We're fortunate to have guest authors Megan Fizell & Cassandra Edlefsen share their collaborative colour series here on COLOURlovers. Their monthly colour project considers select artworks featuring one predominant colour within the context of the pigment’s history and in relation to natural edible form. Read more about the project at the bottom of this post. You can find the original articles on Feasting on Art. The one below is located here.

Hung Liu’s artistic production is a process of recollection – a symbolic excavation.  Having weathered the re-education of artists vis-a-vis Mao’s Cultural Revolution and immigration to the U.S. in 1984, Hung Liu’s influences are richly transcultural.  She is known as one of the very first Chinese artists to study within the U.S. and has since received numerous accolades for her dynamic work.  Starting from anonymous photographs (often of unnamed Chinese prostitutes), Liu’s portrayals pair elements of tradition with contemporary critique.  Vividly, her use of colour challenges her audiences’ emotive links to colour.  In an interview she gave in 1995, Hung Liu refers to her vibrant use of colour, particularly red: “Red is an alarming color. We use red lights to warn people; to tell about danger and to use caution.  In China, red is the color of the national flag. It is also the color of revolution; it suggests blood. Red also is used for celebration; it is festive and is used for such things as weddings, the Chinese New Year, and red banners. I like to work with layers of meaning.” (1)

Hung Liu, Yang, 2008

We're fortunate to have guest authors Megan Fizell & Cassandra Edlefsen share their collaborative colour series here on COLOURlovers. Their monthly colour project considers select artworks featuring one predominant colour within the context of the pigment’s history and in relation to natural edible form. Read more about the project at the bottom of this post. You can find the original articles on Feasting on Art. The one below is located here.

In the mid-16th century, Spain began importing a vibrant red pigment from the New World that was so highly sought after that the source was held as a national secret. The dye was extracted from the blood of a female cochineal, a wingless insect that lives upon the leaves of the prickly pear. The dye was so valued that in the late 18th century, a French spy by the name of Nicolas Joseph Thierry de Menonville, snuck into the Spanish territory and successively procured a living specimen. The cochineal insect is closely related to the Indo-European kermes bug. Kermes insects live upon the scarlet oak and the red dye they produce was the most expensive pigment in the middle ages and very valuable to the Romans. According to Victoria Finlay, author of Colour: travels through the paintbox, “for many cultures red is both death and life – a beautiful and terrible paradox.” The connotations this colour, often made from the blood of insects, is embodied in Claude Monet’s Still Life: Quarter of Beef. This painting of a dead animal is created – is given life – through the death of the cochineal insect; yet represents a food source that sustains life. The small canvas represents the cyclical and paradoxical nature of the colour red.

[Claude Monet, Still Life: Quarter of Beef (Nature morte : le quartier de viande vers), c.1864
oil on canvas, 24 x 33 cm, Musée d’Orsay, Paris]

Bet you cool cats haven't seen a recipe visualized in quite this way before, eh? It's new to me too and it's got my mouth a-watering. Ikea's actually behind this delectable book which is called Homemade is Best. It features desserts, all meticulously styled in a way that's completely new to food photography (hat tip to Carl Kleiner for that). Sure, I still want a fat slice of the cake, but now I have so much more appreciation for what goes into it. Makes it seems so much more simple to make, no?

Not too long ago I was having a conversation about chocolate and realized that one either loves it or just simply finds it not to their liking at all. There are also those who crave chocolate on a constant basis. The color that we all identify chocolate with is brown. Rich and organic in appearance, brown is a beautiful color that stirs up a concoction of tasty treats in our head. What do you think?

macaroons | donut | pretzels | mousse cakes | cake | cupcake | ice cream

Continuing on colorful treats, today's pick is focused on green. There are so many great green sweets around. Though it is not one of the desserts included in this roundup, mint chocolate chip shake is an absolute favorite of mine. Also, the green macaroon look so delicious and sadly, I have never ever had the pleasure of tasting an actual macaroon, but from what I hear they are pretty tasty. So, I hope that you enjoy this yummy collection of sweets and please feel free to share some of your favorite green treats.

gummi bear | sprinkles | cupcake | jordan almonds | macaroons | cookie | cake

Instead of touching on home decor today, delicious sweets will be the focus. To be exact, yellow treats. Who doesn't love to indulge in a tasty dessert every once in a while? Ever wonder how many yellow snacks exist? To be honest, there are actually a decent amount, something that has never crossed my mind until recently. Here, you will see a roundup of some yellow sweets. Do you have any favorite desserts that are yellow? You should share with us.

Have you ever starred longingly at your (insert favorite snack food) and thought to yourself "man, I wish this was like 5 million times bigger." Yeah, I know you have. Well, lucky for us there's a place where all those giant snack dreams can be realized, and they even give you the recipe to do it. Pimp That Snack is a site where users post their attempts to create classic snack foods of hilarious proportions.

If your still hungry for some inspiration check out these confectionary inspired groups:  foodiefiles, Yummy Colours, Colour My Food, Confectioners Paradise, Candy Shop, CANDY MACHINE, Candylovers. And these other colorful food posts: How to Make a Rainbow Cake & Confectionery Colors Creating Art With Food

Giant Gummie Bears

While browsing Craftzine's blog I came across this colorful snack project where honey bears are used as molds to create enormous gummi bears. Here's an excerpt from the entertaining recipe:

Soon enough (about 10 minutes on low) the gummis were all melted, and the magma turned clear. It's all shiny and uniform in color, but still vaguely menacing, and I was expecting it to leap out of the pan and attach itself to my face. My spatula was well and truly stuck to the stovetop at this time, thanks to the crazy-glue consistency of the magma. A word of warning: as anyone who's worked with molten sugar knows, getting this stuff on bare skin is horrifically uncomfortable to say the least. It's really, really hot, and it clings to your skin, so tread carefully when pouring.

A colorful menu of cocktails from the "Adventures in Amateur Mixology" blog, Sloshed, and flickr.

Bada Bing
		2 basil leaves, chiffonaded 3 pitted Bing cherries 1 oz Plymouth gin ½ oz simple syrup ½ oz maraschino liqueur ½ lime juice 3-4 oz champagne See Instructions

Sleeping Giant
		1½ oz fresh orange juice 1½ oz unsweetened pineapple juice 1½ oz light rum ½ oz sweet & sour ¼ oz orgeat See Instructions

New York City based photographer Evan Sung.

Portfolio | Flickr

From your home & office to your favorite restaurants & shops, color inspiration is everywhere. And since color trends change more often than once a season, and color lovers are constantly looking for inspiration, we want to help organize your color world, and together, explore further into the world of color. With that in mind, we want to know what spaces inspire you. Send us your inspiring interior links, images & designs, and keep spreading the color love.

Restaurant Interiors

otom

otomrestaurant.com

Located in Chicago's Fulton Market district, otom's contemporary menu hosts a selection of "creative comfort food." otom's interior features a main dinning area that can accommodate 60 and a bar/lounge for 30. Multi-color drapes, exposed brick wall, and multiple recessed lighting features all add to this eatery's ambience.