Neopolitan Ice Cream Cake

I've surprised myself by becoming a consistent middle-distance runner and jog over 500 miles a year (10m per week.) Surprised myself as I'm not a natural runner - stocky build, thick footballer's legs, layers of thick fat and a low point of gravity. I've almost become addicted to it and when I can get my breathing right I enjoy it. After a long run I get urges for sugary stuff - Mars bars, wedges of coffee cake, Cadbury flakes and - best of all - ice cream. One night after a long run along the canal I really wanted some Neopolitan ice cream. I was sure I'd bought some but when I looked in the freezer I hadn't - probably as there's little space for luxuries. I had to paint one instead (zero calories I suppose) and here a big wedge of Neopolitan ice cream cake.

I drew out the piece of cake on an A3 canvas board thinking it would be a quick do-in-two-hours kind of thing. It took a few weeks as after painting in the main colours with acrylic paint I forgot about it. I put this board on a shelf in the spare bedroom and then found it weeks later while looking for a book. Anyone can start something, I thought to myself and made an internal promise to finish it. On a rainy Sunday I completed it. The cake looked flat so I thought I'd add some shadows. This was difficult as the cake is standing on a curved plate and shadows don't fall flat on curved shiny surfaces. I dabbed on some shadowy bits here and there and I'm not sure they worked but the cake became slightly more three-dimensional. You have to add a silver spoon don't you?

Anyway here it is before it goes into the attic to collect decades of dust. However you could buy this and hang it in your kitchen for £8226. When you fancy a piece of Neopolitan ice cream cake you can glance at this painting, feel queasy and eat nothing. I can post if off tomorrow after I've visited the British Airways Vomit Bag Museum (866 exhibits and some are artistically stained apparently.)