - and for our final project we went to Seven Mile Canyon looking for petroglyphs and trying to experience what we read. That night as we camped, one of the girls played Starry Night on her guitar and sang. I have never heard anything so beautiful. Josh Groban does have a nice version - it just seems more befitting to a solo guitar under the stars.

Tangent 4 - "Look, the star is out..." We used to plagiarize the movie Madagascar, because there are no visible stars in Manhattan. But, I love the stars and am glad to see them here. I find myself captivated on a dark night.

6 comments:

laurel said...

Comment 1: James is so smart, I just love him.
Comment 2: Your cookie making reminds me of our soup making with the lime incident :)
Comment 3: That's really one of my favorite movie lines - "The star is out!" We crack up at that.

P.S. We were posting at the exact same time tonight.

Anonymous said...

i love your blog and that is that-

Leslie said...

i think pancake cookies look very yummy, but even better all sprinkled up like that!

Ashley A. said...

Angie-
I'm so glad you found me in the blogging world! I'm kind of new to it. The pancake cookie turned out to be an amazing artist's canvas. What a happy mistake! I loved your picture book recommendations- that is no surprise coming from you. I will definitely check back in.

jamieanne said...

I believe James had created a very good interpretation. Tangent 1: In 11th grade, my Humanities teacher turned down the lights, displayed VanGogh's Starry Night, and played Starry Night for us. It is a moment I will never forget.

Anonymous said...

The creativity abounds! If I were there the eating of the cookie always proceeds any decorative thoughts.

I adore tangents....allowing the unconscieous mind to have a voice is admirable. My co-tangent; Driving in a black night in Wyoming, pulling over nowhere for a brief bio break, turning off the car lights and seeing the night flooded with starry light. A vision to remember forever.