In Search of Confections | LET'S MAKE A COLLAGE: ROUND #145 (Complimentary)

It's Let's Make a Collage ("LMAC") Round 145. This week, I explore the world of sweets. Being an avid chocolate lover, and having to cut back considerably, I constantly crave the taste of confections.

Confections. The word exudes sweet and sweetness. Confections are defined as dishes and delicacies made with sweet ingredients. They are super rich in sugar and carbohydrates. The term can be applied loosely or narrow according to different cultures.

When preparing confections, the art is known as Confectionery. Two different broad types of confectioneries exist:

Bakers' confectionery, also known as flour confections, includes primarily sweet pastries, cakes, cookies (my favorite, especially chocolate chip cookies) and other baked goods usually made with flour. Breads, except sweet breads, are not part of this type confection.

Sugar confectionery primarily created with sugar, includes candies, candied nuts, chocolates (my favorite), chewing gum, bubble gum, and other confections that are made primarily of sugar. In some cases, chocolate confections (confections made of chocolate) may be treated as a separate category. ¹

I didn't know that, in the ancient world before sugar was available to the general population, confectionery was based on honey. Primarily utilized in the ancient worlds of China, Egypt, India, Greece, and Rome, honey was applied to fruit as a preservative and to create sweets. After the Persians and Greeks connected traded with India, knowledge of sugar cane helped to usher in the use of a sweetener without relying on honey. This knowledge and use by other continents did much to spread the adoption and application of the sugar agriculture. ¹

In Europe, sugar was initially utilized and kept under control of the medicinal persons or apothecaries who produced sugar-based medicines and remedies. I didn't know this was the start of the applications to treat fevers and coughs that that led to the discovery of cough drops. ¹

When non-medicinal applications of sugar began and spread throughout the world, they led to confectioneries across the globe. Sugar changed the world. Today, numerous sub-categories exist when speaking of confections. When you purchase confections in specialized establishments, the store is known as a Confectionary.

I created two collages that reflect the search for sweets. To create the setting, I started with the photograph provided by @shaka in his contest post: Let's Make a Collage - A Contest for All Creatives on Hive - Round 145 - ✨104 HIVE in the Prize Pool!

^{Image used with permission of contest owner for contest}

COLLAGE #1: The Land That Confectioners Forgot

In creating my first collage theme, I wanted to portray a land covered with confections, such as brownies, cookies, and candies. I imagined other worlds and beings hearing about confections on Earth and wondering what was all the excitement about that has been in existence of centuries. When they arrived, they discovered the secret of sweets. No one told them, though, that they'd have to monitor their carbohydrates intake if it affected their body chemistry.

To create the collage, I created a lovely sweet stable diffusion image with the assistance of Deep Dream Generator. I discovered this program now has joined other software in making available to its members the art of stable diffusion. This open source software creates photo-realistic images with a user input text prompt.

While viewing a post by @panconcjeta included in the Alien Art Hive Weekly Abduction, Dulces paisajes. / Sweet landscapes, I loved the confections presented, so decided to give it a try with Deep Dream Generator by inserting different confections and the landscape to see what results I could achieve.

Here is the image that was produced with my revised text prompt:

"Cookie Heaven, a fantastic desert landscape of giant cookies and cakes, brownies, candies, digital Art, perfect composition, beautiful detailed intricate insanely detailed octane render trending on artstation, 8 k artistic photography, photorealistic concept art, soft natural volumetric cinematic perfect light, chiaroscuro, award - winning photograph, masterpiece, oil on canvas, raphael, caravaggio, greg rutkowski, beeple, beksinski, giger".

I also created another stable diffusion image with the program Night Cafe. Here is the image that was produced with the prompt: ""

I uploaded the stable diffusion images, images from the LIL, and my pure fractal into Canva to create the scene.

• Mannequin Contributed to the #LIL by @mballesteros

• Seagull coming in for landing Contributed to the #LIL by @redheadpei

• Surreal Flower Contributed to the #LIL by @eve66

• Alien Insect Contributed to the #LIL by @eve66

• Alien sitting Contributed to the #LIL by @eve66

• Elephant on sticks Contributed to the #LIL by @eve66

• Pinwheel Contributed to the #LIL by @eve66

• Fractal image created by me in Apophysis 2.09

COLLAGE #2: In Search of Confections

My second theme revolves around other worlds coming to join in the hunt for confections. Seems word spread about confections across the universe. They brought with them the tools to analyze exactly what confections were. All they needed to do was to find them. The previous visitors weren't sharing information. It was too sweet of a deal once they located the sugary treats that left them delirious.

As you can see, even the smell of the sweets creates an ethereal mix of peacefulness in the alien female. It resembles a scene from the fairy tale about the piper. The alien children are drawn to the smells and sights. I wonder why their world didn't send a male to investigate the confection theory.

To create my second collage, I again called upon a Stable Diffusion program to create a beautiful mountain of confections. This time I wanted different confections.

Below is the image what was produced by Starry AI. I chose the prompt:
A fantastic mountain landscape of giant cakes, pancakes, syrup and honey with children eating and recipe books, beautiful detailed intricate detailed photorealistic concept art oil on canvas.

What an awesome array of sweets. I uploaded the stable diffusion image and images from the LIL into Canva to create the decadent confectionery scene.

• Woman in cloud at PxFuel

• Eye Worm Water Orb No. 4 Contributed to the #LIL by @quantumg

• Eye Worm No. 3 Contributed to the #LIL by @quantumg

• Body of Blue Water Contributed to the #LIL by @onyechi

• Bird on a limb Contributed to the #LIL by @digitalis

I appreciate your visit and hope you like my collage.