Holiday Baking

Image copyrighted ©2010 by Linda Warner Constantino

I have been painting lots of botanical studies on my break. I sit in my studio and listen to Andrea Bocelli sing Christmas songs and paint away. I wanted to make some Christmas gifts instead of buy them so I got this idea to make some homemade granola that I love and put it in bags with illustrated labels. I came up with the design above. The pyrocantha seem so festively colored this time of year so I selected a branch and painted this watercolor and then brought it into Photoshop and designed it. The granola recipe I use is from Spannocchia in Tuscany where I teach Plein Air Painting Workshops each summer in watercolors and sometimes oils. The recipe is American but I love it. I put dried cranberries in it this time of year.