I bought these eggplants at a local farmer's market this morning intending to cook them up, but before that, I couldn't resist painting them. The gorgeous "eggplant" hue - that rich dark violet purple - was a delight to mix and paint. Each eggplant was a slightly different shade of the color, so capturing the colors correctly added to the 20 minute challenge. Watercolor, 5 1/2" x 8".
Small freshwater tropical fish are very affordable and fairly easy-to-take-care-of pets, and even though they are not a cuddly sort of creature, they do reward you with their own version of entertainment and calming nature. Occasionally they do attack and even eat other, but that generally means you picked the wrong ones to coexist in your tank! Though I had many different kinds of fish over the years, I don't believe I ever owned one of the above (a "twin band killie"). They sure do look beautiful in pictures and it was fun subject to paint in 20 minutes. Watercolor and watersoluble crayon, 5 1/2" x 8".
I wanted to draw a tree in a more folk-art style here, with large flat areas to be filled with bright saturated color. This kind of design would probably translate well into printmaking or embroidery. I am always surprised that these style paintings fill up the 20 minute timeframe - I could easily work on this for another 20 minutes to get deeper color and more detail. Pen and watercolor, 5 1/2" x 8".
This 20 minute painting was completely inspired by another kind of art - very intricate metal sculpture. To be even more specific - a tiny clockwork automaton made over 100 years ago by Faberge as part of one of his amazing eggs. As I was drawing this from a photo I realized how intricately detailed it was. Just gorgeous. Pen and watercolor, 5 1/2" x 5 1/2".
More than painting this in a 20 minute timeframe, I think the real challenge here was not eating this doughnut before the painting was done. Genuine from-scratch doughnuts are so exceptionally delicious, even though they may be hard to come by these days. We are lucky to have a mom-n-pop store a short drive away that makes them fresh and homemade. There is just no comparison to those chain-store "donuts". Maybe I'll go back to painting healthy food like fruit and veggies soon, but junk food can be more fun since it's full of whimsy. Watercolor, 5 1/2" x 8".
