Roberta Writes – Thursday Doors: A day in my kitchen #Baking #Cakeart #Michaelspoem

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Welcome to Thursday Doors, a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing your link in the comments below, anytime between 12:01 am Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time).

You can join in Thursday Doors here: https://nofacilities.com/2022/06/09/doors-on-duff/

This is the door to my kitchen.

Can you see all my cookbooks on my bookshelf on the left hand side?

I walked through this door with an idea for a cake.

This is the door to my gas oven.

I opened and closed this door several times to make the cakes for my creation.

This is my creation: Lion Scream – Nature’s response to the sixth mass extinction and global warming. Thank you for the inspiration Rebecca Budd.

How did Rebecca inspire this cake? Rebecca has a blog called ChasingART, you can read her latest post here: https://chasingart.com/2022/06/10/fridaypainting-john-melhuish-strudwick-in-the-golden-days/, where she shares about famous paintings. One day, we had a discussion about The Scream by Edvard Munch.

This is what Wikipedia says about The Scream:

The Scream is the popular name given to a composition created by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch in 1893. The agonized face in the painting has become one of the most iconic images of art, seen as symbolizing the anxiety of the human condition. Munch’s work, including The Scream, would go on to have a formative influence on the Expressionist movement.

Munch recalled that he had been out for a walk at sunset when suddenly the setting sun’s light turned the clouds “a blood red”. He sensed an “infinite scream passing through nature”. Scholars have located the spot to a fjord overlooking Oslo and have suggested other explanations for the unnaturally orange sky, ranging from the effects of a volcanic eruption to a psychological reaction by Munch to his sister’s commitment at a nearby lunatic asylum.

The idea of this painting and nature screaming, gave me the inspiration for Lion Scream.

I modelled the lion’s expression and paw positions as closely as possible from the original painting.

You can see the river of blood from all the murdered elephants, lions, rhinos and other creatures. Behind the lion is an erupting volcano as nature protests against global warming.

What do you think? Does this cake represent what I aimed for?

As if this is not enough creativity for one post, I must share my younger son, Michael’s, latest poem. I thought it was very vivid. It’s called Downward Spiral by Michael Cheadle:

Published by robertawrites235681907

I am a writer of young adult fiction and poetry

Published

95 thoughts on “Roberta Writes – Thursday Doors: A day in my kitchen #Baking #Cakeart #Michaelspoem”

  1. I’m sorry Robbie but although your article was as always extremely good with your cake absolutely divine your son’s poem resonated with me as I expect it would with thousands of other people. I

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  2. Wow! Robbie, it’s hard to know where to begin. The doors are great, including the little cabinet on the wall to the right of your kitchen door. Oven doors are the best, when something is due to emerge soon. The cake is amazing. If I saw that, with no introduction, I would think of the scream and I would know why he’s screaming or in shock – mission accomplished – well done! Michael’s poem is also very well done. Lots of talent flowing through your house these days. I hope you all have a nice weekend.

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    1. HI Charles, I am glad you could see the connection. This idea just came to me when I was thinking about our trip to the lion sanctuary while looking at my print of The Scream. Michael is full of surprises. He has a whole notebook full of poems.

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      1. I was not secretive when I was young, but I’ve become that way. I think it’s hard to trust others with your emotions and life tends to make you more cautious about sharing them.

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          1. I admire your clarity. I know when I’m angry (though I many times don’t show it) but otherwise I often can’t put a word to what/how I feel. It’s a deficit I haven’t been able to figure out.

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  18. An excellent cake. The Lion Scream is perfect. I also am very impressed with Michael’s poem. Young people can be so expressive. They tell it like it is. Have a super weekend.

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  23. Always fun to enter doors with you, Robbie. Your son has a deep understanding of the breadth and depth of human emotion and experience. I just read Michael’s poem to Don and he agrees – a profound messages that reaches into the soul.

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  26. I agree with Michael’s comment. I am in awe of how your wrapped all this content around this theme but your son’s poem just so illustrated the pain of the painting and the planet. I hope what I have written makes some sense.

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  28. What a powerful post, Robbie. The symbolism of your cake is intense, dealing will the destruction of our planet, not only its wild creatures but its ability to sustain life at all. And Michael’s poem was such a perfect reflection of our youth’s call for change and help. What will they do, if the adults destroy everything? It was fun to get a glimpse of the place where your cakes come to life. Well done, you two.

