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“I take whimsy very seriously…”

Exploring the Details of the Trompe L’Oeil Painting “The Daydreamer”

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Kim Testone

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As I have mentioned many times here and on social media, my paintings are best appreciated in person and not online. This is partly because I have a very complex layering process for my paintings, wherein every part of each painting consists of multiple translucent layers of acrylic paint that visually fuse together to create new colors while allowing the markings from lower layers to peek through. This process also enables a different reaction to light hit the paintings, ever so subtly moving through the layers and bouncing back at the viewer, creating a greater sense of depth.

This painting will be on view at Hidell Brooks Gallery in Charlotte, North Carolina, for my solo show March 6-27, 2026.

Viewing is by appointment only. Please contact Hidell Brooks to schedule an appointment.

Although I can’t completely replicate that in-person experience in photos, I thought I’d share some close-up images of each of my new trompe l’oeil paintings so you can at least experience a bit of the mark-making process. Today, I thought I’d share images for “The Daydreamer,” acrylic on panel, 24″ x 24″.

The Daydreamer, acrylic on panel, 24" x 24".
The Daydreamer, acrylic on panel, 24″ x 24″, has received hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok since sharing it in September 2025.

This painting was very special to me, pulling from various parts of my life. You can learn a bit more about the development and painting process for “The Daydreamer” in my recent post, “The Failed Painting that Changed My Art Forever” (spoiler alert: this isn’t the failed painting!).

“The Daydreamer” has also connected with many people online, with the close-up TikTok video currently sitting at more than 420,000 views, the side perspective at more than 175,000 views and others in the tens of thousands. I truly love that so many people could find something in this piece — maybe they couldn’t even put their finger on why exactly — that touched their hearts in some unspoken way. I hope it does the same for you!

Remember to catch my solo exhibition at Hidell Brooks Gallery in Charlotte, North Carolina, March 6-27, 2026, to see this and many other of my newest works.

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy!

KIM

The Daydreamer Detail 1
The shadow on the butterfly cookie in the painting makes it almost look like it’s flying.
The Daydreamer Detail 2
A closer look at the butterfly section helps to demonstrate the various paint marks that create the illusion of depth in this trompe l’oeil piece.
The Daydreamer Detail 3
To create the horse cookie model, I used a vintage cookie cutter from my childhood.
The Daydreamer Detail 4
I got a lot of comments about how much people loved the pretzel fence. It was such a fun little addition, though very difficult to paint!
The Daydreamer Detail 6
In my original cookie model, I don’t always get the placement of my cookies correct, so for the painting, I actually had to visually move the horse back a bit so it created a nicer trompe l’oeil shadow over the red barn.
The Daydreamer Detail 7
To make the model for the barn, I cut some leftover gingerbread that I already had into a barn shape and decided to give it a pretzel roof instead of frosting. To achieve the red in the painting, I actually have probably a dozen or so glazes of multiple colors of red, as I really wanted it to sort of glow in the afternoon light.
The Daydreamer Detail 8
This is a good section to show how the frosting sky was painted, along with the neighboring shadows of the barn and the cloud. It feels like it’s a little bit magical to me, and really adds to the illusion of depth despite being flat.
The Daydreamer Detail 9
The cloud cookies were one of my favorite elements. If you read my other blog post, you’ll discover that I created them by breaking off the butterfly wings from other unused sugar cookies.
The Daydreamer Detail 10
This is another area that really shows how the complex shadow work adds to the illusion of dimension in the painting, despite being flat.
The Daydreamer Detail 11
This is a great section to show the “grass,” which was quite difficult to paint to make it look like the textured frosting swirls while still keeping the colors bright and cheerful.

Kim Testone
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ABOUT THE ARTIST

Kim Testone

Artist Kim Testone

I’m a full-time acrylic realism and trompe l’oeil painter creating whimsical food paintings inspired by real-life creations that I bake, decorate or scoop in my kitchen. All of my paintings are flat, painted with many thin layers of acrylic paint, aiming to look at three-dimensional as possible. I hope you’ll join me on the journey of creating art that brings a little happy magic into the world. I’ll be sharing my process, my insights, and hopefully some things that will inspire you to appreciate the little things around you every day.

The Formal Stuff:

  • B.A. in Studio Art from the University of Central Florida
  • M.A. in Arts Administration from Savannah College of Art and Design
  • Former Art Magazine Editor

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