Golden Feast

I have been knocking out these idealized food scenarios for Trader Joe's departments, one after another. You saw Meats, Cheese, and Cornucopia of Produce. Here's "Golden Feast," celebrating pre-made meals, dips, and deli items. It looks a little "middle eastern restaurant" but there is plenty of hummus there. The flowers are depicted as they are in a Trader Joe's bouquet called "Fired Up for Fall." The TJ flower bouquets have these poetic, evocative names that conjure up a whole mood, like "Wildly Flowered" (which had wildflowers in it) or "Deep Blue Sea" which featured blue and white flowers and is no longer available. It's kind of like the poetic names given to shades of paint by the paint company's marketers. Not just "Harvest Gold," but "Sunset Pink" and "Velvet Curtain Red." This is advertising, the real fantasy art. Some copy will be placed on a transparency over the empty area of yellow to the right.

Meanwhile I struggle to scratch out "pretty girl" faces in my notebooks. I won't be satisfied until I can draw perfectly proportioned pretty faces, without erasing more than I draw. It's interesting how I can find these features in a select few of the females I look at day by day at work. Most females over 30 don't fit the ideal proportions. But that isn't what people want to see in art. As an illustrator, the last thing I want to do is draw an ugly or plain character - unless that's what the art director wants.

"Golden Feast" is acrylic markers and spray paint on Masonite, 4 feet by 2 feet, October 12, 2010.