“MY STRIPES MAY BE DIFFERENT BUT MY HEART BEATS THE SAME”

This is my second time contributing to this wonderfully run collaboration highlighting the struggles of people and their families affected by autism.
This year I took inspiration from Australian Artist Nekea Blagoev.
Full time Artist Nekea runs her own successful art business Get Smashed Art (www.getsmashedart.com). Not only has she received numerous awards for her art, but she is also in high demand as an expert advocate in the Autism world to raise awareness of the subject. Two of her artworks have been chosen to feature in school textbooks.
‘In-disguise (zebra)’ is one of her best known pieces which is part of the Government House collection in Queensland, Australia since December 2015. I paired the black and white hand drawing with one of Nekea’s excursions into the world of digital art, which appealed to me for its vibrancy and the dramatic use of colour. It also picks up the tree element from the zebra’s stripes again.
I handpainted the 2D topper of the zebra with black foodcolour onto white florist paste. The base cake is covered in white fondant, which I airbrushed and a then added an additional dimension of strikingly neon coloured royal icing.”