EDM 106 - Something tart

The Cape gooseberry(Physalis) is one of my favorite fruits..I love the delicacy of the leaves , transparent, like the wings of a butterfly. The berry itself is quite insignificant in taste, rather tart. Back in SA, I had a friend who grew them on her farm and we would pick armsful, stuff ourselves along the way and return home to make jams and chutneys and whatever else we could think of. For decoration, they are wonderful and just kissed with a touch of gold leaf, they can turn any dessert into a visual delight.

I first sketched sort of a thumbnail in my sketchbook(the second drawing); just playing around with composition and color and values etc, and then did a more complete one, which of course, completely turned out overworked and stiff with no visual interest. This happens far more than I would like...too often my planning looks so much better than my final attempt, when"Thinking" comes into play then, it seems.

Illustration Friday - Crash

It seems to be hard work to have a cat and even harder to be one!
Graphite on paper

Clementines with a cloche

I want to improve my working woth watercolor, since it isn't my best medium, and I'm all over the place with it, but the more I work with it, the more I enjoy it.

I tried this cloche/clementine set-up; The first one is going for an illustration look and the second more real watercolory. Neither one ended up very much of a success....I still struggle a lot with the amount of water on my brush, from there all the watermarks and backruns. But I am having fun. Will attempt another one later.... I've eaten the clementines.

Ink sketches

We went to Andorra for a week of snow and ski recently. No skiing though, since there wasn't any snow except for that made by snow canons. The girls did ski, but H(love of my life) and I passed on that one, so we did a lot of other sightseeing. One thing we did frequently, was going to the sportcentre where H could make use of WiFi available. It may sound like he is a workaholic, but he is as passionate about what he does in life as I am about doing my art. He loves his job, so his computer and notebook and pen and paper go with him, like my stuff travels with me. So, while he "WiFis and calculates and designs, I draw and write and read and watch the world go by and of course, we enjoy a cuppachino or two. The spoet centre was a great place - a big complex with indoor pools, ice skating rink, tennis courts...and a cafeteria. I did these drawings while having our coffee. The first sketch is the "food corner" in the house we stayed in.

Illustration Friday - Sprout

I chose the Brussel sprout, but now it looks more like a broccoli to me. Well, they're both green and healthy....

Watercolor on paper

Illustration Friday - Red

Some "Antillais" chillies that I chose for their vibrant color and interesting shapes and of course, "red-hot" is illustrative as well as figurative in this case...
Watercolor on paper.

Scissors

Watercolor on paper....

I don't have any fond memories of scissors, in fact, I pretty much associate them with pain and blood, of which I have first hand experience. But then again, if I think of life without them, I can quickly conjure up images of pleasure. Like everybody else, we have scissors everywhere throughout the house. In the bedroom a small pair for removing labels or a loose thread here and there. In the bathroom...well, you know what scissors are used for in there..Then there is the handyman that cuts just about anything, although I don't believe in this all-round-scissors. I want one for every purpose - one for cutting hair and one for cutting paper, another for cutting plastic and one at close hand when I can't find the hammer, or the screwdriver or the can-opener...The sewing kit has a few of its own, and to my dismay, the huge fabric scissors is in high demand at Christmas when all the others scissors have magically disappeared. The kitchen is an interesting topic. I have yet to figure out the system - one for every task? But that would leave neither time nor place for anything else in the kitchen.

I had a pretty little old one from my mother which I kept in my handbag and forgot to take out before we had to board. I still have another one left, a very ancient model, frequently used by her and even though it lacks performance, its beauty stays unsurpassed. No psychedelic colored plastic in sight and the handle shows signs of hard use and yes, the blade is full of rust spots, but the lines are sleek and graceful and the grip allows for good comfort. Just a simple, beautiful, old pair of scissors from my childhood, one that comes from my mother's sewing kit and is now not so much a utility as a connexion to the past. So maybe I do have fond memories after all....

Drawing with graphite on paper. A fair exchange - an hour or so for a new jean.

A peppery shake.

This is my first contribution to EDM. I couldn't find a single pepper or salt shaker in our home, since we've always used milled salt and pepper. In fact, I have such a huge variety of different salts and peppers...but before you think I've completely lost it; besides art, one of my other passions is cooking, so having al these different salts is nothing strange. For everyday cooking, I do what my mom used to do - a pinch of salt from the salt jar next to the stove, which holds grey sea salt. For table use, we have the wonderful Fleur de sel. For special occasions I would splash out with some delicate Maldon salt flakes and just for the kick of it, I would also use Kosher salt that my husband brings me all the way from South Carolina every once or so. And everyday and everywhere we'll use the mill with the pink himalayan salt, which is apparently very healthy, but I have to admit, I choose it more for the looks! As for pepper, pretty much the same thing. The big wooden mill I use with big fanfare in the kitchen, then we have several smaller mills which I fill up with different peppers, depending on the meal and occasion; softer, mixed peppers, and a big favorite lately, the powerful Chichuan pepper(which is actually not a true pepper). So, here I am with all my salts and peppers and first drawing and very shaky legs(because of my first entry into this very talented and efficient and spontaneous group)...

I am so new to this blog-thing, so If I mess up or take more space than I ought to, or invade or whatever the case, I apologize...to be honest, I have saved this post almost 15 times as a draft, before I finally published it!

This was done with a brush pen and watercolor on watercolor paper.

Ronell