The girl and the fig and the radishes

We recently spent a few days up in Sonoma County, starting with lunch at the much-loved and critically-acclaimed restaurant, the girl and the fig. The day was already quite warm, and when I started reading the menu, one of their starters really got my attention. I’ve since learned that this dish, mixed seasonal radishes, anchovy butter and grey sea salt, enjoys a permanent place on their ever-evolving menu. I love radishes, and even grew ‘French breakfast radishes’ in my summer garden one year, but I'd never eaten them in the classic way, with butter and salt. What a simple, perfect combination: cool, crunchy radishes and smooth, rich butter. There's a great post on the restaurant blog about this dish, so I'll let it provide the details—and photos.

The next morning, we went on a hike outside of the town of Sebastopol. As I often do, I took photos of wildflowers, to identify and sketch later. When I looked up this delicate little flower that evening, I learned that it is a wild radish!  

As for drawings, however, I have exactly two sketches of radishes in my portfolio: At the top of the plate page, we have a French breakfast radish from my garden. Such a beauty.

And below, we have a trio of the popular 'watermelon radish'. Now, one usually sees the inside of this radish featured, as it's bright pink (as the name implies) while the outside is comparatively plain: white to pale pink at the root. 

A few months after I drew this, I realized how much the creases and texture looked like faces. So, with barely a touch of a pencil, these radishes become three people, with a bit of a story to tell, it seems! 

Hmmm, I have drawers full of veggie drawings. I feel a series coming on...

"The most beautiful book of 2016"

"Burr acorn", Prismacolor colored pencil on Stonehenge Kraft

(click to enlarge)

When I draw things found in  the natural world, it forces me to really look closely at them, and I can't help but be amazed at the fascinating patterns that I see. The concept of the Fibonacci sequence, and the golden mean are well-known, but the science behind these patterns goes way beyond that.

I recently came across a review of Philip Ball's book, Patterns In Nature: Why the Natural World Looks the Way it Does, and I knew I had to find it. It's a pricey volume, so I found a pristine, new Publisher's Weekly called this book "the most beautiful book of 2016",  and I couldn't agree more.

The acorn in this drawing is from the Burr Oak. We were visiting Texas for Christmas, and my daughter brought a handful of these into the house one morning. (Everything is, indeed, bigger in Texas!)

Paperwhites and advent calendars: a fresh start ahead

My October "sabbatical" has carried over into November. It's been a weird month so far: my husband is away on a long business trip, and the election sparked a fair amount of distress and introspection. But things are looking up: My husband will be home in a few days—and my paperwhites are growing! I ask you, is there anything more hopeful-looking than sprouting paperwhites?

Actually, I'm all set for a new year of regular posting starting December 1, the six-year anniversary of my blog. I love December 1, because it's the day I break out my advent calendar(s) for the season, and you know how much I love advent calendars! I think that the ones I have for this year may be some of my all-time favorites, so be sure to check back.

In the meantime, you can follow my paperwhites' progress (and lots of other stuff) on my instagram page:  @sarahmellingart 

and you can read more about my love of advent calendars here.

Sunflower Seeds in Snazzy Striped Shells...And Ai WeiWei

14" x 14", Prismacolor colored pencil on Strathmore Vellum Bristol

I was preparing to plant some Mammoth sunflower seeds, but became distracted admiring their snazzy striped shells. Next thing I knew, I was drawing, not planting. 

While researching sunflower seeds for some fun facts to include here–lest anyone think me odd for drawing a few sunflower seeds–I ran across the phenomenal installation at the Tate in London by the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei in 2010. He and his artisans made and hand-painted millions of ceramic sunflower seeds. I can't even begin to explain it well; you must check it out here. (Suddenly, I felt a bit less odd for drawing nine of them.). 

Let's hope that the squirrels and birds allow these seeds to grow into big, cheerful sunflower faces in my summer garden!

Inspiration in the produce aisle: Cherimoya

         

8 x 10 , Prismacolor colored pencil on Strathmore vellum bristol (click to enlarge)

The cherimoya. The custard apple. 

