The Eye of the Leek

Wouldn't that make a great title for a painting?

I was inspired to take this shot the other night while cooking dinner. I find leeks to be so very inspiring in all of their rings lined in green. And I love pushing my finger through and popping out the middle, splitting the concentric circles apart.....

The latest vegetable on my counter

I had purchased a beautiful eggplant from the farm a bit of time ago, with every intention of eating it. But as it sat in a basket on my kitchen counter it started to take on a whole new and different personality, and one that I realized I wasn't about to shorten by selfish consumption.

the warm leather brown
 underside...

I moved it to a pottery piece, which I think resembles a tiny boat in this situation, and it seemed to me that this little being was floating peacefully down the slow and windy river of life.

what a hat!

It must be easily near 2 months since I first brought it home and it has since morphed into quite an interesting character. From the shape of it's "hat" to the "underside of it's soul" it's provided unending interest while I'm at the kitchen sink.

Brussels Sprouts? Hedgehog Gourd?

Hmmmm.... Certainly a little of each perhaps is influencing/inspiring the forms in my new painting. This is the companion door to the canvas of my most recent painting, "My Inner Reptile".
I'm really excited to continue the building up of layers.... This morning I just finished laying out the forms. Now the details....
As always, stay tuned  :)

An amazing creation to behold

Romanesco is also known as coral broccoli and I saw it for the first time today at the farm. As it is with nearly all things found in the natural world, it's hard to believe such a thing grows without any direction from the farmer or gardener on hand. It is absolutely amazing in all of it's details and glorious being. Truly inspired, I immediately purchased a head of it to sit on my desk where I could study all of it's intricacies. At the end of the day I moved it home to rest by the kitchen sink where the studies of it's plentiful characteristics continue.
I'm told it has a really good flavor.....  Perhaps one day I'll purchase another for another type of sensory experience.......

Seed catalog already!?

I just received my first 2010 seed catalog, even though November isn't quite done. I've never heard of Pinetree Garden Seeds before - I wonder how they got my address? No worries, though, as I am delighted with the descriptions I have come across in the first few pages of their catalog. Two examples: Cheddar Cauliflower - "this unique and beautiful cauliflower is the color of cheddar cheese and retains this dramatic shade when cooked...." and Cosmic Purple (carrot) - "With a stunning shade of purple skin, this unique Danvers type carrot is a delight when harvested..... when sliced in coin-sized pieces, the inner yellow core is surrounded by orange flesh and encircled by the purple skin that will remain colorful after cooking...". What fun! Oh, to plant all of these..... what enjoyment it would be.... the inspiration of color and form, from the garden to the table!

yellow

"Of the color between green and orange in the spectrum, colored like buttercup or primrose or lemon or sulfur or gold...."

---Oxford English Dictionary

I've been inspired by yellow lately. Curious as that is not normally a color I'm drawn to. But over the last few weeks I've purchased roses and daffodils and tulips. With all of them I have enjoyed their transition from soft and full, warm-of-life petals that generate hope and cheer to petals fragile and brittle and serious in their droopy to dropped nature.

My kitchen counter is the catch-all for all organic forms. It's where I can daily watch them (the potatoes, kohlrabi, gourds, a section of leek, garlic scapes, avocado peels, flowers, kale....) morph; shriveling or expanding, fading in color or changing color all together. I love watching the subtle changes in their texture, color and form and find inspiration even in what most would call ugly, perished, and ready for the compost.