August Bounty

Original Sold

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My husband, Joe came up with this idea. It was mid-August, 2008 and I had just come back from the farmer’s market with some ripe figs and rich, red grapes. They were sitting on the kitchen counter next to some Bartlett pears from my parents’ tree. He said matter of factly, “you should put that fruit in that plate and paint it” – pointing to the piece of Italian pottery hanging on the wall, that he’d bought as my birthday gift on our first trip to Italy.

The large decorative plate was from a shop owned by a young woman faence artist in the small Tuscan town of Montaione. I fell in love with it. We’d already bought “the” piece of pottery we’d planned to buy on the trip, yet I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I asked if it could be my birthday present – he said yes.

It ended up arriving from Italy ON my birthday. Later he told me that one of the reasons I’m in his life is that I respond to things like that. He’d barely noticed it on the wall in the shop with all the other pottery. Because of how I did, now he gets to enjoy it in our home.

Making the painting was a trial. The ivy was really dark in the original photo and hard to make out. Without a strong drawing, I was painting half-blind. Not being very good at making things up, I was making a mess of the background. More than half way across and I gave up on it.

I put the whole piece of paper in the kitchen sink and washed off the paint as best I could. So empowering! I took a new photo under better light, photoshopped the new ivy background in to the original, dried and flattened the paper, redrew the ivy and began again. Better. Much better. The tablecloth was challenging too – without a decent drawing I had to again make it up.

With all the surroundings done, the fun started. Painting the plate was a delight. I kept imagining the moment when the ceramic artist had originally painted on the glazes, appreciating her as I re-traced her brush strokes.

This painting speaks to me of generosity – that of the earth, of another artist half a world away and of my wonderful husband.

August 2009 – 16″x 30″ – Watercolor on paper