I picked up my first quart of local strawberries a few weeks ago and have been supporting our farm stand at least once a week since. Although I wanted to set some aside to draw, we kept eating them before I could manage it. This week I finally showed some restraint. And here you have it: twelve local strawberries with personality; the way a strawberry should be.

I also made time to sketch peas in our garden this week. The yield won’t amount to much, but I enjoy them equally for drawing and eating.

Tips and Techniques— Subtle or bold? Don’t be afraid to let color stand out in your paintings. Garden vegetables and flowers almost demand it. At the same time, you can treat your use of color in different ways. Here, the strawberries called for fully saturated color, but the peas were more delicate. I wanted to see how how they would look if I drew and shaded them extensively in sepia ink, before adding watercolor. This gave me the option of hinting at color in several places and using pale washes to create depth.