“Give me a break,
Give me a break,
Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat Bar”.
“Kit Kat” by Beverly Shipko, Oil painting on cradled wood panel, 5 x 7 inches
With this Kit Kat painting, I took another trip down memory lane back to my days in advertising at DMB&B in New York City working on the M&M’s Twix Cookie Bars account. For two years, I lived and breathed the candy (ate it too, and gained a few unwanted pounds with all the cases of free candy lying around).
Since both Twix and Kat Kat are made from wafers, they are direct competitors. As a result, I closely monitored Kat Kat marketing activities in the US and Europe. The overseas Kit Kat commercials were really whimsical and silly – much different in tone than American ads.
This Hershey candy felt so familiar that I felt like I was getting reacquainted with an old friend during the entire process.
As I was working, this painting reminded me of another Hershey candy painting, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, from the January Challenge, with its similar orange and brown color palette. That was when I first discovered the myriad of possibilities with opened candy wrappers. I also think the Day 7 Vending Machine painting had a subliminal effect on this choice of subject.
Painting this was just plain fun.
Surprisingly, the most difficult part was the setup because the package didn’t rip open very easily or elegantly. After going through quite a few Kit Kats, I returned to this first bar, which was opened by Bonnie. Thanks, Bonnie!
Now that it’s October, technically the September 30 Painting in 30 Day Challenge is over, but not for me. When Laura was home in mid-September, she suggested a modification this concept to accommodate this exceptionally busy month: 30 Paintings in 40 Days
I will be posting my end-of-Challenge collage tomorrow here and on Leslie Saeta’s blog. However, I will keep going and build on my momentum. I’m painting better than I have for months with all this practice, and I have a few more paintings I want to try before leaving for Philadelphia for the weekend (not to mention the ones that need work).
Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.