When You're Bored

My family is well aware of the fact that I am obsessed with pears. Followers of this blog may have noticed that this yummy and shapely fruit has shown up in more than one recipe I have posted. But if you walked into my home and gazed upon my walls, you would know that my admiration for the pear goes beyond cooking.

It all began six years ago, when I was taking a printmaking class at my local community college. I had to make a 6 x 6 inch drypoint print, and what better subject than that pear sitting on the counter?

When I took the class again, I used the same plate to create a hand-made book. I used chine colle, a technique in which I glued textured, hand-made paper to my prepared print paper before printing. I used paste paper (this link shows how much fun the process can be!) for the cover of my book. It was made from wallpaper paste mixed with water and acrylic craft paint. Finally, I used silkscreen to print a poem into my book. The poem was about a pear, of course!

Then three years ago, I decided to do some studies with Prismacolor pencils, to get back in touch with my drawing self. I gravitated once more to the pears that beckoned to me from the kitchen. No need to lug my art supplies to an exotic location!

From there I moved on to an acrylic painting of a pear, watercolors of pears, and so forth. Sometimes I added apples, but my heart belongs to the pear. My next project is going to be pastel pears. When I adopted pastels into my repertoire two years ago, I stuck with other subjects, trying to branch out. Now my pear collection seems a bit narrow in media scope!