Breadfruit - 4

© Ellen Blonder

All the bare canvas is now covered, but except for the brown branch, everything will probably be painted over again, including the background. I'm still not sure about including the cross-section of breadfruit, and I'm still looking for one at the market.

Breadfruit - 3

© Ellen Blonder

Laying in first greens. More paint will be layered over just about everything.

Breadfruit - 3

© Ellen Blonder

I just had time to start painting first details today. 

Breadfruit - 2

© Ellen Blonder

 Today, I finished sketching in the leaves and painting in a rough background color. I'm still trying to decide if I want to have a cross-sectioned fruit in the picture, and perhaps some lettering. I do love the shape of these beautiful, graceful leaves.

© Ellen Blonder

Goodbye, Donkey, Hello, Breadfruit

© Ellen Blonder

I don't often give up on a painting, but I need to at least set the donkey painting aside until I can feel it more in my bones. 

Meanwhile, I have long been wanting to do a painting of a breadfruit I saw at the McBryde Garden last year in Kauai, part of the National Tropical Botanical Gardens. This is the first day's beginning of a sketch, on a section of a 16 x 20-inch canvas. 

Donkey Dream - Even Darker

© Ellen Blonder

© Ellen Blonder

Going darker and darker. Funny how it never works to start so dark to save myself the trouble of layering. This is two more days' work.

Donkey Dream

© Ellen Blonder

Just laying in more darks today, bit by bit.

My (Inner) Child Did This

© Ellen Blonder

And now for something completely different. Ten or eleven years ago, a package of my early tropical paintings was lost in transit and never recovered. I wanted to revisit my favorite of them, painted in a more primitive style than I've been doing lately. This is just the underpainting so far, but it's fun to work so loosely for a change. It's 27 x 40 inches, on canvas.

Staying Warm

© Ellen Blonder

One more watercolor spot from the book proposal. My mother patiently knitted her children tight wool vests to wear under our clothes. In China, the extra layer was probably a necessary and welcome garment, but in our overheated American classrooms, they were itchy, uncomfortable, and--most important when we were struggling to blend in--often visible under our clothes. 

I incorporated a scanned photo into this watercolor, where my vest (or "long bu dop" in my Chinese dialect) was clearly visible under my square-neck dress. I longed for spring when I would finally be allowed to wear the dress without the vest. Only later did I appreciate her extraordinary knitting skills and determination to keep us warm.

Grandsons

© Ellen Blonder

Here's another watercolor from the book proposal. I transferred a photograph of my grandfather with my baby brother and nephew onto watercolor paper, and painted around it. The happy Buddha figurine that sat on my grandparents' cabinet always fascinated me, and with the photograph, it looked like my family was life imitating art. 

Shoes

© Ellen Blonder

Here's another watercolor from the book proposal that never went anywhere. This is how the hallway might look at my grandparents' house, with baby shoes and oxfords in between Chinese slippers. The brown slippers we wore every day, but the sequined ones could add a bit of quick glamour. Both styles let you know you were probably in a Chinese household.

My Father's Hat

© Ellen Blonder

This watercolor was done for a book presentation. The book never happened, but I found the painting again this morning. My father's hat, a beautiful felt fedora, was long since destroyed by moths, but I always admired all it represented.