Three Bell Peppers, 7" x 10" in Derwent Watercolour Pencils on Stillman & Birn Beta journal, rough 180lb watercolor paper. I love the Stillman & Birn journals. When I'm using wet media, that extra heavy paper helps so much to control my results. Today my home care worker Joy brought me these three peppers. She casually set them down in a perfect arrangement. I said "Don't touch them!" and took a half dozen good photos, then painted them fast with the watercolour pencils. Some moments need to be painted. I might use them in combination as a source for a pastel painting.

#9 - Endive and Bell Pepper

Endive and Bell Pepper
6" x 8"
Girault pastels on gray pastel paper.

Today's painting isn't a landscape because I had a long and interesting day. This morning I got out of the house at 7:30am to volunteer at the Food Bank. Because I'm living on Social Security, I also qualified to get groceries.

To my delight instead of a random assortment of breakfast cereals and packaged foods like the other food banks I'd been to, this one had gorgeous produce and serious protein. I got six chicken drumsticks, a dozen beautiful brown eggs, onions, potatoes, a pear, two big oranges ... and the Endive.

I had never seen an Endive before.

I stared across the room while I was sorting giant bags of onions at this mystery vegetable. It looked like a rolled up morning glory bud with Alizarin Crimson edging on blazing white petals with a dash of greenish hue at the base. I had no idea what it was till I asked.

I'd read about Endive in various stories and novels, but I don't eat salads. So I generally don't bother with that side of the produce aisles or know what goes into them much. Lettuces and tomatoes and raw plant stuff with sour stuff poured on it. The sour stuff makes me sick for reasons I didn't understand for years and the raw plants were hard to digest so I just avoided the whole thing unless it was fruit.

I couldn't this time. That Endive was too beautiful. I had to get it and paint it. I'll have a go at eating it without sour stuff on it - maybe a dash of olive oil and some garlic salt will make it tasty and I'll find a way to enjoy salads without getting sick.

Still more still lifes to come because I can't resist those lovely brown eggs and beautiful onions either. Even the potatoes might be amusing. So this series is titled "Food, Glorious Food!"