What began as a university fine arts project on Pointillism and Georges Seurat by student Joel Brochu, evolved into a remarkable artistic idea.
What looks like an image of a beagle getting a bath (above) is actually a 4’ by 1 ½’ high definition photograph covered in 221,184 nonpareil sprinkles, each placed painstakingly by hand.
At a distance of 16 feet, the sprinkles blur, tricking the human eye into believing that it is looking at a large photograph. Only when you closely examine the work do you realize that it has been created entirely with tiny spheres of rainbow nonpareils.
Meticulously placed by hand using jewelry tweezers, the sprinkles adhere to the board with the help of double sided tape and a thin layer of glue.
Using only 6 colors of sprinkles (Red, Orange, Green, Blue, Black, and White), a myriad of hues was created.
Joel used a customized computer program, in which a template was created from the original image which guided the placement of each sprinkle. Taking just under 8 months to complete, once finished, it was permanently preserved with a clear acrylic resin.
Sweet, huh?
A big shoutout to Betsy Wills and her wonderful blog, Artstormer, for bringing this unique piece to my attention. Most images courtesy of Joel Brochu
above: Margaret Morrison's Fisher Price People, 2010, oil on canvas, 48" x 48"
From Wax Lips and Gummy Bears to Pez and Pull-toys, critically acclaimed painter Margaret Morrison captures nostalgia on canvas with her photo realistic oil paintings of candy and toys from our childhood.
Ring Pops:
Wax Lips:
Super Bubble gum:
Gummy Bears:
Gummy Worms:
Gummy Centipedes:
Hershey's Chocolate Kiss:
Margaret Morrison:
The talented artist is a professor at the University of Georgia's Lamar Dodd School of Art and also paints many other subjects including figurative work as in her Centricity series, flowers and foods. She has been represented by the Woodward Gallery for the past 17 years.
More Peepular than ever.
Those colorful sugar-coated marshmallow Easter treats shaped like bunnies and chicks continue to expand their cult-like popularity. More colors, chocolate dipped, bite-sized and sugar-free versions are now available. In response to the public Peep demand, Just Born has opened their first Peeps & Company store and have launched a new dedicated e-commerce Peeps site.
About the store
PEEPS & COMPANY® is located at the very center of National Harbor's dynamic main plaza. Directly in front of the PEEPS & COMPANY® store is Seward Johnson's famous statue, The Awakening, along with sweeping views of the beautiful Potomac River. The store's location is at a converging point for residents and thousands of visitors arriving by metro bus, car, and ferries, which dock at the piers in front of the store.
In a joint statement, David Shaffer and Ross Born, Co-CEOs of Just Born, commented, "This is a momentous occasion for Just Born, our family of associates, and fans of our candy. For years, we have seen tremendous growth and excitement for our brands, and received many requests for a store in just the right location. PEEPS & COMPANY® is proud to join the community near our nation's capital."
Inside the store: above: The Corcoran Ceramics faculty was picked by Chicago’s RTKL to create the signature tile wall for the Peeps® Company flagship retail store at the National Harbor
The stores and site are being promoted with a Peepmobile (actually called the Peepster Car for some odd reason).
Here's a little news story on the new store:
Annual Peeps contests in which people create scenes and dioramas using the Easter favorites keep on growing. Several major newspapers now sponsor Peeps contests. Instead of showing you images of multiple entries like I have in the past, there are just too many, so instead I will show you the winning entry from the Washington Posts's contest along with links to the other contests so you can view the entries and winners on your own.
The Washington Post's 2011 Peeps Contest Winner: ‘Chilean CoPeepapo mine rescue’
above: This year’s winning diorama is called "Chilean CoPeepapo Mine Rescue." It was created by Mary Jo Ondrejka, Margaret Hartka, and Bryn Metzdorf. (Narration by Holly E. Thomas) (/Video by Evelio Contreras and Akira Hakuta)
Not only are the contests gaining more popularity but more and more non-edible Peeps products are being marketed. More peeps stickers, mugs, mouse pads, plushies, apparel and even golf accessories join brands like Lenox to create more branded items available from the Peeps online store.
Peeps golf balls, head covers and golf towel:
Lenox Peep tea light holders:
Peeps Silly Bands!
Mousepads:
Peeps Stainless Steel water bottles:
Peeps Jewelry:
Peeps apparel:
Visit Peeps and Company's new dedicated website which offers the above items and many more.
above: Kim Kardashian made of Red Vines & Black Licorice twists
Los Angeles born, and now San Francisco-based, mosaic artist Jason Mecier creates portraits of famous personalities with assemblages crafted of candy, food, yarn, dried beans and just plain junk.
In his licorice mosaics, He artfully twists red and black licorice to create uncanny likenesses of some of today's most popular entertainers and images from popular culture.
above: detail of Kim Kardashian made of Red Vines and Black Licorice
In his "junk" portraits, the objects he uses to craft the images include things relevant to the celebrity or personality of his subject, such as the Campbell's soup cans and banana used to compose a portrait of artist Andy Warhol:
Red vines and black licorice:
Mo' Nique:
Michael C. Hall as Dexter:
Elizabeth Berkely in Showgirls:
Taylor Lautner:
Robert Englund as Freddy Kruger from Nightmare on Elm Street:
Other Candy
Taylor Swift made with Good n' Plenty Candies:
Pam Anderson made of various hard candy and candy bars:
details:
Christina Aguilera made of candy:
The Olsen Twins made of candy:
The Spice Girls made of candy:
Some of his impressive "junk" portraits.
Mary Louise Parker (star of HBO's Weeds):
Conan O'Brien:
Tina Fey:
Chelsea Handler:
Donald Trump and detail:
Frida Kahlo and detail:
Singer Pink:
Kathy Najimy:
RuPaul:
President Obama:
And, not on his site, is his portrait of Snoop Dogg made entirely of, you guessed it... weed:
