Mosaic Bande

Mosaic Bande, Acrylic on board, 9”x12”, $300 © B. Sistak Baur

Do you know what Mosaic Bande is?

I didn't (you know that doesn't mean much if you read my post about cupcakes). You see, I am not a baker and I don't know a lot about it. But I do like bakeries and know what looks good enough to paint -- and that is Mosaic Bande. I found this delight in an old-style bakery in Milwaukee.

So, for those of you that don't know, and I wouldn't blame you if you didn't since I can't even find a decent reference for it on the internet, here in one definition I found. Mosaic Bande is layers of chocolate mousses (one chocoloate and one vanilla marscarpone) layered on a dark chocolate sponge and topped with a mosaic of geometric shapes in different shades of chocolate.

What attracted me to this piece was the geometric pattern of the chocolate. I think it appealed to the left side of my brain (that's the logical side, not the art side -- in painting pastries, you don't have too many opportunities for straight lines so I decided to go for it). As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly how I wanted to recreate it. I dreamed about creating broken chocolate shapes and placing them adoringly on the pastry. Well, it turned out to be much more of a puzzle than I anticipated, of course.

If you get a chance to see this painting in person, you will notice that each color is an individual strip of paint. Each strip was created on the palette, allowed to dry, sliced and then placed on the painting. Each piece of Mosaic Bande was "built" from the bottom up. It was an interesting challenge which I may try again in another painting -- when my brain stops hurting.

-- Barb
www.SistakBaur.com