Monday, September 22, 2008

Seasonal art?

Photo copyright of Teresa Mallen

Do you create seasonal art? What I mean is, do you paint subjects that correspond to the season you find yourself in? Do you paint winter scenes in winter, and flower scenes in summer?

I don't - at least not consciously. Yet here is photo I took two days ago of some lovely tomatoes. Guess what my next project is - yup, I am working on a c.p. painting of tomatoes. I am working from a series of photos that I took several years ago. Was I drawn to these photos because I am currently gathering lucious tomatoes from my garden every day?

On the other hand, I love to work on paintings of flowers in the winter (as the snow falls outside and I am nice and snug in my studio.)
So how about you? Does the season we are in affect your art?

One thing I do know...buyers are influenced by the season. Interestingly, buyers like winter scenes in winter and they buy springtime images in spring, and so on. Something to think about if you are scheduling your shows and you are wondering what inventory to take.

It is officially Autumn today. Perhaps you are starting a new Autumn inspired piece today! We had a light frost last night, our second in a week. In response to a chilly morning, I cooked up some oatmeal porridge this morning. I like my oatmeal cooked with raisins, cinnamon and apples. This morning I was too lazy to chop up an apple. I remembered the apple cider in the frig and thought this might add some nice apple flavour. So, after my oatmeal was cooked I added a good splash of cider (followed by brown sugar and milk of course). It was yummy. I shall definitely do this again.

Wikipedia reports that oat porridge has been found in the stomachs of 5,000 yr old Neolithic bog bodies in central Europe and Scandinavia. As well, Scotland holds annual Porridge Making Championships in October. I wonder if any of these porridge chefs add cider?

3 comments:

Jeanette Jobson said...

I don't know if I consciously draw seasonal pictures, but I know I am influenced by objects around me and I have my eye on some interesting tomatoes too.

I usually draw what is available and also have a stock of images to draw from when I need more inspiration.

As for oatmeal, besides being good for you, I find it really filling so it helps me get over the morning munchies without sinning. :)

Anonymous said...

I think I am influenced by the seasons, because of what I see and I feel, but that does not always inpsire me to do a seasonal picture as such.

Yummy porrige is so good for you, I have a bowl every morning, and its pukka on a cold winter day...like Jeanette says you dont get the 11 0clock munchies with it.

Teresa Mallen said...

Now maybe I'm not heaping my bowl up high enough, cause honestly I don't have any trouble gearing up for a mid-morning snack...oops maybe I'm just a little hog :-)