Keeping Traditions and Yet Adapting

Recipe for Pecan Balls, ink and watercolor

Today was both my daughter’s 18th birthday and Thanksgiving in the US. It was also 2020, (who will forget this year?) and my son was on the other side of the country having Thanksgiving with his roommate. So many phone and video calls over the day, not to mention sharing of food pictures!

This got me to thinking about traditions. Part of why holidays and certain times of year are so much fun is the anticipation of things done only then. Special dinners and/or cakes for birthdays. Apple cider in the fall. The bedside table of goodies when visiting my parents. But going out to look for holiday lights in May seems a little strange as does eating pecan balls in the middle of August or asking everyone to come home for the 4th Thursday in March.

This year was different in many ways from usual, but with my daughter turning 18, it was also a milestone. A good one. I thought about what future celebrations and holidays will be like with the kids, but not kids any longer, joining in and adding their twists and flairs to whatever we are gathering for. I’m looking forward to it.

It’s nice to have the parts you like to look forward to but it’s also good to enjoy the changes and novelties that may be introduced because of circumstance or time.

What was the same for you this year and what was a new pleasant change?

If you like Christmas cookies, the pecan balls illustrated above are a good one. My family’s been making and eating them over 50 years. Enjoy!

Pot Pie Heaven!

Logan selling her pot pies from her business Pot Pie Factory

I’m a visual storyteller and one of the things I like is to do is to draw food. I was at an Illuminating Women event recently in June where there were a couple of cooking demonstrations for that month’s theme. Both chefs were interesting and the sample salads they made were tasty. But when that was over and Seattle-based chef Logan Niles brought out her frozen pot pies to sell, that’s when my interest in drawing the scene was piqued! Logan is very personable and very clearly connected to and proud of her products. All the pot pies in the boxes were lined up and so attractive. I liked how each one was handmade and each has cut outs of pastry to identify the type of pie. It was clear that Logan has lots of experience with these because although the pies were different because of ingredients, all were regular in size and similar in shape. I admire the hours that have been spent to master that technique.

I got a couple of pies to try at home. They were pre-baked then frozen so all I needed to do was finish the baking to heat and brown them. And when I got to eat mine, yum! I had fun putting together this collage of Logan and her pot pies together. If you’re interested in trying out her pot pies, Logan sells them online through her company Pot Pie Factory.

Artichokes Galore!

Here is a drawing I recently finished up of some artichokes I took a picture of at Russo’s, wonderful market in Watertown, MA. I do a lot of my drawings using reference pictures, and after I started sketching, I take my photographs differently so that I can sketch from them later. I love going to markets and seeing all the displays of produce piled up. I often go to a local Indian and Asian markets just to admire their fruit and vegetable displays. I sometimes will also come home with unusual things, for me, both to draw and to try to eat or cook - dragon fruit, bitter melon and drumstick beans have been some of my experiments.

Students' work from my Playing with Food in Your Sketchbook Workshop

My 6-week workshop of Playing with Your Food in a Sketchbook with ink and watercolor has begun and it has been so much fun so far! The first week was working with fresh produce and the images are some examples of my students’ work so far. They’ve done some fabulous work and I’m inspired to try drawing some of what they’ve done. This past week’s lesson was about drinks and I’ve given out the assignment to go to a coffeeshop and draw their drink. It’ll be fun to see what they draw.

I will be offering this course again in January 2019. Go to my workshop page and find more information and register there.

Chocolate Bar Wrappers!

Some people collect wine labels, but I collect chocolate bar wrappers! I've noticed that over the years, wrappers and packaging for chocolate bars are getting more and more interesting and beautiful. With more smaller, specialty chocolatiers making chocolates, there are even more lovely wrappers out there to admire and collect. I then like to draw them in my sketchbook and have them all in one place. For this chocolate bar from Trader Joe's, I used my Platinum carbon pen and ink, a green Micron Pigma 03 pen, and a Faber Castell Artist Pitt pen in addition to watercolor. It is in a Stillman & Birn Epsilon sketchbook.

A Taco Tasting Journey for the Sketchbook Project 2018 Completed!

The deadline for submitting to the Sketchbook Project 2018 and having it part of a traveling collection for the summer is tomorrow, April 30th, 2018. I am done! My pages are all finished and scanned. I'm working on a video of the sketchbook to post a link here. This was my last meal that I had on a day in Seattle for jury duty. They gave an hour and a half for lunch so I had plenty of time to get to and sit down for an actual meal. This place was great. They have an open kitchen and I sat at the bar watching the activity. They make their own tortillas and it was fascinating watching the woman make, press and then cook the tortillas on the flat top. Great food, nice people, and interesting things around the restaurant for me to look at and draw!

First Taco Dinner for the Sketchbook Project 2018

This is my sketch from my first taco themed spread for the Sketchbook Project 2018. The sketchbook is due at the end of April and I have a couple more meals to record. I typically take a bunch of pictures in the restaurant or at the food truck to get images of the atmosphere and then a number of photos of my tacos as they were presented. Since this was the very first spread, the design is fairly basic. As time progressed and I ate more meals and have done more pages, I have added more and more elements and details. I am slowly digitally cleaning up the images from the sketchbook and will post them here as I go. These were delicious. Where is your favorite taco place?