Combining prompts

Yesterday's prompt from #theydrawtober (the foodie list) was "Autumn Salad," and today's was "Acorn Squash." Yesterday I didn't feel much like painting (I went and got a couple of vaccinations and had to sleep off the effects), but today I thought I would at least do the acorn squash. But I was interested in what the internet had to say about autumn salads, and when I looked them up there was one incorporating acorn squash! So, serendipity and a combo post.

The squash is sliced thin and roasted with a glaze of maple syrup, cumin, paprika, salt, and cayenne pepper; once it's cooled you toss it together with all the other ingredients: mixed greens, thinly sliced red onion (I would leave that out, can't tolerate it!), dried cranberries, toasted pecans, goat cheese, and a liberal garnish of pomegranate seeds. (If you're vegan, substitute avocado for the goat cheese. Better yet, just add avocado, since we all know that everything is better with avocado!)

The vinaigrette is apple cider vinegar with either maple syrup or honey as a sweetener, combined with olive oil, minced garlic, fresh lemon juice, a little salt, and some dijon mustard. Yeah!

"Acorn Squash Salad"—Uniball pen and watercolors in Bee sketchbook, about 9x8 inches.

If you're interested in the entire recipe (which sounds pretty yummy), here's the link:
https://www.adashofmegnut.com/roasted-acorn-squash-fall-salad/

Perhaps this will appear on the Thanksgiving dinner table...if we have Thanksgiving this year! If not, I'll make it for myself and tantalize other people with photos on Facebook.

Affirmation

I'm so touched that I wanted to share this. I finally, after more than six months, sold a portrait off my Etsy site. It was the pen-and-acrylic-inks portrait of Rachel Maddow, titled "Rachel tells it like it is," and has a quote from the subject about honesty (see below).

I painted it during my first flush of frantic activity after taking Deb Weiers's class and finding out about the versatility and brightness of acrylic inks. It was one of a number of public figures whose faces and quotes I wanted to share, but no one seemed to want to buy one and put it in their home...until now.

I hadn't looked on Etsy again since I made the sale and shipped the piece, but it was time to update, so I went there last night, and found this remark from the person who bought it:

"Perfectly perfect! What a wonderful work of art! BUY FROM THIS ARTIST!

"The work itself arrived in perfect condition! It was exactly as advertised and made a wonderful gift for my wife!

"To the artist: Simply put, this belongs in a museum. Do you know that? I hope you do. But while I don’t own any museums to display your work in, I CAN do the next best thing…

"I have a young daughter. She will grow up in a home with this piece, among others, framed on the walls of our home for years to come. Rachel’s words, through YOUR art, will be there to help influence her always. Tupac Shakur said, and I’m paraphrasing, I may not change the world but I will shape the mind of the one who WILL. This work of art, in the presence of a young girl, may be able to do exactly that! Thank you for the opportunity to own this!"

How great is THAT?

Strong Light

You never know where messing about will take you. I prepared this background last night for an assignment given last week on Let's Face It 2021. After it dried, I tried several times to draw the figure that was supposed to appear on it—it was a head-to-toe picture of a pensive woman in a long dress. I kept getting the head too small and the figure too tall, and after erasing it in frustration a few times I concluded that the real problem was that I was not invested at all in painting that picture! So I erased the pencil as best I could, and then painted several more layers of color over where I had drawn, figuring I would use the background someday, for something-or-other. Never waste good paint and expensive watercolor paper!

I have had a reference photo I liked sitting on my desktop for a couple of weeks now, except that the subject was wearing a flat cap and had a pony tail, and I didn't like either of those features. Today, I was once again looking at the photo, and realized two things: 1. This background, while not what I originally had in mind for that photo at all, would actually work nicely if I chose my colors properly; and 2. I could just find a model with a similar hairline and paint the hair I wanted onto this model! So I did a search, found the hair, and set to work.

Unlike last night's abortive attempt, I was able to draw this all in one go, in charcoal, with only a couple of small erasures. Amazing what happens when you really want to do something...

For once, I remembered to take some process pictures, so I have the charcoal drawing on the background, the palette, and a couple of WIP photos. I particularly wanted the photo of the palette, so that I could remember what colors I put out and used for this, since it was a new experience for me, painting a woman with dark skin color in acrylic. I'm well able to paint, overlay, and blend in watercolor to get just the perfect tints, but I didn't know whether I could translate that into acrylic.

