When I see a display like this one of so many different pumpkin varieties, my reaction is to want to know the name of each one, what they taste like and what they are known to be great for. I am a listmaker, it's a compulsion. It's no wonder to me that I work in series with my art. It's a way of completely exploring a subject to my satisfaction and making a cohesive body of work that is understandable on its own as a body of work.

Back to the heirloom pumpkins. I've tried some of these so far and they have been excellent. Not at all like the grey, jap, and butternut that I'm used to. There's so much out there to try and I find it really exciting. This universe of choice is why I try to shop for my veg at farm outlets rather than the stupidmarket. All of these pumpkins were grown at this farm.

We recently had a go at the River Cottage baked pumpkin soup recipe* with a butter (not butternut) pumpkin bought here. It's a small round black/green pumpkin. There's one in the very front centre of the photo, partially obscured. Quite moreish, with it's own subtle flavour. It was drier and firmer than I'm used to. In fact it was more like pumpkin mash than soup! That recipe is awesome too. I highly recommend it, though it's certainly not for vegans or those on a diet. It won't be going in the art vege cookbook as I can't improve on it and make it my own!

However, it is highly likely there will be a spaghetti squash recipe going in thanks to the enormous supply of them at this farm. I nearly squealed with glee when I saw they had them. Since then I have been back nearly every week to stock up for the continuing experiment that is baked spaghetti squash. They've all been good but not necessarily repeatable or 'just so'... yet.

Speaking of recipes in the art vege cookbook that involve pumpkins, here's a (quite a) few:

If you're in my part of the world, the array of pumpkin varieties are for sale at Jonesy's in Bacchus Marsh on the avenue.

*can't find a link to it on the River Cottage or BBC site any more

How do I know what art to buy?
It's a common and understandable question. I'm interested in having some original art on my walls, but I'm not sure what art to buy.

But what? Perhaps a quick think about what art to avoid would make things clearer.

Mass produced prints vs original art

Let's start with mass produced prints vs original art. A mass produced print, say from Ikea, has absolutely no possibility of financial appreciation. You may like it, it may be convenient. Your cash will go into the pocket of a multinational and you own a pretty but worthless picture.

An original piece of art, no matter how obscure the artist, has some potential for financial appreciation. How much will vary from artist to artist. You will be able to find an original that you love just as much as any mass produced piece. It will be unique. Until you are used to seeing original art vs mass produced prints, you may not be aware that an original will have so much more detail and life to it. A piece produced by hand almost always has this extra dimension. Buying an original means your cash will go into the pocket of the artisan and will help enable them to make more of their unique, labour intensive pieces.

A quick FYI. An original painting is one of a kind. An original print is not a reproduction, but an original piece in it's own right. There will be a limited number of these produced by a hands on method. A reproduction print is a mechanical reproduction of another piece of art. Reproductions may be in limited or unlimited editions and these have the least value due to the fact that they are essentially authorised copies.

So where to start? 

Look at art. Get to know your artists. Very quickly, actually instinctively, you will know what you like. You may have friends with similar taste. Ask them for artist recommendations. 

Figure out your price range. There is a perception that original art is unaffordable to the average person. Not so. Have a look around, online and off. Truly, there is art for every budget. Not to mention, for every size of wall.

There's a final litmus test for any artwork

It's the most important criteria of all which puts all uncertainty into place. Do you love it? While there's no guarantee that any original will realise the potential for financial growth, you can guarantee that you'll be gazing on this artwork for years to come. Does it make you feel? If not, pass. But if it's a source of happiness, if you would love to be living with it and it's in your price range, give Ikea a skip and go for it.


If you're thinking of starting a collection of art, you may also find 'Beginning your own art collection' useful.

Excited by the potential of owning an affordable original piece of art? Why not head on over to the Official Art Store for WhereFishSing and see if there's something there that sings to you.

More art technique articles

This article is one in an ongoing series of technical articles for artists, all archived together and accessible from here. The topics range from details on materials, to the business of art, to specific art techniques. Please make use of this resource.

We had an awful summer growing season here in Victoria with floods and an astonishing number of cold days. Autumn has been warmer and drier than summer was! Still, there comes a time when the plants from last season have to make way for the new seedlings. That time is now. Which has made for a wonderful harvest of green tomatoes. Great for jam. Mmm, green tomato jam.

This is also the end of the Winter season of the cookbook. Which means it's the halfway mark in the art vege cookbook project. Yes, all the Autumn and Winter recipes and paintings are complete.

I'm going to take a bit of a break, perhaps up to a month, on posting recipes and paintings. I won't be idle though. This time will be spent organising the printed version of the cookbook and attending to some non-artistic business projects which require my attention to complete.

In the meantime, I'd like to keep blogging and I'm curious about what you would like to hear about. I'll be experimenting with writing on myself as an artist and various creativity, art and behind the scene artist life topics. If there's something you'd be fascinated to read about, let me know in the comments.

