I’ve admired the work of Wayne Thiebaud for years. His paintings are elegent and simple. He achieves the most wonderful balance of sophistication and whimsey through his color choices and technique. If you’ve ever seen a Wayne Thiebaud painting, you’ve probably wanted to eat it as I have. He’s most famous for paintings cakes and pies that look irrisistable…although they are simply illusions of paint. I’ve shared his work with my students over the years, but recently discovered that there’s so much that I don’t know! I think the wiser I become, the more I know that I don’t know anything. When I learn something new, it opens doors for me to learn other things, that I didn’t even know that I didn’t know! I often walk down the street and think about how signs are made, what kind of clay is used to sculpt the sleek design for cars, the knowledge that it takes to repair the road that I’m driving on, not to mention the know-how to acquire the materials, fabricate the machinery, employ the workers, and get the county paperwork done. There are whole worlds of knowledge that I haven’t even begun to open. This bring me back to my point….I thought that I knew more about Wayne Thiebaud than most artists I’m familiar with….but I really didn’t (still don’t!) know much. I’ve been saying his name wrong all of this time. It’s not Tie-bod. It’s tea-bo; and he’s still alive, still painting; and he’s a sweet little old man in his 80’s who’s demeaner matches the whimsy in his paintings in every way. To celebrate my new knowledge, I’ve made a paper mola (don’t even get me started about what I don’t know about molas!) in homage to Thiebaud. It is a cupcake.

I hope that all ya’ll are learning new things all day! (did you know that your brain actually wrinkles as you gain new information?) Learn more about Wayne: http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/thiebaud_wayne.html

=)
elle!

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