Oh....the Garden

Beets   watercolor/gouache   10.5 x 21

We love beets at our house.  My husband's family is of Pennsylvania Dutch origin, so one of our favorites is Red Beet Eggs, or pickled beets and eggs.  We love them roasted, glazed, sliced, chilled in salads.  The leaves can also be prepared as a wilted lettuce dish.  The garden is coming in now...it is a glory to behold.  Graceful leaves and branches....colorful produce on the vine.  Painting produce is one of my favorite things this time of year.

Eat your veggies.....but paint them first.

Paint your Vegetables

Beets   oil/canvas   8 x 24 x .5

One of the challenges that I present to myself is to paint quickly and, hopefully, passionately, using as few brush strokes as possible. That is what makes me happy. It seems that more often than not, the first way I articulate a passage is my favorite.....subsequent paint-overs may achieve more detail and more accuracy, but often fall flat in terms of energy and excitement. Vegetables offer so much as subject matter............texture, amazing color and a life-quality that somehow seems lacking in man-made objects. Of course, I am not always successful in my challenges. Some paintings seem to paint themselves, while others snail their way into being. That is the process. "Beets" was such a challenge. It was basically painted in one session, with just a few strokes added to turn up the color volume after it was dry.