Monday, August 13, 2012

Miss Rosa Bianca Aubergine

Prismacolor colored pencils on Strathmore Bristol, vellum

Here I go, personifying my produce again. I can't help myself—from the moment this beautiful little "Rosa Bianca" eggplant appeared in my garden, it looked just like a little face to me. It even has a human-sounding name, for heaven's sake! (By the way, isn't the French name aubergine far superior to the word eggplant?) This little gem gets its name from the fact that it's basically white, but gets streaked with red-violet as it develops in the sun. 
Maybe I've been watching too much "Masterpiece Theater", but I can't look at the way the green cap curls on the sides without thinking of those Jane Austen heroines' hairstyles:
I was tempted to draw a little face on my eggplant when I sketched it, but my portrait-drawing skills are woefully rusty—besides, I think it's more fun to imagine it, don't you?

14 comments:

  1. That's cute that you see personalities in your produce! I do that with my pencils, and the subjects of my paintings, too. You get attached to them, don't you? The eggplant is really pretty and does seem to fit the two women's photos!

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  2. --Yup...crying out for a little face--first thing I thought when I saw your J.A. character comparison! However, I'm glad you didn't though, since it is so very, very perfect just as it is! Another beauty, Sarah! The color is to die for :)

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  3. Your eggplant's green cap does look just like a hairstyle out of Jane Austen! Unfortunately (?) our common Japanese eggplants have dark purple caps and stems, darker even than their deep purple skins. So they don't invite whimsey quite the way your little beauty does.

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  4. Beautiful Sarah. Yes much more fun to imagine!

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  5. So very lovely. You have a nice magination, hehe, it does look like it has an old-fashioned hair style. Who needs portrait drawing skills anyway? Two dots and a squiggly little mouth would be just as effective :)

    And, Aubergene does sound much more appetizing than eggplant...

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  6. How uttlerly delightful - the little aubergine, your drawing (exquisite as always), and the anthropological thought. I'm reading "Death Comes to Pemberley" at the moment, so the Austen comparison is very timely for me, even if that lady (who used to live in the county I live in now) did not write that particular novel.

    "Aubergine" is the preferred British name. I always do a little bit of a double take when I hear the term "egg plant", particularly as applied to the fruit. Perhaps an aubergine grows on an egg plant? Oh, that is far too logical!

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  7. Gorgeous little eggplant! *swoons* Perhaps you could dust off those portrait skills and make an extra "character study" for fun...

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  8. Oooh I loved Jennifer ehli in Prode and Prejudice and that aubergine is beautify but now I keep giggling.

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  9. The color is lovely and I will always think of the Bennett sisters when viewing eggplant.

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  10. Lovely eggplant. I think you inspired my post this week of a cucumber. Keep drawing!

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  11. A Regency eggplant!! I'm in love. She's drawn beautifully. I love the shadow; so much color there!

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  12. Sarah, your drawings are always so thoughtful and lovely. I grew those Rosa Biancas once, and they were awfully cute little things. Love the tomatoes below, too. Your work urges me to step outside of my black-and-white comfort zone and experiment with color. You've got such a nice way with the colored pencils.

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