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      1. I don’t know if it was a correct interpretation, but it’s what came to me. I really feel for teenagers today. They’re old enough to see what’s happening to their futures and essentially helpless to do anything about it. That’s depressing.

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  31. That’s an incredibly deep and moving poem by your son, Robbie. So much emotion.
    Your cake is brilliant and conveys your message well.
    I enjoyed walking into your kitchen and standing by your oven. 🙂
    (I’ve commented in reverse order of your post – maybe in order of the effect they had on me. :))

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  32. You’ve certainly captured Munch’s painting, Robbie. Well done! I’ve read Michael’s poem three times now and I’m stunned by the images and the vocabulary he uses to put them across. Give him my congratulations on a piece that speaks from the heart and which will resonate with many, many people. x

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    1. HI Alex, thank you, I am glad you see the link between my cake and The Scream. I was quite bowled over by Michael poem which is not something I could or would ever write. He is on a very different emotional level to me in some ways.

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  35. Wow, Robbie, I think your cake is a perfect emulation of “The Scream” though sad as the message is…It’s really heartbreaking knowing the damage humans have caused. I also love your doors and the many cookbooks you have, too. Michael’s poem resonates with me as well, the sorrow he expresses goes painfully straight to the heart. ❤️

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    1. HI Lauren, thank you for your lovely comment. It is sad and sometimes I am inspired to create cake art with a message. Michael’s poem was quite a surprise to me even though I know he struggles with depression. Between you and me, I find it hard to understand depression because it is so alien to my own outlook on life. I try really hard to relate to his emotions.

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      1. You are so talented in your baking, Robbie. I bake but not to your level. 🙂 And life isn’t all sunflowers either, so it’s good to acknowledge the sadness even though it may be difficult. My children had friends in high school who struggled with depression, so they experienced it indirectly, trying to be the good friend for support. I think your son has talent too to be able to express himself through words. ❤️

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  36. Wow – the cake is awesome and so creative to connect with RB and her post and then lead to a cake (how long does something like this take ?)
    —
    Also- your son’s poem was deep….
    Oh and your gas stove seems like a good one – and perfect for cakes and those meals you experiment with!

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    1. Hi Yvette, making the lion took a few weeks. Because the figure is standing I had to let the various parts dry thoroughly before adding the next piece. The bridge was also a little tricky. The volcano was pretty easy although I had a disaster with the initial icing and had to scrap it all off and redo it.

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  37. The cake is a true work of art. Its message hits me in the heart. Man’s inhumanity to man is highlighted by his inhumanity to animals. Fantastic piece, Roberta!
    Your son’s poem was a perfect ending, after the Munch painting.
    Love the painting through the doorway at the beginning. Happy week!

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    1. HI Resa, thank you for your lovely comment. I am glad this cake and poem resonated with you. My sister gave me the painting you see through the doorway. She didn’t like it – too dark! I love it. Tastes are different in families.

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  38. Robbie, I loved this visit to your kitchen. I was sipping coffee and nattering to you. Your cake is wonderful and a creative depiction of nature screaming through the lion. Michael’s poem is amazing and how loving that he can express emotions in this way…what a loving, creative space you have all created. ❤

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  39. Oh wow! I thought the cake was amazing – using a medium that is usually associated with comfortable, celebratory occasions to put across something a whole lot darker somehow gives it more punch. And your son’s poem is extremely powerful – thank you for sharing!

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  40. Thank you for sharing your kitchen where you create your beautiful cakes, Robbie this one depicts the scream perfectly and the poem for one so young is very intense but mirrors the emotion of what is unfolding in our world. what man is inflicting on our beautiful planet..at home, my cooker is nothing like yours but for the month I have the luxury of using one very similar-smile- x

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  41. Inspiration can come from any and everything. I think your cake captured what you intended. And your son’s verse rememinds me very much of my own emotions when I was trying to figure out how to get out of some sad moods as a teen full of angst. I can’t imagine how some children have managed to live through the Covid lockdowns and then with having to deal with current news. But in each generation we have faced difficulties and have managed. Some easier than others. May we all continue to support each other and find a way to bring peace and safety to the world in which we share.

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    1. HI Jules, I think you are right about inspiration coming unexpectedly. I am usually inspired when I read a small something about a person in a difficult situation, often historical. My son has struggled with depression as he is social and found being at home very difficult. I think we have all be changed by the last two years in some way or another.

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