Pablano Pepper 029

Ross made a really delicious dinner tonight, chicken in mole, and had a pepper left over. I think it is a Pablano. Dark green, glossy skin that is highly reflective.

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I was using a new cardboard surface and wasn't sure I liked it as well because it is a lot smoother. But after working with it for a while, it seems to serve the purpose. The white highlights don't stand out quite as much, but it still works.

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I wrote an article today reviewing a show we saw last week at the Elmhurst Art Museum. Three artists who are working in very different ways. I really liked each one for different reasons.

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I feel fortunate to know so many artists and be able to see such diverse work all the time. I feel inspired by how each person finds their own thing, their own voice, and it brings me back to the observation that whatever we engage with becomes engaging. To say it sometimes seems untrue - anything? But to practice it and to become engaged, really tuned into something is the key.

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I feel it when I'm drawing. The reflections in the skin of the pepper were so cool. I was sitting at the kitchen table and the TV was on so the blue light it emits was reflecting into the shadows and reflected highlights. The gradual curve of this pepper, its uniqueness and its individuality in this moment as it was on the table with the light hitting it a certain way and my position to it...trying to find the right proportion for the line as it recedes away in space - and watching how it relates to the edge of the paper.

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I did capture the characteristics of the pepper and at the same time I could see where I was way off and it was only an estimation, and therefor more interesting. I kept moving, getting up and down, the light changed, and it is alive. So the drawing becomes about the moment and less about the thing.