friday apple

©2011, Monika Roe

A gummy worm caramel apple for Friday!

thirsty apple

©2011, Monika Roe

Another caramel apple for October!

banana peppers

A jar of banana peppers was one of the things in the treasure trove of goodies I received most recently from my friends at Rotten Apple Ranch in Sebastopol. It took a while for me to even open the jar because they were so beautiful! Before I opened them up I got out my paints and recorded them for posterity. Very inspiring!

Since my trip to Denmark this summer I've been obsessed with recreating the flavors of the open faced sandwiches we always enjoy there. After searching around I found a bread that is very similar to one of my Danish favorites. It's from Trader Joe's and is called "European Style Whole Grain Bread". 

After stacking this dark bread full of nuts and seeds with roast beef, dill Havarti cheese and remoulaude sauce, these banana peppers are the perfect final touch. (This is my favorite combo lately.) The garlic in the peppers is a nice background accent to their flavor which is mellow enough for the other flavors in the sandwich to come through. They have a subtle tang and, surprisingly, a bit of a bite to them at the end.

 I wish this jar was bottomless...

under construction show

"Under Construction" is the name of the show that just opened at the Showroom Gallery in Studios on the Park here in Paso Robles. My paper sculpture entitled "Disguise" is one of the works featured!

If this looks familiar to you, it's because it's based on an illustration I created in August inspired by the Illustration Friday topic of "disguise". When I heard about the topic of this show, I immediately wanted to create a 3-D version of this illo.

This show is made possible by the Paso Robles Art Association and runs until November 13th. If you're in town I recommend stopping by to see my piece in person since my iPhone photo doesn't do it justice!!! 

*I will get a better picture when my photographer man is in town. :)

contraption

©2011, Monika Roe

No, I'm not obsessed with coffee ever since I gave it up two months ago!!! This is just something fun for this week's Illustration Friday topic of "contraption".

tis the season

©2011, Monika Roe

Stores started stocking their shelves weeks ago with bags and bags of candy corn. The original kind, the weird and strangely addicting chocolate kind and the "harvest mix" which has all of the above plus those little candy corn pumpkins.

I usually buy a bag and put it in a pretty acorn embossed glass candy dish I found at a thrift store. It's pretty to look at, but to eat... eh... not so much!

In my garage, in the box marked HALLOWEEN I have Ziploc bags full of candy corn that I've used year after year to decorate with when this time of year rolls around. That stuff still looks great and could possibly outlast us all!

Whenever candy corn is mentioned a hot debate follows. People either love it or hate it!

Personally it reminds me of my friend Michelle who loved candy corn in high school. We would go to the local Food 4 Less when we were bored and dig into their bulk candy bins, filling a bag with candy corn to snack on as we were driving around in her Citation. Great memories!

Nowadays I find candy corn too sweet. What happened as I got older? I never dreamed anything would be "too sweet". But, alas, candy corn is in my category of "too sweet" that seems to be growing. I suspect food manufacturers are currently pushing the limit on how much sugary sweetness they can put in food. "More sweet" doesn't always equal "more tasty"! Some things are not even palatable because of all the added sugar. An example of this is the coffee house pumpkin muffin. I used to enjoy these as a once a year treat but yesterday when I bought one I found it sickeningly sweet. So that once in a year tradition went down in flames for me. Just yuck!

Anyway, I digress. Candy corn, love it or hate it???

a caramel apple a day...

©2011, Monika Roe

Doesn't keep the spiders away! This little guy is craving a sugar fix!

nothing says october like farts and poop!

A peek at my illos for the October issue of M Magazine on stands now. This month's topics were hilariously fun to illustrate!!!

american girl candy creatures

This month on American Girl Magazine's website you can play a game that I illustrated! It's called "Candy Creatures". Make all sorts of delicious Halloween creatures out of pieces of candy and have a lot of fun! A game for both kids AND adults! Look at my little creature below, he has chest hair made of sprinkles! HAHAHA!

Send me a screen grab of a creature you make and I'll post it on my Facebook page!