Culinary Color Wheel

Culinary Color Wheel 24" x 30" Coloursofts on Fisher 400

Here is the finished piece! I decided to withdraw my first composition with the squished fruit and replace it with some puree drizzle. I will be dropping it off to the photographer who knows how to light and focus better... so when I get it back I will try and repost it with the better photograph. I plan on using the photograph to enter it in a show as well as offer poster sized prints, so if you are interested, let me know!

I had so much fun with this piece. I put the idea off for a while because of how much produce I had to buy and the daunting task of what to pick. I wanted everything recognizable and of varying shapes and sizes. I bought an 18" round platter and brought it with me to the grocery store. I placed it in the bottom of the cart so I could arrange things there - mostly because I didn't want to overbuy fruits and veggies I didn't need.


When making the drawing I decided to punch up the colors so the color wheel aspect was really evident. That part was a lot of fun too because I could stray from the photograph to get what I wanted. Besides a play in color I realized pretty quickly how it is also a play in textures. To make the produce recognizable those textures had to be right.

I hope you enjoy this one as much as I do. It is really a reflection of my interests right now with the blog my sister and I started www.mealpod.us. Besides art and family, our health is a big priority and a big part of my time. If you don't know the message behind this piece... I also thought about naming it "Eat a Rainbow" but hubby nixed that idea inadvertently with a big laugh when I said it, lol. 

Color Wheel - WIP 4

A-L-M-O-S-T there... well except for all that background. I haven't decided what to do with it yet. I just keep on changing my mind on the squished things. I did arrange them in photoshop and I like it in that but it doesn't always turn out the same... I am also debating writing "Color" or Eat" in drizzled puree below it instead. I know - I should stop thinking. I did have this all planned out with the squished things and arranged before I started, but I always reserve the right to change my mind!

I have been altering things as I go along - changing values of things or colors, but I gave the cauliflower an overhaul. Here it is when I attacked it with sticky tac and before I applied more color. 

I did decide to use orange zest solvent on the background so it will sit back more. 

Color Wheel - WIP 3 - need advice!

I didn't have much time to work on this this weekend, but was able to sneak in a bit here and there. My regular art days are Thursday and Friday, so I hope to accomplish more on those days.

The background hasn't really been touched yet except for the upper left hand corner. I am playing around with the idea of adding squashed fruits to the white backdrop. I'd love to hear what you think about that? Would it be too much? My daughter and I dutifully squashed some berries for reference. I was thinking a nice squashed yellow tomato too?  I've played with it on photoshop with a diagonal arrangement from the right upper corner of the paper to the lower left. Please let me know your thoughts!

On another note, have you gotten Ann Kullberg's Magazine for Colored Pencil Artists this month (March 2012)? It is an awesome issue. I absolutely adored the article by Pamela Belcher on the art she did after traveling to India. It is such a good idea and something I would like to play with myself. She made a sort of grid work (a wonky one) and then drew in scenes from India in each of the boxes. I am not making it sound as cool as it is. 

Also Sheila Theodoratos' work is featured  as well as Nancy Jacey's colorful work. It is so inspiring!

Color Wheel - WIP 2

Here's Day 2! I'm having a lot of fun with this. I was worried that I might not be able to improve upon the photograph I took of the food, because I don't really see the point if I can't and the photograph turned out really good. I am finding that doing it in colored pencils however is really helping the color effect because I can "fudge" a bit on the colors to get them to flow a bit better together. 

Color Wheel - WIP 1

I am so close to finishing the book I can taste it... but I have to admit it tastes a bit foul right now. No, I am not disappointed with the book - I just need a break from  it before I go through with the first edits.

So I decided to do a still-life. All this time working on the book has allowed me to fantasize about what still-lifes to do. I really would like to do some that overlap my interests with my other blog I have with my sister: www.mealpod.blogspot.com about healthy eating.

So I went for it and started a food color wheel. It is large: 24" x 30," so the food is just ever so slightly larger than life size. To give you an idea of the size the platter in real life is 18" round and the platter on the paper is 19" round. Not much different.

Today's post is the first day... not much done yet because I had to draw my general shapes on there first and the day is now over.

It is on Fisher 400 paper mounted on Gatorboard and I am using all Coloursoft pencils.