One of your five a day...

'Strawberry' - #1 in the five a day series
- impasto acrylic on canvas 5x5 inches

So, I recently subscribed to a new magazine called Vegan Life. It is so very lovely to be able to read a magazine from cover to cover without having to flick past all the sections that I can’t make use of, it’s really a delight to know that I can bake every recipe and use every product advertised in this particular magazine. I’m not saying I will, in fact chances are I won’t – I didn’t bake before giving up eggs and dairy so I'm not sure if I'll start now no matter how yummy some of the recipes look! But still, it's nice to have the option.

Anyway, you’ll be wondering what this has to do with art. Allow me to explain. So, there was a surprisingly interesting article about strawberries which not only made me want to eat some, it also sparked an arty idea in my head. And one that didn’t involve animals or dramatic skies, at that.

The texture of the strawberry looked like it would be perfect for a little bit of impasto painting so I decided I’d buy a punnet next time I was in town.  Of course, I didn’t figure on Lidl not having any the day I went in and I couldn’t be bothered to drive to Tesco and so, too impatient to wait for another day, I very loosely used a reference photo of one from Paint My Photo instead!

Then last Friday I got S to show me (yet again) how to set up his GoPro camera and made a little timelapse video of the painting as it progressed. You wouldn’t know, thanks to S’s careful editing, but this little painting was interrupted by a burst water pipe in our attic with water dripping down through the window frame in the dining room, where I paint, on the Friday evening. We had to keep the water supply turned off overnight until S could get to the hardware shop to get the bits needed to fix the pipe. Then while he was sorting out the plumbing on Saturday, I spent the day at a Zen retreat of meditation and mindfulness. What a truly relaxing day – no talking, just meditating and some yoga nidra - sleeping yoga – what could be better than that!(Although technically you aren't meant to actually fall asleep!)

Feeling totally zen after my meditation day, I finished the painting on Sunday (the observant among you might notice the change of clothing and the little bit where I forgot to pause the video while I used my hairdryer to speed dry the paint which I actually do after every layer of colour!) and then S worked his technical magic last night to put it all together for me with music and text.

I’d like to do a little series of these. I was thinking I’d call it ‘One of your five a day’. I’ve had a think about other fruit that would work well and so far have come up with a kiwi (sliced in half for added interest), a pomegranate also cut open, a pineapple and possibly an orange – that pitted skin might work. If anyone can think of any other easily recognisable fruit that I could paint, I’d appreciate the suggestions.

In other news, two lovely things happened this week.

Firstly, I discovered my painting ‘Soulful’ in the Portfolio Plus member’s gallery in the latest edition of Artist and Illustrators Magazine. That was a nice surprise.

'Soulful' in Artist and Illustrator Magazine gallery page

Secondly, I entered an older painting of mine called ‘a view less ordinary’ into the Society for All Artists Facebook painting challenge for April (the theme ‘April Showers’) and it won first place! I got a lovely certificate, my painting is now the cover photo for the month and it's now up to me to choose the theme for the May challenge and I get to judge it!

I also managed to blog twice this week so if you’d like to have a read of my blog post from Monday, please just click on the link below.

          Big Skies, Little Planet - a commission (or two)

Wishing you all a wonderful rest of week and I’ll be joining in the Paint Party on Friday as always. See you there.