Jelly – oil on canvas (50cm x 50cm)
I focused on the transparency of the jelly through oil pastel studies, and practiced aspects of my final piece with oil paint. For this piece, I wanted detail to show through in the outcome. I was influenced by artist Joël Penkman who does hyper-realistic paintings of food.
Photos
Taking photos of this subject I explored different textures by including whipped cream. I used an intricate cake stand to achieve detail in my work and used the light around me to highlight this.
I took multiple photos after I had made a jelly with fruit inside of it, choosing a red jelly to explore tonal range along with the fruit inside.
I thought that the swirl of the cream gave some good texture and the light travelling through the jelly gave it a brighter colour.
Artist Research
Whilst looking at Joël Penkman’s work her paintings of jellies stood out me. The hyper-realism shows the light’s reflection in the jelly as well as the fruits suspended within it.
I love her simple compositions of these more complicated subjects to paint as I think it really shows off her skill and the detail she puts into her work.
Using oil pastels was not my usual choice of media but I enjoyed tackling it. I think the vibrant colours suited these subjects but using white pen may have shown the highlights better.
Development
Looking into development for the final piece, I decided to attempt painting one of my photos. I think that the bottom of the cake stand and the jelly was successful but the cream was too white and needed some more yellow.
Overall, I was glad that I did this developmental piece, it aided me in the painting of the final, and gave me insights into the difficult aspects of the piece.