This challenge took me all over the place. I played around with so many different ideas (like many of you, a box of chocolates, a piece of cake, cupcakes...). I doodled and photographed chocolate in all sorts of forms, and brainstormed chocolate-related concepts until I had lists of ideas.
And then it hit me -- because we are chocolate lovers around here, chocolate doesn't last long in this house. And that led to the idea of illustrating chocolate just having been eaten.
So here is my empty chocolate wrapper. I call this "Still Life Without Chocolate." The Americans among you might recognize this as the debris from a mini Reese's peanut butter cup!
This was machine appliqued, then further embellished with paint, pastel crayons, and additional stitching.
This red one is actually version #3. You might recall my tale of having gotten ALMOST done and then doing ONE LITTLE THING that, to my mind, ruined the piece. I started out with the wrappers on a blue field (version #1), and after I ruined it, I cut away the wrappers and appliqued them onto another background. So here is version #2.
There was something about the crispness of the images on a print fabric, versus a mottled fabric that looks more painterly to me, which is why I moved on to version #3. But I do like this one, too.
And all this messing around gave me some good practice creating the look of foil with metallic fabric.
The added irony is that in recent days, a very minor health issue has popped up which prevents me from eating ANY CHOCOLATE AT ALL. So it's probably a good thing I've visually overdosed during this challenge!
Wait a second, it's only 6:45 and I'm reading your note and you're in my time zone, so i guess I can publish mine also. I kept going between the 2 pictures trying to decide which one I liked best, and honestly each time I look at them I like the one I'm looking at best!That no chocolate health issue has to be fixed immediatly.
ReplyDeleteOh I really like this. It looks like a photograph. It's so life-like. I do really like the blue background too. I love these mini Reeses and I can just about taste it in my mouth, thinking I've just eaten it.
ReplyDeleteI love it! I've been known to stick that little brown paper cup in my pocket after I've eaten a Reese's because it smells so good.
ReplyDeleteWhat an image! You totally captured it. Excellent.
ReplyDeleteSo can you tell us exactly what you did to ruin version #1?
Version 1 was on a blue print background, and I loved it but wasn't sure if the background looked too flat in contrast to the dimension of the wrappers. So after it was all quilted and had been up on my wall for a day and a half, I decided to take a pastel crayon and try to create some shadowy depth along the upper edge. But I forgot that I had pieced the background, and when I started rubbing gently with the crayon, I got a big dark line where the background was pieced -- a rubbing of the line on the FRONT of the quilt. Eek! Suddenly I had soft shadow and a dark line that I couldn't eliminate or cover, although I tried more coloring and even fusing and more quilting over it. It just looked icky. And of course, I didn't have any more of the original blue background fabric which I'd loved. Which led to choosing #2, and then was too dark and didn't provide enough contrast against the brown wrapper, so I colored in a lighter field and created a horizon line... Oy.
ReplyDeleteWell, great minds, as they say!! We both have been inspired by chocolate we have eaten. These are both wonderful. I love the Trompe l'oeil look that it has. This would be so fabulous done 6 feet by 6 feet!!
ReplyDeleteGosh, your foil is such a success! It looks incredibly real. And I can't decide which background I prefer.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the blue version is bad, but I prefer the red one. More sinful, I guess. The simplicity of the design works really well here. I love it, and I love the title too!! Makes me want to take delicious things out of all sorts of still lives.
ReplyDeleteThey're great! I don't know which one I like best though.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you cannot eat chocolate at the moment. I'm going to eat some for you!
The title makes me so sad! Life would be still without chocolate. (and I hope you are able to eat chocolate soon!!!)
ReplyDeleteI love these quilts. You did a wonderful job of capturing the discarded wrapper. The foil wrapper is perfect. I think I'm partial to the blue, but that may just be my desire for a calm morning.
A sassy interpretation! Its like a little mystery - who ate it and where have they gone? I actually like the blue one best - it seem sto have more clarity somehow. And I don't see why Francoise should get all the good helping karma so I'll have some for you too - I hope thats only a temporary ban?
ReplyDeleteI love seeing what comes to the 12x12 quilt themes and quilters but this one is my favorite because it totally expresses what happens to all chocolate that dares to darken my threshold! Great job to all!!
ReplyDeleteWell done! I like the title too!
ReplyDeleteWonderful realism! Make it big!
ReplyDeletejoan