About This Project

Jelly Babies? Jellyfish?

I grew up in the UK where those small, multi-coloured sweets (called candies in the USA) made from glucose syrup, colouring and gelatine are called ‘Jelly Babies.’

In this work I’ve used the American variant ‘Gummy Bears.’ They look like miniature teddy bears and, just like Jelly Babies, everyone’s familiar with them. It’s hardly surprising, they manufacture millions of ’em every day!

On the other hand, I think most would agree, Jellyfish are alien to us. They’re not part of everyday life. We recognise them visually but don’t really know what they are or what they do!

Jellyfish are not fish they’re invertebrates. They have no backbone. And neither do Gummy Bears.

There is, however, one distinct difference.

Jellyfish have a harpoon-like stinging cell used to capture prey. These cells are called cnidocytes (don’t pronounce the ‘c’) which comes from the ancient Greek word for nettle.

Gummy Bears. on the other hand, capture their prey (mostly 5 to 6 year-olds) by being gummy!

That’s all there is to say about this painting.

Life can be brutally perplexing. But, hopefully, as the title of my painting proclaims, sometimes it can be unexpectedly Jellicious – pronounced Jel-i-sh-ush.

I feel compelled to add that I don’t really like this painting. Sometimes you start a canvas and there’s an enthusiasm, a challenge to meet, a journey to take. But sometimes you pull the rug out from under your own feet and wonder why you ever started the journey?

Life can be brutally perplexing!