Gallery Feature Friday: Kamehameha Cocoa Painting

This Gallery Feature Friday entry is in honor of the Kamehameha Schools Annual Song Contest which will be held tonight.

Here is one of the few pictures of myself with hair that you will ever find of me on the internet. The cocoa painting is of the famous statue of King Kamehameha (See video of the statue here), and it was painted by a very talented local artist named Momi Ojha. The thing that impresses me most about this painting is the amount of detail se was able to put into the Hawaii state seal in the lower right of the plaque. The detail in the crown alone just blows my mind. Not to mention the fact that you can read the state motto, “Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono” (The Life of the Land is Perpetuated in Righteousness) in the painting.

This is one of five paintings that she did. I gave her the blank Pastillage plaques and two weeks later she brought me back five beautiful cocoa paintings. In this picture, you can see me mounting the plaque onto a pastillage base that I have cocoa painted to look like wood. I then airbrushed the plaque to highlight the painting as well as to give it an antique look. 

 

Stats:

• Composition – Pastillage. The frame is modeling chocolate.
• Cocoa painting my Momi Ojha
• Weight – Approximately 3 pounds. 
• Width – 10 inches
• Height – 18 inches 
• Mounting Time – Approximately 4-5 hours spread out over 2 days. 

 

Song stuck in my head at the time of this post: What the World Needs Now is Love by the Carpenters

Gallery Feature Friday: Pastillage Voyaging Canoe Close Up

Stats:

• Composition – Pastillage. The dark parts are modeling chocolate.
• Weight – Approximately 10 pounds. 
• Length – 24 inches
• Width – 14 inches
• Height – 18 inches (tip of the sails)
• Production Time – Approximately 10-15 hours spread out over 6 days. 
• Note – Here is a close up view of a previous feature. You can get a better look at a lot of the detain on this piece like the Hawaiian instruments (Pahu Drum, Uli Uli, Ipu) next to the shack. You can also see the wave pattern that was literally scratched into the side of the canoe with a pairing knife, and the sea foam which was made from rock sugar. One of the issues with this piece was that I had to figure out a way to make the sails removable. If the sails were attached to the canoe, it would be far too fragile, making it impossible to transport this piece anywhere. So, I made a cradle in which I could just slide the sails into while on display, and then remove them while transporting the piece.

 

Song Stuck in my head at the time of this post: Tell Me ‘Bout It by Joss Stone

Gallery Feature Friday: Pastillage Kadomatsu

Stats:

• Composition – Pastillage. Flowers are Marzipan, Rocks are Modeling Chocolate
• Weight – Approximately 5-7 pounds. 
• Width – 10 inches
• Height – 18 inches
• Production Time – Approximately 15-20 hours spread out over 5 days. 

I know that I have already featured this piece, but it is traditional of New Years, so here is a closer look at the Kadomatsu. In this shot, you get a better view of the details that you couldn’t see in the buffet picture. The Bamboo look was achieved through light cocoa painting to give it a slight wood grain, then airbrushed with yellow and green food color. I cheated a bit with the branches. In order to give them stability, I wrapped pastillage around metal wire. other than that, the entire piece is edible. 

For those of you not familiar with the tradition, Kadomatsu are Japanese arrangements of Bamboo and Pine placed by the door during New Year’s to ward off evil spirits, and welcome good fortune and prosperity for the coming year. If you want to find out more about Kadomatsu, check out this article by Susan Sunderland.

 

Song stuck in my head at the time of this post: the Zestfully Clean song.