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Monday, July 16, 2007

Why I Love Ice Cream!

Two ice cream cones and one cherry Maybe it's a silly premise for a post.
Why I LOVE ICE CREAM?
Like who doesn't!?

But just take a look at my watercolor paintbox. Pretty delicious no?






It's all gouged out like these ice cream bins. I love my watercolors as much as I love ice cream. Although lately I'm thinking more about ice cream than painting

When GROM recently opened their gelato shop in Florence, a friend told me there was a big stink because you couldn't
gaze at all the different flavors (with anticipation and angst)
like in most Italian gelato shops. Isn't that part of the fun of getting ice cream? Looking at all the colors and imagining what they taste like?

Which would you choose?
Painting is like that too. Here you can gaze at a VERY expensive paintbox with tons of colors/flavors. But if you had to choose between this 924 Euro paintbox and say 500 ice cream cones.

My paintbox looked like that for 5 minutes when it was brand new


These La Maison du Chocolat ice cream containers are nice and neat and tidyHere are some big BLOCX watercolor pans. You can't get these in the USA. Is it because they look too much like ice cream?Doesn't it look an awful lot like these containers of gelato?

30 comments:

  1. Ice cream cones, of course.

    I am in 100% agreement with the protests over Grom's covering the ice cream. I was complaining about this in conjunction with Pozzetto the other day. Seeing it and lingering over it as you try to choose is an important part of the pleasure!

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  2. I have been looking at your blog for some time now. I think this is just the best!! Love the comparison between the ice cream and paint palettes! Great job. If you have a moment please stop by my blog. It interesting how "I love ice cream" is on my blog in a different way :0)Laurie

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  3. Mona Lisa Bakery in Bay Ridge B'klyn has some really good gelato. Can't wait till I get home (2.5 weeks!!!) and have pistacio and coffee gelato, my favorites!!!

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  4. Anonymous8:27 AM

    The paintbox, for sure. My shoulders are full of unanimous voices:
    mother: it will last longer
    accountant: it is tax deductible
    di-ab-et conscious: it is sugar free
    artist dreamer: masterpieces guaranteed then all the ice cream you want :-)
    Your posts are irresistible, Carol!

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  5. Carol,

    I am looking at the summer sale catalog for Cheap Joe's Art Stuff and on the cover are Winsor & Newton Large Pan Watercolors. You can go on the internet as they have a large site. Since they are located in North Carolina, there is no tax for those ordering outside of N.C.
    Also, right on about the David Dewey Book. He is truly a master and if someone were to buy only one book on watercolors (imagine that), his book should be it! Love Paris Breakfasts--how did you think of it?

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  6. I love the comparison between ice cream/ gelato and watercolor paint boxes! Ilike to see food in flowers. You have a great eye!

    Over the weekend, hubby and I found a cool ice cream place on East 10th street: Sundaes and Cones.....we only found it b/c we decided to follow Rachel Wiesz for a bit. Guilty I feel...not about the ice cream though!

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  7. Anonymous9:52 AM

    Delicious.. the whole post. The painting is absolutely darling.It would be 'cool' as a set with something similar. 'Kris' pretty much said what I was thinking when looking at the post this morning. But that ice cream sure is tempting big time. ;-)
    Cris in OR.

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  8. gosh! the cones of course!

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  9. MARIA!
    Thanks!
    I never heard of
    Mona Lisa Pastry Shoppe
    1476 86th St.
    Brooklyn, NY 11228
    1-888-837-2041
    THIS is thrilling even if they don't show their gelato on their site.
    I'm on the team going for the 500 ice cream cones.
    As long as we don't have to get them all at once.
    You don't really need that many paint colors, in fact it could be deterrent.

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  10. Anonymous10:32 AM

    Just what I needed this morning...
    to open up my inbox to one of
    your glowing watercolors...
    A scrumptious subject as well.

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  11. You know, it's funny...I was just talking to my Dad about ice cream this weekend. We'd gone out to get a cone and he ordered a small, I ordered a kiddy size. The small was at least a pint of ice cream. I mean, come ON! The kiddy was at least a cup and half of it went to waste, which I dislike. I like the small sizes sold in Paris so much better!

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  12. This is just lovely! I came here from Lucullian Delights. I make ice cream at home: the problem is that I can only make one flavor at a time.

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  13. OK compliment time. Sometimes I could just lick your paintings because the colours look like ice cream. How strange is that?
    When I am using water colours I keep wiping the mixing area because it looks messy - then I lose the colours I have mixed. How stupid is that?

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  14. DI
    YOU NEVER WANNA DO THAT!
    The mixing area is like yr mixing bowl
    Do you throw out the cream and sugar you just stirred together?
    Never
    Even better, let the color dry on that area and start painting with it next go round!
    My teacher would insist on painting with dirty water too!
    He said he could see the washes better that way...
    Another of his tricks is to think of your mixing palette as the paper=that way you get a preview of how your painting will look color-wise.
    JANET Kiddie size is the way to go if they will just let us!
    Thanks Otello for the shopping tip! :)
    BLAME IT I totally agree with you. I can think of no higher sin than covering good gelato.
    It makes no sense..
    ASIA J Which way did Rachel Wiesz go???
    SIMONA You have a BIG problem! I could not allow myself to keep an ice cream maker in the house unless it had alarms attached.

