I wanted to paint a tribute to the bakers of the pandemic. I asked my niece, Hallie, of the Wordy Baker blog, to pose a reference photo for me and the painting became a lot more: a tribute to baker Hallie, to kanelbolle, a kind of Scandinavian cinnamon roll, and to our Norwegian heritage. She is wearing an ethnic costume that she made, and I put a scene that I took from the window of Oslo City Hall in the background. I felt like I was on the right track when I kept getting hungry every time I worked on this painting. The Joy of Cooking has a term I like for fancy baked goods: “…Begin, if you like, with a loaf of whole wheat, which requires neither sifting nor kneading, and go on from there to more cunning triumphs”. Hallie’s blog post on how to make kanelbolle is here. I haven’t tried it yet, but the next time I want to be triumphant about something, I think that is a good candidate.
