The Art of the Croissant
Pastries and painting—what could be better?! I recently enjoyed a lengthy watercolor session with fellow artist friends, one of whom is also a master pastry chef. Making croissants, I learned, is a two-day affair of rolling, layering, folding, and chilling dough—an art in itself, which seemed fitting to commemorate on the page.
Fit for a queen, Marie Antoinette is credited with introducing the Austrian kipferl , a crescent-shaped pastry that originated in Austria, to France around 1770. French pastry chefs jazzed the simple crescent to create the croissants we know and love.
Drawn In 
Just poured my coffee. Will enjoy your croissant with no guilt. Beautiful!
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For the record: I enjoyed it with no guilt, too!
And well you should have. Someone else commented that you should frame and give this painting to your pastry chef friend. I agree. What a nice commemoration of the day and the croissants. Delicious. So looking forward to Hog’s Island … I expect to learn more than I ever wanted to know in that short week!
I will have the page scanned and make a print of the page for Laurie. I love doing things like that.
Love everything about this post Jean!
Thanks Darienne!!
So beautiful!
Your painting is an amazing reminder of a lovely day of arts and eats!
I have been playing with color and paper…….picked up a new brush as well!
Good stuff! Can’t wait to see!
Beautiful work Jean.
Your artwork is magnificent and so elegant looking…fitting tribute to both your friend’s artistry in baking and the subject croissant. What a delightful watercolor session with friends.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the page and the vicarious baking and watercolor session.
This is just a lovely two page journal entry! Can you suggest a book that might be helpful for learning types of calligraphy? Your lettering adds so much to your pages and drawings.
I’m not sure where to begin to learn such a variety of styles.
Thanks Linda! I started out with the basic Speedball Textbook. It’s widely available and has lots of different caligraphy styles, instructions, and samples. I also like The Art of Calligraphy by David Harris. It goes through the history of various letter forms, but also includes alphabets, techniques, and great samples from historic texts. Another good one is Illuminated Alphabets by Patricia Carter. It has really nice sample alphabets designed by the author, as well as design ideas. I just copy and practice…over time, some of the alphabets have become my own stylized version of something else. Have fun playing around with letters!