Produce of the Day Extravaganza

A missed gem-- I wish I could remember the name of this beautiful watermelon. And figs, figs figs. End of summer, beginning of fall.

I started taking photographs to document the flowers and the produce of each season, so that I could paint them all in watercolor. Then I found that I loved just taking the pictures. When I paint, it tends to be quick and simplistic. A little bit naive. Although I am an excellent pencil drawer, if I do say so myself, when I start working with color, I want to get right into it. Color enthralls, but it also distracts. Some artists can see in color, and reproduce it. (See Robert Chunn) For me, color is so fun that I want to skip past the accurate rendering of the object.

I am shite at flowers. So many details, so many beautiful colors. My eye struggles to see depth and volume, whereas with fruits and vegetables, I can still sense the orb, or the stalk, almost the weight of the object.

But my idea was to start documenting what was around each month, with the idea of eventually doing a calendar/cookbook. Since I didn't grow up with the seasonal connection to food, (aside from summer peaches, that is) I wanted to make a calendar and cookbook that helped other people like myself. I found a cookbook that does a fantastic job of this: The Garden Fresh Vegetable Cookbook. THIS IS A GREAT COOKBOOK. But, alas, it does not have photos OR art. Not even simple line drawings which, by the way, I could provide for you if you need them. When I was a restaurant manager, I drew all of the coloring pages for children myself. A pizza on a paddle, a regional map of Italy with all of the foods identified, a field of mustard and an explanation of why it is important in the Napa Valley. My pizza is still used at some of the restaurants.

But, as usual after a glass of wine, I have wandered far from the path. Maybe it is the smell of a plum-blackberry upside down cake in its last five minutes of baking that is distracting me. Maybe it is the fact that I have just purchased the espresso painting from Robert Chunn While writing this post. That's right, it's mine now, and you can't have it.

Maybe it is the fact that I spent the day with Maggie and Molly, and we had such a nice time that I've had a halo effect on the rest of my day. I'm going to go post a picture from that so you can see.