Friday, September 20, 2013

Radicchio

I've been eyeing the radicchio at the market—isn't it beautiful? I love how the leaves nestle together so snugly. (Perfect for Illustration Friday's topic of "together" this week, in fact!)

I'm not a huge fan of radicchio's bitter taste when eaten raw. However, I was reading that, while Americans tend to use it mostly as a raw salad ingredient, Italians usually grill it or cook it in risotto, etc. So, I plan on cutting this baby into wedges, drizzling some olive oil onto it and throwing it onto the grill this weekend—we'll see!

It was a treat to use these colors for a change. Some of you may think that I should have drawn more of a pronounced outline at the white stems, but I like how the red leaves sort of emerge out of the white paper. What do you think?

Here's a WIP shot...I really love this stage; I'm always tempted to stop here!


I'll let you know how my grilled radicchio turns out; 
have a wonderful weekend and Happy First-Day-of-Autumn!

4 comments:

  1. I LOVE the way you portrayed this radiccio!!! Your artistic choices were spot on! It's creative, and expressive! I want to know about those two books in the sidebar that you're reading. They look interesting...

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  2. oh wow, beautiful drawing, I'm so looking forward to getting to know more of your work on your blog. this is so delicate, and so,well, respectful of what you are drawing. hope that doesn't sound too out there!

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  3. So delicately done, beautiful! Yes we grill radiccio in slices, still slightly bitter but lovely as a side dish.

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  4. Beautiful! I love the way the red purples tell the story. I don't think the white part of the leaves need any more emphasis. Sometimes art is better when you don't show the view absolutely everything and they get to fill in the blanks. Really lovely. I also really like how you can feel the hidden leaves how tightly the leaves are packed.

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