Savory and Sweet
My sketches this week are an effort to appreciate the small pleasures of life and to look for joy in the everyday. Typically, I wander out into nature for inspiration, but I didn’t need to go beyond my own kitchen this week. For the savory: a bunch of ordinary parsnips that seem to dance on the page. And for the sweet: a delectable batch of cream puffs that I made from scratch for the first time ever. If I could offer you one or the other, there’s no question which it would be. Instead, I give you both and wish you sweet moments to savor during the week ahead.
Heads up: Registration opens March 3 for the Hog Island Audubon Camp in Maine with lots of covid-19 safety precautions in place for this season’s programs. I will be directing Arts & Birding, June 20-25, with an all star lineup, including artists Sherrie York, Barry VanDusen, and Sean Murtha.
Drawn In 
Jean Mackay, I ate your paintings with my eyes! How tastefully painted! Julia
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Me, too! Lucky house to have an artistic cook! Lynn
Hi Lynn- I’ve learned a lot over the years by painting food. New textures and challenges…plus it’s a fun way to record simple pleasures.
Thanks Julia– Cream puffs better than turnips on a Sunday morning!
Beautiful Jean. You’ve inspire me to paint and bake!
An excellent combination Michele!
Jean, your cream puffs made me remember the cream puffins at Hog Island when we were there! 🙂
Truth be told, Hog Island’s were better, Carol Ann. But these were quite tasty for a first try.
Delicious post, in every way.
The Mary Oliver quote is perfect. A motto for living.
Hi Alison- Yes…I was glad to pair that quote with the turnips. I had been searching for the right words — Mary Oliver almost always delivers.
“…turnips that seem to dance…” Yes. These brought whirling dervishes to mind. I love sketching plant roots. They’re so fascinating—kind of like following the threads of birds’ nests.
Thanks Susan- A friend suggested that they must be parsnips– and I think that’s right. I avoid eating turnips AND parsnips, so I’m not surprised I was mistaken. But the roots are most excellent and yes, reminded me of sketching the finer threads of nests.
Thank you for this unexpected delight hiding amidst the junk mail of my inbox. Am going through a tough time of caregiver fatigue, unexpected job loss, and assorted sadnesses. Your turnip’s and Mary Oliver’s poignant and uplifting words ushered a thankful smile to my tired and wrinkled face.
Bless you.
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Oh, I’m so glad. Mary Oliver is always good for wisdom when I need it. Take good care and treat yourself to a cream puff (or your personal favorite)!
I remember those delicious puffin cream puffs from Hog Island too. It would be wonderful if you could do some zoom classes from the Island. It would open the program to so many more people who cannot travel to Maine this year.
I can’t imagine adding Zoom to the schedule at Hog Island, unless no one can come…then it could be interesting. Still, how would we convey the feeling of the waves, wind, sun, birds, food, and camaraderie via Zoom? A tall order!
Strange bedfellows, parsnips and creme puffs! 🙂 What an ambitious baker you were! Oh yum, yes, I wish you could share them. Today I read that turnips originated from the European mustard plant, which now grows wild along roadsides everywhere. So I bet parsnips did, too, but I don’t know. The Mary Oliver quote is the best!! The rootlets on the parsnips seem to illustrate exactly what Oliver was saying. I could see that one as a print and I’d love it on the wall, in the kitchen where you’d see it all the time. 🙂
You’re right…they don’t mix at all. But late February-March is a tough time for sketching outside in the Northeast, so I’m taking what I can get. I agree that the roots are fabulous– and I would have just passed them by if I hadn’t stopped to paint them. Alas, Mary Oliver strikes again. Hope you are able to get outside with your camera these days. You help to keep me grounded, too.