Daniela Velez [SCH RA 2022]
Knitting Chocolate, 2025
Oil

The artist describes:

“For this piece “Knitting Chocolate” I crafted every item using felt and rhinestones for the cake and the toppings, and crocheting the chocolate frosting around the cake and the strawberries. This is my third piece from my still life collection using crochet for my props and the idea came from a videogame in which everything, from the characters to the environment is made out of wool. Creating these items before painting allows me to connect with my paintings and create a feeling of familiarity with the artwork as a whole before I even start the painting process.

“Pooh’s Party”, which might initially appear to be another one of my still lifes, differs from my other paintings in the way my approach, the usual process behind the creation of my art, was completely different.

I wanted to pay homage to one of the shows that I watched as a child and paint It in a way similar to my still lifes but keeping the original narrative quality of the cartoon. The background is Pooh’s room with the original details, the characters are rubber bath toys, and the only thing that I crafted was their hats and the candy on the floor.

My goal this time was to not allow myself to have full control of the main characters or the background but instead, paint an episode in my style, keeping the original aspects of the story and the art.”