I created this piece after my favorite childhood board game, Candyland. This is Candyworld--kind of like the Disneyland/Disneyworld idea. I realize the confusion this causes--I still can't remember where either Disney place is. All you need to remember for the purposes of this entry, is that Candyworld is anywhere you want it to be. All you have to do is close your eyes and think about it. Try it. See? And there you are!

Sno-Cap Mountain happens to be one of the seven natural wonders in Candyworld, and in this image you're actually lucky because you can see three of the seven wonders AND the magnificent once-in-a-lifetime Gold Dust Comet. If you stand under it long enough it will shower you with gold bits and we could all use some of those. Tallulah has streaked them through her cotton-candy hair (did I mention that she won Cotton-Candy queen?)

Besides Sno-Cap Mountain, the M&M tree--which is ALWAYS in bloom, and the Sundae Clouds are seen here. The lollipop patch is really quite spectacular, but is not one of the natural wonders, as these 'pops started "popping" up all over the park. We think someone from Candyland snuck seeds in and planted them. Park officials wanted to remove the lollipops, as they were not an indigenous species, however, parkgoers protested and the lollipops remain.

Sno-Cap mountain is made from 100% molten dark chocolate. The story goes that the nearby Gingerbeer Sea's oceanic plate pushed up against the continental plate underneath Candyworld, and Sno-Cap mountain was formed. If an earthquake ever occurs here it is possible that hot fudge will erupt from Sno-Cap Mountain.

It's a bit breezy here in Candyworld. As you can see , some peppermints have blown around and a couple M&M's landed just within reach. Careful of the red ones! They stopped using the dye Red #2 a long time ago, but these red M's aren't for human consumption--they contain cadmium.

Tallulah has just walked up the path in her designer dress made of paper and scratch-and-taste candy bits. The pink bits taste like bubblegum, the green ones taste like lime, and the blue ones taste like snaggleberry (don't ask me--I'm just the artist). Tallulah picked these lovely pumps with a curled toe and wintergreen mint on the end of each one. Her hair is 100% whipped sugar. Her peppermint neckace is handmade using nearly 50 peppermints..

Just about everything in this image is edible--even the balloons are made from high-fructose corn syrup converted to an edible plastic. Who'd have thought? Oh, and of course, the stars--well where else do you think those little white dots on Sno-Caps come from?

Back to reality...this piece was done using Golden and Liquitex acrylics on canvas. I used a thick coat of gesso and used stamps and a paintbrush to create a lot of texture. Once dried, I applied several layers of color and created the landscape. Tallulah and her lollipop were drawn on watercolor paper, then painted, cutout, and attached using a very thick layer of Golden gel medium. The balloons were painted separately and glued down. The Dot candie's on the lower left came from a mini box of Dots. This was sealed using a Golden varnish.