The Daydreamer | Cookie Landscape Trompe L'Oeil Painting of a Horse | Open Edition Print

The Daydreamer print is based on my trompe l'oeil painting of a horse in a colorful cookie and frosting scene. In true hyperrealism trompe l'oeil style, the painting was completely flat. Any dimension is an illusion. The close-up video of the painting recently reached more than 425,000 views on TikTok, with more than 92,000 likes. Based on the very kind comments, I'm pretty sure the piece brightened the day for a lot of people. That is always my goal!

To create the whimsical painting, I designed, baked and decorated a real-life cookie-frosting model for reference. I then spent over 200 hours meticulously painting it to create the three-dimensional illusion. You can check out many of my process videos on my TikTok. There is never any AI involved in my work. Everything is from my imagination and my kitchen.

"The Daydreamer" features a decorated sugar cookie horse, in an imaginary frosting landscape with a field of cookie flowers (subtly, horse-friendly pansies), a pretzel stick fence, sugar cookie clouds, a gingerbread barn with a pretzel stick roof and a small Monarch butterfly cookie giving the impression that it is flying. The design balances the whimsical design, the three-dimensional illusion and a subtle narrative of hope.

Monarch butterflies, which are often depicted in my trompe l'oeil foodscape works, are recognized as a symbol of transformation, strength and resilience. Here, I wanted the scene to depict a horse living on a farm and considering that maybe life can be more than simply being confined. The fence is open, the horse could leave and follow the butterfly, but what would happen? Is it enough to be comfortable among the field of flowers and bright red barn, or is it okay to dream of something more?

Like my other works, I wanted this ficitionalized painting of a horse to stand as a source of inspiration for people from a wide range of backgrounds. Using cookies and frosting as the base design elements allows an easier entry point for viewers to enjoy and thoughtfully consider the work.

I worked very hard to try to get the print to be as close to the original whimsical painting as possible. I hope this whimsical art print will bring a little bit of magical flair to whatever space you decide to put it in!

"The Daydreamer" Trompe L'Oeil Painting Open-Edition Print Details

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• Based on an original acrylic painting by Kim Testone
• Borderless print
• Open-edition print
• Signed Kim Testone on the bottom right, titled on the bottom left "The Daydreamer", in pencil
• Individually printed in the artist's studio
• Giclée print on heavy-weight museum-quality paper (308gsm 100% cotton rag smooth Hahnemuhle paper with archival Epson UltraChrome inks)
• Unframed
• Presented with a solid, contemporary white background, as originally painted.

Other Purchase Options

*Learn more about how to purchase the original hyperrealism whimsical painting here. 

*Mini prints of "The Daydreamer" are available as part of my Sweet Escapes Print Club Catch-Up Prints here.