I have a commercial design background. Looking back over the seventy odd food paintings that I've done so far for this artvegecookbook, it seems like a strong influence. I'm not sure why this surprises me. My natural style was always somewhat illustrative, clean and clear in a graphic design sense, and cartoon influenced. This was part of the reason I headed toward medical illustration and animation. It suited my style and it helped me help other people. That's called going with the flow.

But now that I'm painting, following my own agenda and free to work in any visual style, the bold graphic element is very clearly still there.

In pondering this, I realised that it may be a product of what I am grasping for in my work. I aim for 'essence'. For the underlying or intrinsic special something of (in this case a recipe) to be rendered in a visual form. That's what I do. It's what I've always done. In medical illustration the essence is the distilled medical/anatomical information made crystal clear for a non-medic. In graphic design it is the logo which at a glance captures just what a company or brand is about. Done well, these become icons.

Icons by necessity tend to be bold, graphic and clear. An icon has a job to do. It encapsulates a huge amount of information. It represents a much larger set of associations and ideas and sends it's bolt of understanding to anyone who dares look. It has to be clear and recognisable. I am aiming for icons. For creations that capture the essence of their recipe and send a bolt of yes, of course, that's it exactly.

Satisfying. Quick. Easy. Homely.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. Celebrating the distinctive white cracking pattern of the top of the winter shiitake mushroom. If you take a look at my previous post on the Edwardian photographer and professional gardener Charles Jones, you will see the inspiration for this painting. I wanted to do the painting equivalent of his gentle yet powerful moments with vegetables.

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

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The meatless meals recipe

Artist inspiration and artist influences. No biographies, dates or scholarly research here - this is a personal response to the work of photographer Charles Jones by Australian artist Fiona Morgan.

The Creative Cauldron series of posts explores and showcases the visual styles, techniques, attitudes, ideas, artists and paintings that have had the most impact on me. 

The rest of the series is accessible via the Creative Cauldron page. Have a meander if you please, and remember to check out my artworks on Flickr, and have an insider peek at life as an artist on Facebook.

Oooh look. The fun and funky Foodiggity - the greatest food culture site ever* has begun a new Food Art Friday and has been kind enough to feature the art filled vege cookbook. Thanks Chris! Take a peek, or even better, follow along for all sorts of food related entertainment.

If you too would like to feature the cookbook project or interview me, please get in touch. I'd love to hear from you. The best thing you can do if you like this project is to spread the word.

*may or may not be the greatest food culture site ever

Chunky. Filling. Easy. Hearty.

***

Food painting artwork is 30 x 30cm oil on linen. Inspired by the colourful and happy landscapes of Ton Schulten, a Dutch artist whom I discovered by accident (always the way, really) while browsing through a gallery shop, probably the Tate Modern in London though I'm not sure. Anyway, I spied a very small diary about the size of my hand and it was filled, filled, with bright happy colourful landscapes. I bought it and now a lot of those pages are in my inspiration scrapbook. This is not a 'scrapbook' in the fancy designed memorial sense of 'scrapbooking', but a magpie collection of scraps of paper with images that grab me all glued haphazardly into one book.

The connection between Ton's landscape style and this roast vege salad is the chunks of colour he uses and of the veges in the bowl, and the bare yet not barren fields of winter that these mostly root veges have come from.

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

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Another meatless meals recipe

1 carrot

1 parsnip

200g broccoli or cauliflower

200-250g pumpkin

3 medium potatoes

1 medium onion

90-100g haloumi cheese, cubed or sliced

4 tablespoons hommous - recipe for homemade hommous coming!

around 75g brazil nuts, roughly sliced

around 65g rocket

Preheat your oven to 200 C.

Chop all your veges (carrot, parsnip, broccoli, cauliflower, pumpkin, potato, onion) into pieces no larger than one inch cubes.

Roast on a lightly oiled tray for 45-60 minutes until the veg are nicely cooked. Go easy on any additional salt as haloumi is salty enough. In the end you probably won't need any more.

Remember to turn the veg from time to time. The roasting time will vary from oven to oven and depend on the size of the veg pieces too.

Divide the roasted veg across two bowls and top with haloumi, hommous, rocket and brazil nuts.

This makes a rather big meal for 2.

Creamy. Satisfying. Versatile. Chunky.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm impasto acrylic on paper. The paper is no ordinary paper, it is textured Hahnemuhle 300 gsm 100% alpha cellulose which is acid-free fibre of vegetable origin.

This detailed cauliflower was painstakingly painted by hand and is not a flat design. The paint is raised off the surface of the paper (impasto), adding depth and texture especially when seen from an angle.

In India, as part of the pre-wedding preparations, intricate henna designs are painted onto the hands and feet of the bride. There are elements of tradition and auspiciousness associated with the designs, known as mehndi. Having mehndi painted on is meant to signify the transition from virgin to temptress.

This mehndi inspired design has nothing to do with marriage, henna or hands. It does, however, obviously nod to the source of this dish which can be found all over India.  It also celebrates the humble cauliflower being transformed into a dazzling tempting meal.

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

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The meatless meals recipe

Serves 4-6 with rice.