Or, as described by Mark Twain: "...the most delicious fruit known to men...".  

A woman saw me eyeing these in the produce department of my grocery store (which has been carrying an amazing selection of tropical and exotic fruits). She asked if I was familiar with them, and we struck up a conversation. She told me of their wonderful aromatic, creamy texture inside, adding that they are a favorite in her homeland of Chile. That description—along with the fact that they reminded me of artichokes and pinecones—was good enough for me. I had my next "model".

While they look like overlapping scales, the little surfaces of the cherimoya just join together along their perimeters, with no overlap at all.

As usual, I was too involved in my drawing to scan WIP pics, so I just shot them at my drawing board with my phone, explaining the uneven lighting:

At times, I felt I'd overdone the drawing of the outside. Now, I think that I was just having too much fun with it! But I did try to show restraint on the interior drawing. The dramatic contrast between the seeds and the flesh was so beautiful; it needed no help from me. And, of course, I forgot to take pics along the way. Oops.

Finally, I have to confess that I never tasted it. I know, I know....but it got brown inside rather quickly from sitting out and I wasn't sure it was at its best. I do plan on getting another to sample. Have you eaten cherimoya? What do you think?

A Purple Heart

One of my loyal customers was in a quandary: She had purchased eight of my heart series prints, but nine makes a much better wall arrangement. We tossed around some ideas and thought that a purple cabbage heart might fill that blank space quite well. She was very patient, as I had a couple of things going on at that moment, but I think we were right: Look at this photo of her kitchen wall that she sent to me! I will be adding it to my shop shortly, if you'd like to try a similar project.

I love it when buyers send me photos of how they're using my prints,

so if you have any, please share!

Dragonfruit!

(click to enlarge—and to get rid of the weird blurry type that I can't seem to fix here...)

Dragon fruit—aka Pitaya—are one of the most exotic-looking things you'll ever see in the produce section. I've only seen these tropical beauties a few times in my grocery store, and they usually look a little shopworn. So when I saw a whole bin of them last week, in gorgeous condition, I had to bring one home to model for me.

As if that gorgeous exterior wasn't enough, when you cut open a dragon fruit, you have the contrast of the snow-white flesh full of little black seeds. The one I used didn't have a very interesting taste - rather milder than I expected, but the crunch of the seeds is wonderful. If you do an image search of "dragonfruit recipes" you'll see how these can be used—in puddings, desserts, etc. My favorite is using a melon baller to make beautiful speckled orbs from the flesh.

I worked this drawing a little more than I intended; I actually prefer the feel of the unfinished one. But I was sick for a few days after starting it, and sort of lost some momentum along the way.  It's all about knowing when to stop, isn't it?

It's pouring rain today, here in Northern California, which we are thrilled about as far as our drought goes, but I wouldn't mind being in someplace a bit more tropical...!

It's persimmon season...

Fuyu Persimmons, 8" x 10"Prismacolor colored pencil on Stonehenge paper

Persimmons are starting to appear at the market! These tomato-shaped Fuyu persimmons are available now, which means the bigger, cone-shaped Hachiyas will be here soon. I found the leaves, or sepals, quite interesting because they appear in arrangements of four, which seems a bit unusual in the fruit world. I've written before about the star shapes and multiples of five that are found in so many fruits and vegetables, but these are definitely a symmetrical, cross-shaped arrangement of four. 

When I draw shiny fruits and vegetables, it's easy for me to overwork the burnishing, so I deliberately held back a bit on these. I wanted to capture some of the frosty "bloom" that appears on the skins, which was quite a challenge; it'd have been easier to have polished them up before I drew them!

Here are some WIP shots; I hope to have some Hachiya persimmons as models before too long!

Shiitake mushrooms

Prismacolor colored pencil on Stonehenge Kraft, 5" x 7"

I have such a great time drawing different types of mushrooms on the fabulous Stonehenge Kraft paper. Click on the "mushrooms" label below to see some others.Follow my blog with Bloglovin

A pomegranate's progress

I think that perhaps I should have stopped soon after I scanned this one (above), as the final (below) looks a bit overworked to me.

