Domestic Scene....

....with the ingredients for Mary's Chocolate Brownies.

My trials with simpler compositions and flatter colours has continued. I have moved back to the stretched canvas's and oils after exploring the many and various possibilities with acrylic paint on paper.

The acrylics do have some advantages over the use of oils especially where drying time is concerned. For me they work well in smaller works on paper, but they don't appeal to me for use in larger works. 

The very feel of oil paint moving across a freshly primed canvas still seems luxurious by comparison to acrylic paint. It allows for subtleties of tone and texture that are not as evident in acrylic, as it dries too quickly to be able to work into the paint at later stages.

Impasto areas of acrylics also seem a little too plastic for my liking whereas oil paint often maintains a natural lustre and sheen that create their own stories within the surface of the medium.

Domestic Scene with the Ingredients for Mary's Chocolate Brownies is the last in a small series of domestic scenes on canvas measuring 60cmW x 50cmH.

My next plan is to take what I have been doing here and hopefully apply to some new and larger figurative works on canvas.

Mary's Chocolate Brownies:

150g butter

220g chocolate

250g sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

3 eggs

150g plain flour

90g pecan nuts

Grease 25cm square baking dish, and preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Melt chocolate and butter together over a double saucepan. Remove from stove and stir in sugar, vanilla, eggs, flour and nuts.

Stir until mixture just comes together. Pour into baking dish and level off.

Bake until the mixture is set but not dry, about 25 minutes.

DON'T OVERCOOK.......the top should be soft to touch, the brownies will firm as they cool but should remain moist and fudgy.

Cool in the pan and then cut into squares.

*Serve after school with a chocolate milkshake and a plate of fruit.