To Maunder

My head has been all over the place today.  Did you know that you can find the word 'maunder' in the dictionary and that one of its meanings is to think or wander aimlessly. I carry the name well some days.

Let's see. Where has my mind been today? I started the day by reading Lucile's wonderful post on lemon meringue pie and it made me want to tell you this story.

When I was in my early twenties, I bit into a lemon tart and found myself crying.  I thought 'What is going on with me?'  And then it occurred to me. My grandfather had died recently.  One of the things he loved best was lemon pie, most particularly my mom's lemon meringue pie.  Every time he ate it, he would say how there wasn't anywhere else he knew of where you could get good lemon pie. No one used real lemons any more, he would say.  I realized that deep inside of that tart and every lemon pie since has been the strong memory of my grandfather.

Lucile's wonderful Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe print available in her Etsy shop

Lucile and I agreed this week that food is never just food.  There are so many levels to it:  its origin and cultural significance, its cultivation; the way it's prepared, who prepares it, where it's eaten and the way it's served; its smell, look and taste; and our emotional associations. Not so simple, is it?

Baking a lemon meringue pie is out of the question at the moment as our oven is ailing, so a painting of lemons seemed the next best choice.  Out of our fridge came the sorriest two halves of lemons I've ever seen. Have a look at my sad models in the top photo. I tried to freshen them up a little in my quick little painting.

Still on the food theme, I had a bit of excitement yesterday evening. I submitted an illustration to the site 'They Draw and Cook'. I decided to try to do an illlustration of a recipe that I remember from my childhood and still prepare to this day.  My mom would often make Butter Dips when we would have soup or stew.  I created some little butter dip guys to accompany the recipe. Salli and Nate of They Draw and Cook posted and had even made my recipe within two hours of me submitting it!  I think it was maybe because I sent it around the supper hour. :)  You can have a look at it here.

I am really, really trying not to be too critical of my Butter Dips illustration which is really, really hard for me. (I could have, I should have...)  It was a very good exercise for me, as I don't normally paint these kinds of subjects.  I think it is something that I would like to try again.

In the morning light

Later today, I decided to paint a feather. I'm sure that the time I have spent looking at Jody's beautiful feather paintings recently is what put that idea in my head. There has been a little sparrow feather sitting on our kitchen windowsill for weeks with the promise of a painting in it. I got out my smallest brushes and did a little feather study. (The light was very dim by the time I took the photo so the colours and details aren't showing exactly right. I might try to take another photo during the day tomorrow.  I did.)

I always listen to music when I paint.  Today I had a number of Norah Jones' albums on 'shuffle'. One lyric popped out at me and I thought I would share it with you. It's from the song 'Seven Years' on her 'Come Away With Me' album.

"Our fears are only what we tell them to be."

I like that very much.