 

I am really pleased with this portrait. Sometimes you paint something and realize that you have crossed a barrier of some kind, and this one took me across a couple. The main one was letting go of the compulsive need to blend everything and allowing it to be "painterly." The other, lesser one was realizing that I now have sufficient skill to combine reference photos to get the model I want, instead of relying on someone else's photographs.

 

"Strong Light"—charcoal pencil, acrylic paints, Stabilo All brown pencil, on 140-lb. Fluid coldpress watercolor paper, 12x16 inches.

I owe a lot to Emma Petitt, including how to make an interesting background and allow show-through to make the portrait more interesting as well; and also for showing me how to start with highlights and keep coming back round to them, selectively darkening up some and leaving the rest to show. It's tricky, and I'm beginning to get the hang of it. Thank you, Emma.

Spicy!

Today's food prompt was "spicy cocktail," and while I'm not a drinker I am always fascinated at the ideas people come up with for mixed drinks. I would never think to combine all the things that are in the "Tropical Burn," especially the jalapeño and the cilantro, but I can (barely) imagine that they mix together to create a unique flavor! I mainly tackled this because I thought rendering the ingredients would be fun, which it was. I wish I had paid a little more attention when creating the written list of ingredients and fit them in a little better around the illustrated items, but oh well, sometimes it's just spontaneous and that's how it is.

Now, some adventurous soul make this, taste it, and tell me if it works!

"Spicy Cocktail"—pencil, Uniball pen, watercolors, in Bee sketchbook. 

31 Islands

Today's sketch comes from the "31 Islands in 31 Days" list from theydrawtober. There are a lot of obscure islands on this list, and this one is no exception—have you ever heard of the island of Holbox (pronounced Hole-bosh)? I hadn't either until I looked it up, and now I want to go!

Holbox is a small island just off the north coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, about two hours north of Cancun. There are no cars on the island, and the only access is via ferry from the town of Chiquila. The average temperature is about 82 degrees and, aside from a hurricane season in September and October, the weather is consistently temperate. The main occupations (of tourists) are swimming with whale sharks (they eat plankton, not people), wind-surfing, kayaking, and (my favorite) occupying a hammock strung up over the water. If you're feeling really energetic, there is a three-hour tour of street art (murals). And the food of the Yucatan sounds scrumptious.

Apparently there is also a large population of flamingos, as depicted in my little sketch.

"Holbox"—pencil, Uniball, watercolor, in Bee sketchbook.

31 flavors

Nope, not ice cream—it's one of the three themes for theydrawtober, and today's prompt was "chestnuts." Do you know how boring chestnuts are? I mean, if you want to really show off your ability to imitate lifelike light and shadow, you can grab a handful, put a light on them, and try to copy the shine, but...hm. I finally decided to do just one, and do it cracked open but mostly inside its outer shell, which is prickly and in my favorite lime green.

In the process of looking for a reference photo, I picked up a few facts: Chestnuts are more like fruit than they are like nuts, with a high water content and little or no protein or fat. They are mostly carbohydrates and sugars, comparing with wheat or rice, and have twice as much starch as potatoes. We don't grow many in the States because of chestnut blight, but import a lot from other countries. Various delicacies are made with chestnuts, typically by the French (marrons glacée) and Italians but also by the Hungarians and Swiss, and a liqueur in Portugal. Other cultures mill chestnuts into flour for baking, use them as stuffing for poultry, ferment them for beer, and roast them as a coffee substitute. They are well-used, therefore, despite their repelling outer shell!

"Chestnut"—Uniball and watercolor in Bee Sketchbook.

31 Flowers

Whoever made the gardening list was clever enough to mix it up a little so that you're not necessarily drawing flowers every single day. Today's prompt was "garden gloves," which was a fun one to do, given the choice between all the many structures and patterns of gloves out there. I like the ones with the tiny rubber dots on the palms that give you some traction when it comes to handling your garden tools, but they are a bit of a challenge to draw! The palms make for a nice contrast with the fresh cotton fabric used for the tops. I thought about creating a whole background of dirt, but decided to just go with some shadow to give them weight.

"Garden Gloves"—Uniball and watercolor in Bee sketchbook, about 7x7 inches.