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  15. I love these, and I am guilty of having a big box of Blockx watercolors that I haven't touched yet. A gift from my Papa. If only I could have your deft touch with paint...

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  16. Wonderfull blog entry! Mmmmmmh!

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  17. Anonymous3:08 PM

    I do love ice cream.
    There are three really fabulous places in San Francisco for Ice Cream.
    Mitchel's
    Bi-Rite creamery
    and the Indian place.
    Annie

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  18. I do feel like a kid in an ice cream store here, coming back from my trip and having all this bounty of new posts to sort of sit myself into, squarely. Like swimming in colors. Melt in your mouth colors. Carol Carol Carol, do you have any idea in what turmoil you throw us mere mortals? How hard it is, to choose which color tray to splash around in? You make me almost beg you to throw me in an ice cream maker and your choice of color (or was it flavor?) right after me. And spin and spin yourself into gelati-oblivion.

    The "boite d'aquarelle" you are referring to here again, methinks I get the joke, and then again, one never knows with you!

    I sneaked into a few paint stores in Italy, but was so busy running after the gelati, the choice was too overwhelming, and then what do I buy paint colors for anyway(nonono, I have bought my share of colors for the kids, nurtured their talents, enough! I could have bought a paint factory for the money I spent on them - the kids and the colors. Now I want to invest in ice cream and gelati stocks exclusively. True, they melt away too, but at least on my tongue, and those memories are all mine (yep, Mons. Proust, forget about those Madeleines, much too hot for tea this time of the year - better get out from under your down duvet and check out the new American ice cream flavors around the corner!).

    On an entirely serious note:
    I discovered a woman artisan gelataia in Barletta Italia! First time in my life that I had two ice cream cones with three flavors each in a row and was left wanting for a third one, even though that master gelataia kept spooning me her heavenly frozen manna. Need I say more than dark chocolate with the best hot pepperflake of all of Italy, anguria with an herb I thought is used exclusively for candles to keep moskitos at bay on summer nights?

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  19. ***yummy pigments for the eye,
    yummy creams for the tummy***

    here we have art markers
    that smell like flavors.

    it is all i can do
    not to suck on the lime green one,
    the strawberry pink one.

    :-)

    what color would be
    almond macaroon, i wonder...

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  20. HI SOME PINK FLOWERS!
    what color would be
    almond macaroon, i wonder..?
    That would be Buff Tintanium #46280! :)
    OR you could grind up almonds and add a watercolor binder for the "real" thing...
    I just thought up that :)
    I'm not sure about eating the scented markers though...
    or any paint for that matter...
    I did use to munch on paper as a kid though...
    I better go post!

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  21. Carol- Rachel Weisz lead us into the ice cream shop. I was too busy trying to make sure it was her in a discrete way and never saw what flavor she got!

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  22. Anonymous7:36 AM

    Carol, i would choose Ice Cream, well gelato hands donw. But that's only because I couldn't paint to save my life......but I can sure eat Ice cream to save my life! Did you know there is a GROM in NYC now?

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  23. what an odd question to ask carol! What would I choose? In this kind of heat? Gimme that gelato sweetie! :-D

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  24. Anonymous7:48 PM

    Bonjour Carol,
    That is a tough choice!
    After much thinking I believe I'll go for the gelato. That will leave me with some spare cash for some modest watercolors...and some more gelato in the heat of the summer!
    Enjoy life, and thank you for sharing life's beauty and the works of man (and woman!) with us.

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  25. Anonymous10:28 AM

    TASTE is what matters! Don't be blinded by the colours and the fancy patterns. Close your eyes and taste it. It is Pozzetto's smoothness and freshness. The best ice cream I ever had. Far better than the Grom (I had it both in Florence and NY), Vivoli and Gioliti's of this world. Isn't "pozzetto" the name for the fancy steel freezer where they and the best artisan gelato's are kept?

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  26. Anonymous11:02 AM

    First of all thanks for your blog. It's fantastic for gelato lovers like me.

    Taste is what matters. Smoothness, freshness and flavour.
    The real thing vs. the fancy look.

    I find the steel freezer and its steel lids very stylish too. The Pozetto's people told me their name is actually the name for it.

    Their gelato is the best I ever had, both in France and in Italy. I wish I lived closer to one of their shops to go everyday.

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  27. well since I am artisitically challenged, I'll have to choose the ice cream cones. Love this post! :)

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  28. Carol,
    The resemblance between the Kremer pigments and gelato is uncanny!
    Maybe the best experience is eating gelato while painting in your sketchbook.
    Thanks for telling my about these paints. I love them and they have zero calories!

    Linda Warner Constantino

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  29. Anonymous2:15 PM

    nice, pretty idea and pics
    I love it

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  30. Choose? No...give us both. The paints are luscious, but the ice cream is beautiful, too. My Joe doesn't like ice cream--how could I wind up with someone who doesn't like ice cream?? Sigh...I'll eat his.

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