On Violets and Visual Deconstruction

  This is a painting I completed about three weeks ago. It is entitled "Violet" and I'm sure you can see why. There are certain challenges to painting a piece like this: first, to paint something recognizable as a common flower without painting the flower itself. Secondly, I want to continue to develop the visual style I've been working with for a few years now without looking just like any previous painting.

  Some time ago I started referring, at least in my own head, to this style as "Suggestivism." I wanted to create more than simply an abstract expressionist representation without leaning too far in the other directions of neo-realism or even impressionism. Hence the term "suggestivism," I wish to suggest the idea of an image with which most people will be familiar. Mentally I took stock of the most striking aspects of a violet: the colors obviously, the design of the streaks on the petals pulling together the natural composition of the bloom. I attempted to capture these aspects and lay them out in a way that is new to the viewer, but still recognizable as the subject.

  The second challenge was to further develop a style I keep working with and do something fresh with it. I started with abstract representations of animals (as seen here). I quickly moved on to suggesting the images of trees, other animals, and finally last summer to purely non-objective pieces. I wanted to turn back to actual representation for this one but still change it up a little. I broke apart the visual elements of the violet and made them mostly symmetrical as opposed to the radial symmetry of the flower. The colors I put down piecemeal, more like the illustrations I have been working on rather than a "real painting." Keeping with my watercolor/gouache/ink style I made the streaks wild and all over the place, but still practiced a great deal of control with the straw I use to blow the ink (if you hadn't figured out that's how I do it by now). The end result, if I was successful, is something the viewer instantly sees and says to themselves "Hey, that's a violet!" But nonetheless doesn't really look like one.

Honey-Pistachio Banana Bread

This is a recipe I put together after trying out a few different banana bread recipes. It's really easy and really tasty.

Honey-Pistachio Banana Bread

1/3 cup butter, melted

3-4 large super-ripe bananas, mashed

2/3 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1/3 cup white sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

About ½ cup chopped (or ground with a mortar & pestle) shelled pistachios

Beat together bananas, butter, honey, vanilla, and egg thoroughly.  Mix dry ingredients (except nuts) in separate bowl and beat into mashed-up mixture. Loosely stir in nuts and pour into greased bread pan. Bake at 350° F for 1 hour. Let cool for about 20-30 minutes before cutting into it.