The Rest of Them

Here are the last of the paintings I did for Harrison St. Coffee Shop. I am happy to have finished this series - it's satisfying to see all of them together.

All of the paintings were drawn from life, except for the Asparagus Flower which I drew from a photo. Also, the design on the plate was made up. This was an interesting way to work. I went to the grocery store and farmer's markets, and kept an eye on veg and fruits that looked particularly beautiful or interesting. Then I had to draw them before too many days passed and they got rotten or misshapen. I took photos of the foods so that I could reference the color when I went to paint them, since usually after I drew them I wanted to cook/eat them. It was fun drawing the cupcake. It was a nice treat to eat - delicious!

Veg!

I was commissioned to do some paintings for the walls of my favorite vegetarian cafe in Richmond, Harrison Street Coffee Shop. They have remodeled and are re-opening tomorrow! I only had 4 paintings to give them so far, but by the end of August I will have all 15 done. It is so fun to draw fruits and vegetables! it's rather relaxing. all the paintings were made using a gel transfer technique, where I drew the veg and then made photocopies of the drawings. Using gel medium, I transferred the photocopied image and then painted the back of the gels with acrylic paints. I mounted them onto wooden boards and painted additional decorations directly on the boards, and sealed them off with varnish. I like working in this technique because I can work on the drawing first and then color it in. I can also make multiples of the same drawing, but each is a little different because i paint them all by hand.

From top to bottom: Okra, Plums, Lemon. I got the okra and plums at my local farmer's market because they looked so attractive. i had never liked okra before because the first time i ate it, it was so slimy! but i battered it in flour, salt, nutritional yeast, and "chicken-style" seasoning and fried it up. it was delicious!