“Crumbs M&M Mini Cupcake”, by Beverly Shipko, Oil on cradled wood panel, 6 x 6 inches
I am particularly proud of this painting since I didn’t start applying paint until after 5pm, which is late for a composition this ambitious. I plunged ahead anyway.
The key was working with a detailed sketch, having relentless focus, and carefully applying the paint (there was no time to repaint anything!). It also helped to have lots of brushes on hand (to keep the colors from getting muddy, about 3 per color so I didn’t have to wash them every time I introduced a new color) and Q-tips ready to remove excess paint (usually artists use cloth or a palette knife to do this, but this panel is too small for that).
As you can see, I started by laying in the darks on a neutral beige acrylic underpainting to establish the structure of the picture, and to make sure the colors I mixed worked against the background (no time for remixing!). The beige was enough tone to allow the white frosting to pop and didn’t detract from the vibrant M&Ms.
This particular mini-cupcake is part of a 12-pack sold by Crumbs Bake Shop, with a delicious selection of many of their classic flavors. You can see hints of the plastic Crumbs container in the background, which is always a challenge (no pun intended). Day 5 was an exercise in chiaroscuro, each M&M requiring modeling like a ball to get the 3-D feeling.
Previously I had painted the whole tray in Bonnie’s Crumbs Bakeshop Mini-Pack, currently available at Cavalier Gallery in Greenwich, CT. While this painting is one of my all time favorites, I always thought a cupcake topped with M&Ms would make a good painting by itself, and decided to try it on wood, a very different painting experience vs. linen.
“Bonnie’s Crumbs Bakeshop Mini-Pack”, by Beverly Shipko, Oil on linen, 16 x 20 inches.
At first, I was oscillating back and forth about whether to include the transparent plastic container. While the painting would have worked either way, I left it in because the shadows gave the work life.
Tomorrow I’ll probably paint something with a more limited palette so I can take a break from this brush cleaning. I find myself wishing I had an assistant to help with the grunt work during the Challenge. Any volunteers?
See you tomorrow.
