Today’s blog focuses on various ways to execute bites from Oreo Cookies. If you were expecting bites from The Vampire Diaries or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you may want to look elsewhere…. I finally took the plunge into the whole new world of prints, opening the door to a new area of exploration – along with a new gallery in California and a July group show in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.
After working almost exclusively in oil for many years, I began a series of 6 x 6 inch Oreo cookie drawings. Since it is easier and quicker to draw than to paint (think no messy oil paint brush cleanup!), I am able to explore a larger variety of possibilities and whimsical compositions using this particular icon. Here are 10 drawings in cello bags, along with some of the original subjects.
My initial concept was to make prints of single original Limited Edition Giclée Art Prints based on the Oreo drawings, like this one.
©Beverly Shipko, 2014, “Carol’s Oreo”, Limited Edition Giclée Art Print, 100% Rag Paper, 8 x 8 inches
While looking at the initial array square Oreo drawings on the table (shown above), I started playing with the tiles and arranging them. A composition eventually emerged. For the next two days, I intermittently rearranged the drawings, when I finally realized I was looking at my first composite print of 9 Oreo Cookies called “Oreo Mandala”. “Oreo Mandala” made its gallery debut at SuperFresh Food Art Gallery in Novato, CA, which Jay and I visited on the first day of our recent San Francisco trip. Let me introduce you to one of the co-owners, Jennifer Carden, a California food stylist, who coincidentally went to art school at SUNY Purchase. It’s a small world!
Don’t you just love the big fork next to the Oreo print?
Imagine being in a room surrounded by exquisite food, without gaining any weight… I have Cristine Kossow, a fellow food artist who I met through our local Art Card Group, to thank for telling me about this gallery.
Now that I am officially an artist who works in print, there are a plethora of opportunities to exhibit prints and drawings that were previously unavailable, such as the PaperWorks 2014 juried show at Upstream Gallery in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, currently on display.
PaperWorks 2014 featured in the RiverTowns Enterprise – with a delicious surprise!
The two Oreo prints accepted into this exhibit are part of a series showing participating entries from my Oreo Cookie Contest, held during the RiverArts Open Studio Tour a few years back. Since the “biter” of the bottom Oreo neglected to leave their name, this “portrait” is titled “Oreo Cookie #2 – Anonymous”. The top print, “Oreo Cookie #8 – My Bite”, was my own contribution to the series and thus is my Oreo “portrait”. Can you see the resemblance?
Stop by the Upstream Gallery before July 27th for a closer look!
Thank you to all my loyal fans who have encouraged me to stretch, to be more adventuresome, and to try a new media. In other words, thanks for inspiring me to take a bite out of life!
