Olives

© Ellen Blonder

A friend once let us harvest a bagful of olives from a tree on his property. He told us we could cure them by simply layering them with coarse salt in a container, then leaving them alone--hm, about three weeks, if I remember right. I was skeptical. In that time, though, the salt turned oily and the olives dried out a bit and softened, with a pleasantly bitter tang. They made a great addition to a pizza topping.

This acrylic study, painted on an 8 x 10 canvas board, is of some of the branches we were also given that day.