Here is my painting "Be Good For Goodness Sake" (acrylic on wood) for Corey Helford Gallery's Product Displacement show in May this year. (I'm a little slow now on the blog updates, forgive me!)
At first I was thinking of doing ice cream with the snowmen - the ad being for Meadow Gold Ice Cream. Here's that sketch from my sketchbook. But the show was about product DISPLACEMENT rather than product placement - Ice cream/snowmen, that makes too much sense. I took a more sinister approach borrowing "milk of the poppy" from HBO's Game of Thrones which is a medical drink, used as both a painkiller and an anesthetic. Higher doses will induce unconsciousness (as you will not on the bottom of the bottle). In the show it is commonly used for those poor souls who have suffered severe injuries. (thank you Wikipedia) The idea is (one that is common in my work) the naivety of the snowmen dunking their cookies in the "milk" and leaving their fate to the imagination. I had so much fun with these little snowmen that I soon became obsessed painting them, studying them. Is it lame if from here on out I only paint snowmen and cherries? I can't stop.
(milk with straw reference)
This was just one of the studies set to Diane Rene's Kiss Me Sailor (I hope it works!) If not, please see it on my Instagram - I'm @brandimilne
