Edible Art

I must admit I have a neat job and some really neat hobbies that let me meet interesting and talented folks.  I met this gentlemen a long time ago in a previous career when he was painting a mural for the city and offering art lessons for kids.  Years later I met him through his wife who volunteered in the program that I am blessed to be a part of.  Not only was he painting (one of his landscapes actually hangs in my home) but also writing.  He wrote a series of science fiction books inspired by his son.  I must say I was honored when he asked me to edit the Jack Ryder series and throughly enjoyed reading them.
What brings us to this post and ultimately the cake, is his most recent medium of spray can art paintings.  Only limited by his imagination Jim Hurst has created a series of incredible paintings using, not paintbrushes, but spray cans.  Not only have I seen him adjust his craft and hone it over the years now I get to see him achieve a level of success not many artists achieve.  Today Jim is opening up his first public exhibit at the Carolina Civic Center.  The Carolina Civic Center is a historic theater in downtown Lumberton, North Carolina.  A Mecca for performing artists for more then a century this theater is pleased to offer a venue for visual artists as well.  You can read more about his work and this exhibit in the local paper that spotlighted his exhibit.
When Jim's wife asked if I would do a cake for the opening of the exhibit I was so very honored.  The instructions were simple, a butter cake which would appeal to all segments of the cake eating public. Then they asked me to make an edible image cake utilizing any of Jim's paintings.  Although there were many paintings I loved, getting the images downloaded to print caused me some challenges.  I was finally able to get an incredible painting he did utilizing the Cape Hatteras light house.  I was struggling how to make this a Jim Hurst original cake (customizing it with more than the painting image) and as an artist realized when I am done with a painting I make it forever mine by signing it.  So I did my best to emulate the Hurst signature at the bottom of each of his paintings in icing.  I utilized the same black icing to create a rope frame around the photo and voila!  Jim had his own work of art for his art opening.  We hope he has a successful exhibit and enjoys the success that this talent artist deserves.