Summer Palette

No sketches or paintings to post today.  Flowers and fresh summer produce have been my palette this month.

'Fairy Queen' Mealycup Sage, 'Debonair Dusty Rose' Petunias, and 'Marguerite' Sweet Potato Vine grace the planters on my deck.  This year at the suggestion of a friend I mixed Osmocote into the soil and the plants are blooming as if they were on steroids.  Perhaps they are!  Lots of rain and lower temperatures than normal have helped as well.

About 4 months ago I decided to try a vegetarian diet.  I discovered Martha Rose Shulman's cookbook, The Very Best of Recipes for Health, and Mark Bittman's, VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00.  Both write for The New York Times and I love their articles and recipes.  These two books, together with lots of recipes from the internet, have made eating a vegetarian diet fun and delicious. 

My first meal of the summer enjoyed on the deck: a lentil and bulgar salad with tomatoes and olives.  Fresh mint and parsley from a hanging basket added zing to the salad.

You might wonder why there is a knife in the picture. It's an Oxo knife I bought for $12 at the local hardware store. Cutting and chopping with this knife is a wonder it's so sharp.  Little things like this knife, the blue and yellow napkin with lemons I bought in Provence, or the reusable mesh bags I bought to use at the grocery store instead of plastic make me happy.  What could be better-sun, flowers, a beautifully prepared salad served in the wooden bowl my father enjoyed!

Stay tuned for my next post!  I'm in the middle of a large 36 x 48" painting (for me that is large) of a southwest sky and mountain landscape.  One day I threw caution to the wind and painted with palette knife and cloth.  What freedom!