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MEDIUM: Acrylics on Watercolor Paper
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SIZE: 22" x 30"
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STATUS: Sold
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ACCOLADES: Region IV Award among only 60 accepted in the Juried Tennessee Watercolor Society 2010 Exhibition
"This painting is a different subject for me, and variety always makes the painting process interesting. My intention before starting was to do a painting to enter into an upcoming exhibition*, and this necessitates something bold. When a juror stands in the center of a room with over a hundred paintings surrounding him/her, or (these days) looks through digital files of hundreds of entries, a painting needs to really stand out to make it through the initial cut. Of course, from there it gets down to being individually judged for creativity, use of the media, technical mastery, strong design elements, etc., so those are all elements I tried to incorporate. I wonder if I'd do better with a female juror for this painting of chocolates?!?!
I was inspired years ago by artists who do enlarged views of common objects, like the flower paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe. I thought of doing the same with chocolates, the kind which come in a heart at Valentine's Day. I bought a little sampler box, but what was inside didn't look like what I was picturing in my mind - a molded plastic holder with the chocolates sitting in their designated spaces. I wanted the ones in little pleated foil cups! One day I noticed a Russell Stover store and went inside. They had many many choices of boxed chocolates, and you could see a sample of what was inside each box. I found just what I wanted, with interesting variation of designs, shapes, and colors... and in foil paper cup wrappers. Once back home, I took the chocolates and put them on a silver platter, being selective about the arrangement from a design point of view. Then I moved it around to check different lighting and photographed this little still life. Then I ate the chocolates [tough job, but someone had to do it!].
It was great fun to paint these sweets, and it was a new challenge to create so many shades of brown! I tried to capture the glossiness of the chocolates as well as the reflectiveness of the foil cups and the silver tray. I promise you won't get fat looking at the painting - unless it makes you hungry to go eat some chocolates!"
