I seemed to be hooked on candy.
And just maybe Halloween is top-of-mind from the pumpkin decorations that Bonnie already put up.
“Mini Tootsie Roll with Bag” by Beverly Shipko, Oil painting on cradled wood panel, 5 x 7 inches
Whatever the reason, this was truly a rewarding but demanding painting that took a a few days. After working for several hours, I decided not to rush this since it had a lot of potential.
I wanted to revisit little Tootsie Rolls with it’s bag (that says Midgees on it, which doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue). Using a camera as my digital sketchbook, I took 25 photos with the bag before settling on this composition (reminding me of the dramatic angles in 19th century Japanese woodcuts).
It took a while to come to grips with the different scale between the bag and the Tootsie Rolls, and find a dynamic composition using this atypically shaped candy (rather static and awkward from this painter’s perspective).
Less was more in this painting. I settled on a single Tootsie Roll, eliminating both wrapped and unwrapped ones ion various stages of being consumed.
I went right to the sketch, skipping the toned underpainting, and started with the bag – not surprising since I like use the darks to establish the structure. The above photo shows where I was at the end of the first day of painting.
Thanks again to Ed Price, my Northwestern business school buddy, who first planted the seed of painting mini Tootsie Rolls, which weren’t on my radar.
I’m proud of the last two iconic candy paintings, the Day 28 Kit Kat followed by today’s Day 29 Mini-Tootsie Roll with Bag, which are drying together on my mantel. While both have a similar color palette, the approach for each is distinct. Do you have a favorite?
With Jay’s help, there will be a lot more open wrapper “research” around here as Halloween approaches. Photos of your own handiwork all always welcome.
I’m getting a sugar high just thinking about all this candy, so I need a break. Maybe it’s time to go back to painting something more healthy – and finish up Apples and Honey from Day 15, which in the sketch stage.
I’ll decide tomorrow. Until then.
