Passion Flower finished

Passion! Flower!

Finally bought a passion flower vine... this is the piece I've worked on today and tonight. I hope I'll get it finished before I have to plant it.

Fingerlings in A Mushroom Pattern Dedham Bowl

Final watercolor of fingerlings:

Stages along the way to the final:

Detail of watercolor

Fingerlingers on my mind

Just started a new one. Leaving it at this state so I don't kill it tonight.

The subject matter, fingerlings, look like little  animals crawling over each other (in my eyes)

the drawing for the painting

the first stage

Peachy, just peachy!

Detail of the final "Peaches on Grape Dedham Dish"

Fruit flies are everywhere in the studio now!

Here's the beginning drawing with the first touch of color:

and a few shots of the work-in-progress:

Next time I may incorporate the fruit flies and/or the paint-daubed paper towel.

Beans, finished tonight

Birds' Egg Beans, before cooking:

Still in the fuchsia, mottled pods
(see earlier post of beginning drawing, September 9th)

Sky in VA today!

Beans! Birds Egg, to be exact!

The very beginning:

hoping to get some color going tomorrow!

Meanwhile, check out today's mushroom variety, thriving on our soggy grounds:

the last picture shows the mushrooms growing on our firepit logs.

Painstaking Peppers

Many (many!) hours later:

Detail of the Pepper Painting:

the one in the center made me think of an embryo

Earlier stage:

Final stage: the belle peppers

garlic and peppers

Detail of a small acrylic on canvas of the garlic, this time less detailed and with more thickly applied paint, rather than layers upon layers of wash and line. This sort of painting is very meditative, especially after having processed and digested the same set up in previous work. It's a chance to paint directly and intuitively make the marks that build up into form.  The background is actually a very deep maroon, but that doesn't show in this photo.

A start on some red and green peppers. Soup or ratatouille will be in our near future. (Especially if I get some eggplants started today.)

Fairy Napkin!

One of the fairies left a napkin behind!~ Now I know they're real!

Garlic Bulbs

Garlic painting finished - see below:

After completing a detailed pencil drawing of garlic bulbs, I decided to revisit the same set-up with a light wash over pencil. I couldn't achieve the "bulbousness" and writhing roots, and the feeling of the cloves straining against the papery thin skin of the bulb using the delicate wash. 

I reworked the drawing with a charcoal pencil and then moved on to acrylic washes with some opaque paint touching the details.

Below is a detail of the  garlic bulb with roots.

Garlic bulbs

Too tired to write tonight...just posting the night's drawing of garlic.

My Peps

The grandiose ambition of starting three new paintings last night was set aside for several hours of drawing. I'm considering a large scale painting of these peppers, maybe in color, maybe not. 

The intense and saturated colors distract from the curvaceous forms of the peppers.

Maybe I have to do two paintings of these lovely and compliant models.

Farmers Market Day

Since this is a blog about my creative process, you may wonder why I'm posting photos of a farmer's market. Lately I've been thinking about the cost of being an artist today, and how much work, effort, time and money are consumed by "making art" and exhibiting it. (I'll have a lot to say about that in a following post ) This is NOT a paid advertisement and I don't know any of the vendors at this market, other than through my visits to purchase food and flowers. I just love this place and would rather go there than to a supermarket any day!

Today, I am humbled and awestruck by the vendors who sell their produce at the farmers market. So much sweat, time, effort, money, and probably quite a bit of anxiety goes into producing this remarkable produce, and bringing it to the public. 

http://www.localharvest.org/freight-station-farmers-market-M13674

Having taken a small stab at growing veggies and canning, I can only imagine what went into producing this quantity of yummy (and very paintable) produce.

 Forget the supermarkets! Come see Beth Nowak, of Mayfair Farm for the freshest, and most delicious in-season fruits and vegetables. Really!
Our family's food this week will be primarily from her farm.

Tonight: pasta with fresh tomato/garlic/basil/olive oil.

And for the Holiday Weekend, Red Snapper, which I thought was impossible to find locally. Really fresh, flash frozen snapper, caught by Beth's brother:

last week's Red Snapper (had to come back for more)

and our favorite Bird's Egg Beans, almost impossible to find, so we're stalking (oops, "stocking," pardon the pun) up & freezing for the winter, (and I have some put aside to paint)

My sweet, understanding husband shelling B.E. Beans while I make dinner, upload photos and post this blog page... he's been working at his computer all day and needed this break! Mindfully shelling the beans in the present moment... you can't buy that experience in a preshelled package!

And money that would have been spent on a bottle of chianti for the pasta dinner tonight goes toward some gorgeous zinnias! (sorry, sweet, understanding husband) Now I have three paintings to begin tonight and get to work on over the holiday weekend

But couldn't leave the Market without visiting the other two vendors.

I've bought several herb plants (today the Simon & Garfunkel combo for the kitchen ...Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme...Remember me etc) from Mark Bishop of Masters Touch,

and recently a couple of jasmine plants that produce profuse flowers for tea! 

And my Argentine connection, Analia, for yummy empanadas and dulce de leche treats (and loaves of herbed breads and sandwiches... go there hungry and indulge!

That's it for today.

Get thee to the farmers market or don't complain about tomatoes.

Go local, go delicious, go fresh... 

I have to go paint!

Freight Station Market, Winchester

PS Beth of Mayfair... please save me a box of figs!