The last drawing...

. . . for the library cookbook! Yes, I have finally done all that I can do. The cookbook must be produced very soon (thankfully not by me), and this is my last illustration. In case you can't tell what it is, it's a quiche! We had, I think, three quiche recipes submitted, so I went with the one with spinach, just to be able to add any other color than yellow/brown or a shade thereof (between crust and egg, there's not much else). I also made the pie pan blue, just for fun.

This was a more challenging drawing than some, since the crust and the dish were easy to delineate but the filling was more wet-in-wet and ended up looking like it didn't belong in the same illustration. I compromised by going back in afterwards with some pen squiggles meant to further define the green and brown bits, and I think it's at least recognizable as a quiche?

Honestly, I don't much care--I'm done! I have to admit, though, that this has been a good assignment, because it's given me regular practice, not to mention momentum. I probably won't be posting much art here for the next few weeks, but then (hopefully) I will be posting a LOT of art, because I'm taking a vacation (a proper, 10-day vacation) at the end of September, when I will be going to, drumroll, FRANCE to paint for an entire week in the country!

Between now and then, though, will be many mundane, time-consuming weekend tasks that won't include much painting. Unless I get inspired by something or other. Stay tuned.

Quick and juicy

I arrived home at 7:05 tonight, and decided I would try to knock out a cookbook illustration before it got dark on my patio. Here it is. Simple, quick, just a few colors. But I think it evokes what it's supposed to. To go with my friend Anarda's Watermelon Gazpacho recipe. Which sounds dreadful to me, but she assures me it is choice. For those who are curious, recipe below. Disclaimer: I have not tried it! Personally, I'd rather just pick up that slice and chow down.

Watermelon Gazpacho

1 small seedless watermelon, cubed
1 package of small seedless persian cucumbers, chopped
2 packs of Kumato tomatoes (approx. 10), chopped (you can find them at Trader Joe's)

Blend each ingredient with a little salt, olive oil and balsamic vinegar (not too acidic) in a food processor until almost smooth. Please, no lumps of cucumbers or watermelon! Aim for the consistency of salsa. Pour together into a large container. Add more salt, balsamic vinegar and olive oil or specialty oil (almond oil, avocado oil, etc.) to taste.

When served, you can add chopped avocado, radish, onions, chopped nuts, etc., if you want.

Cookie Ingredients

If you have been looking at these posts regularly, you saw the one with the baking ingredients gone awry (click if you want to see). So today I decided to retry that one, but with some changes. Since I already used the cinnamon in the picture with the molasses for the gingerbread recipe, I reunited the flour (I love that logo!) and vanilla and added chocolate chips, since we have two cookie recipes calling for those in the cookbook.

I sat down to do the painting and thought, "That chocolate chip package is pretty long, better do this landscape instead of portrait." But . . . then I started drawing the flour bag in the dead center of the page! When I got done drawing it and the vanilla, I realized that the huge bag of chocolate chips (they didn't have the small size, so I had to get the economy size at the market instead) wasn't going to fit in the remaining space! So . . . I truncated it--I pushed it farther away from me on the table, put it at an angle, and went for some folds and things to minimize the size. It more or less worked . . . and fit onto my page with about a quarter inch to spare! You only see a few letters of "Toll House" but with Nestlé and the distinctive color of the bag, I think everyone will know what it is!

I like the flour bag, but am less pleased with the vanilla than I was the last time I painted it--the lettering went on crooked and (again) since it was in pen, I couldn't do much to fix that. But it's not disturbing enough for another redo. I was much happier with the shadows--I didn't go so crazy trying to replicate every detail but just put in the basics, and I think they work well enough.

I meant to do two more illustrations today, but I just ran out of momentum (and daylight). I'm going to go do something mindless for awhile, and maybe do another one tomorrow night. I only have two to go!

Green food!

Painting madly, trying to get done THIS WEEKEND with the rest of the cookbook illustrations, because I have other things to do, and I need to move on! (SO many other things to do--it turns out deciding to take a trip out of the country immediately makes necessary a whole host of things I'd been putting off and now must finish before I leave!)

Today's theme is GREEN. Not on purpose, I just picked four things to paint today and they all happened to be from the same color palette. So much so, in fact, that I had to change some of the greens so that things weren't so monochromatic.

First, herbs. I have to admit to a little insecurity--I was afraid no one would be able to tell what they were for sure, so I labeled them. Ornamentally, but labeling nonetheless.

Second, olive oil! This was a request from the cookbook compiler, because she said A. there are several recipes with olive oil so I could use it anywhere, and B. "I like the reflections on the glass." Well, so do I, but they're not the easiest.

I went back to drawing with pen today, the glass reflections notwithstanding. I still got some in there, but it is harder to work around the hard line when it comes to glass.

So, what did I decide to do for my next painting? A jar of pickles! Talk about your interesting reflective challenges! Didn't quite pull it off, but got pretty close, and I love the lime green pickle "juice" color.

I have a little of the "lean to the left--lean to the right" thing going on with the olive oil and the pickles, I can see now that they are scanned and posted. Oh, well, they will be on separate pages, and besides...it gives them a bit of quirky personality! (That's what I tell myself when I can't draw a straight line: It's quirky.)

Tomorrow: Quiche (yellow), watermelon (pink and, well, yes, green) and chocolate chip cookie ingredients (none of them green). Whew!

Gingerbread Fixings

I hadn't done anything yet about paintings to go with desserts for the cookbook. One of our faves around the library for birthday celebrations is Gramercy Tavern's gingerbread as recreated and shared by Smitten Kitchen (what?! you don't know Smitten Kitchen? you're in for a treat), so I gathered a few of the ingredients--molasses, cinnamon and eggs--and painted them.

Last time I painted eggs, I did the drawing first in pen; and the thing with eggs is, if you get their shape even a smidgen off, they don't look so much like eggs as they do misshapen potatoes. So for this illustration I eschewed the pen and stuck to pencil.

It's funny--back before I took Brenda Swenson's sketch journaling workshop and started drawing almost exclusively with pen, I would draw and erase, draw and erase, draw and erase, and take forever to get it right. But since you don't have that option with pen, you have to just go for it. You have to really LOOK at what you're drawing, and do your best to put it on paper, and if you have an occasional jog where you meant to jig, well, so be it. I assumed, therefore, that when I went back to pencil, I would draw, as I did with a pen, with more confidence and less waffling. I do think I have a better chance of getting it right the first time now, but in fact, I discovered today that when I have the option of erasing and fixing, I do still take advantage. Perhaps that was good for this painting, since the eggs do look more like eggs, and the angles on the tops and lids are a bit more realistic. Also, it's easier to get the effect of see-through glass without pen lines. But I did miss having that definite outline to paint to!

Photoshop Fix

Better? I'm not the best with repainting using Photoshop...

Today's efforts

One man-made (well, nature-made but then caught, killed, and canned for convenience), one nature-made, although purposefully grown for market.

First, Charlie Tuna. The top of the can is a little wonky as to angle--I still have trouble with perspective. It's an unending fight between what my brain knows to be true (it's a circle) and what my eye sees from an angle (it's an ellipse). Brain and eye compromised a little here, so it's not quite right--in fact, now that I really see it, it kind of looks like the lid is sinking into the can! I may have to do this one over...

And, a nice bunch of organic celery. As with the broccoli from the other day, it's hard to get the layers of organic material all in there, but at this point, as long as it resembles what I intended it to be, I'm happy.