And since I may not get around to drawing a companion cross-section view, I decided to add a shadow this time, and call it a day:

Greens

Green is my favorite color. Last week I was looking for inspiration in the produce department of my grocery store when I was taken in by the beautiful way that white transitions to green in these vegetables, a head of bok choy and a leek.  I intentionally kept the white area very light; in fact I actually started with even less work in those areas than you see here. 

Prismacolor makes a pretty good range of greens (as you can see in my trusty old swatch chart) but, as is also true of their other colors, the lighter shades are much waxier (less pigment = more wax I assume) and are more difficult to blend. 

I did the bok choy first, and I was really fighting with the texture of my Stonehenge paper which is unusual. Then it dawned on me: it has a smooth side and a very slightly textured side. How had I forgotten this? So, I was careful to use the smoother side for the leek. Look at the difference (click to enlarge):

(Hey, that's the first time Blogger allowed me to place images side-by-side! 

New feature?!)

By the way, I also bought a third veggie that may round out this trio. Any guesses?

Hillbillies, squirrels, and the drought

"Hillbilly" heirloom tomato

Prismacolor colored pencils on Stonehenge paper

Between the drought and a pair of brazen black squirrels, it's been a tough summer for my vegetable garden. Everyone's tomatoes are late this year, and I think the vines are finally producing more tomatoes than the squirrels want. This is an heirloom variety called "Hillbilly". They are deeply lobed, and are gorgeous colors. This first one that I picked—before the squirrels got it—weighed in at around a pound:

The one I used for the model for my drawing seemed to ripen and change colors before my eyes:

There are loads of green tomatoes out there, just waiting to ripen; the fact that it's supposed to be 100 degrees here today should hasten that process!

When in doubt, draw a pear.

We have been having some work done in our house (this is week 7, I think) and my little drawing nook and our office were both off-limits for a while, which is why there's been such a dry spell between posts. Oh, I know, I should be able to draw anywhere, and I could blog from my laptop pretty much anywhere, but I find it hard to get into the right state of mind when there's so much noise and dust and chaos, and my house is overrun with strangers.

Now that my little nook is back together, I can think about drawing again, but I feel rusty and out of shape. (It didn't help matters that my weekly life-drawing meet-up was on a 3-week hiatus as well.)

So, last night, I drew a pear.

Feeling rusty? Draw a pear. Uninspired? Draw a pear. Maybe it's their elegant proportions, but pears have been an artist's favorite subject for centuries. My little Bosc pear won't win any prizes, but it loosened things up in both my brain and my drawing hand.

So, check back soon; I should be posting regularly now. And if you have a few minutes, go draw a pear.

Flavor-of-the-Month: Stonehenge "Kraft"

I'm infatuated with Stonehenge "Kraft" paper at the moment. You've seen it in my paper bag drawing, and this portobello mushroom.Yesterday I drew some plain ol' white button mushrooms to go with the portobello. (I love them, but did I overdo the outline?) Stonehenge paper is nice and heavy, and "Kraft" is a perfect tone for drawing light-colored things. Like all of the Stonehenge paper, its surface takes colored pencil beautifully—it almost felt like I was painting on it.

One challenge with using any toned paper is getting an accurate scan. Drawings on white-ish paper are easier to color correct using the paper as the whitest point. You'll notice that it looks slightly different in my three drawings; I'm going to have to play around to see if I can find a good group of Photoshop/scanner settings for it. (If anyone has any tips, please share!)

Papayas & Pencils

Prismacolor colored pencil on Stonehenge paper

It takes a lot of pencils to draw a papaya—

and these were just for the outside.

As you know, I love comparing the exterior of a fruit or vegetable to its interior, which is often wildly different. Looking at its humble yellow skin, you'd never know it is concealing a cache of beautiful, black caviar-like seeds.

 Apologies for the quality of these last WIP shots...I took them at my desk with my phone instead of scanning.

This next one is a great example of the "ugly phase" that a lot of my drawings seem to go through—where I'm just about to toss the whole darn thing in the trash. Then, somehow, things finally start to come together. Whew.