Sweet Tooth Collection

These original oil paintings form a mini-series exploring how colour and light interact with translucent objects. I chose candy as my subject matter, with a primary focus on gummies, because their bright hues evoke a positive emotion in me. Also, their vibrant colours would allow for the small paintings to be impactful, while the varying surface qualities make for an interesting surface to let the background colour reflect onto. I chose contrasting colours to highlight this characteristic. As I created more pieces for the collection, I gravitated towards using gummy pieces with marshmallow to act as a buffer between the background and the jelly layer on top, enabling the use of darker backgrounds. Additionally, this type of candy subtly conveys a contrast between the matte white surface of the marshmallow, that softly reflects the background colour without altering its original hue, and the glossy candy surface, that sharply reflects that same colour while blending it into a new hue. This is different from fully translucent gummies, because the background colour coming through would turn the candy darker and less visible, or else the colour change becomes too muddy for my liking. The most interesting parts of my paintings, in my opinion, are at the edge of the candy pieces, where the background reflects onto the edge of the glossy candy, while the light that travels through the colourful translucent jelly is cast onto the background in the colour of the jelly itself.

All my paintings use real-life candy and hand-painted backgrounds that I’ve set up in order to truly grasp how the two elements interact. I intentionally avoid using the same piece of candy for each painting. Not only does this keep me from painting the identical subject over and over, it also showcases the unique variations of the same gummy coming out of the package, emphasising their softness.

Light sources played a crucial role in this series. Sometimes I used single or multiple lights of varying intensities to cast different shadows; some crisp and dark, others softer with varying colours, depending on the light’s temperature. Experimenting with shadows allowed me to add depth and energy to each painting. However, the best part of the process often came at the end - painting in those bright highlights that completely transform the piece, making the candy pop and tying everything together.

I also experimented with various substrates, including cotton, aluminium, wood, and paper, to see how each surface affects brushwork and layering. Some backgrounds are smoothly painted, while others feature impasto techniques that make the paint reflect light differently as you move around the piece. All substrates are mounted on cradled panels (about 3/4” deep), with the sides painted and the entire surface finished in varnish to enhance the overall glossiness of the oil paint. The paintings do not need to be framed as the sides are painted to stand alone. If you’re interested in acquiring one of these sweet treats, please contact me for pricing details.