Serendipitous Saturday: In which figs, plein air, and water combined in a totally unforeseen way
I had to pick up two watercolors this morning from the California Watercolor Assn. Gallery Concord. Since the day was young and the weather sunny, I thought I'd detour a bit on the return trip and visit the little town of Port Costa. Hadn't been there in several years, and I'd been thinking for some time that it would make a great plein air site for my El Cerrito Art Assn. group. It's a funky old bay side port town with an excess of scenic charm, and lovely vistas of water. Well, lo and behold. I pulled into the gravel lot and there right in front of me were a couple folks I knew who were painting with a Martinez Adult School plein air class. Although the class was already winding down, I decided to stick around awhile and scout out possibilities for future painting.
As I rambled around, I discovered a humongous old fig tree down by the railroad tracks, loaded down with ripe luscious purple fruit, there for the taking. I guess in itself this wasn't a great find, except that, only yesterday I had been admiring the sweet little watercolor sketch that Jana Bouc had painted of, what else, lovely purple figs. Like Jana, I had to fall in love with figs later in life, but not for the same reason. When I was a child there was a spot in the backyard to plant a fruit tree. Did my parents plant a pear, a peach, a nectarine, even a common apple tree? Of course not. What kid do you know that likes figs. Those green figs became further abused when my mother attempted fig jam. Since the jam was turning out an unattractive yellowish green, red food coloring was added to the process. Let's review color theory for just a second: red + green + yellow would make - ooooh yuck. To make the mess even more revolting, there was a recipe malfunction. The sugar in the jam crystallized. It could be because the jars sat there on the shelf forever due to lack of interest, but whatever the reason, we kids had sweet sticky throat-clogging peanut butter and crunchy jam sandwiches for a while.
As I rambled around, I discovered a humongous old fig tree down by the railroad tracks, loaded down with ripe luscious purple fruit, there for the taking. I guess in itself this wasn't a great find, except that, only yesterday I had been admiring the sweet little watercolor sketch that Jana Bouc had painted of, what else, lovely purple figs. Like Jana, I had to fall in love with figs later in life, but not for the same reason. When I was a child there was a spot in the backyard to plant a fruit tree. Did my parents plant a pear, a peach, a nectarine, even a common apple tree? Of course not. What kid do you know that likes figs. Those green figs became further abused when my mother attempted fig jam. Since the jam was turning out an unattractive yellowish green, red food coloring was added to the process. Let's review color theory for just a second: red + green + yellow would make - ooooh yuck. To make the mess even more revolting, there was a recipe malfunction. The sugar in the jam crystallized. It could be because the jars sat there on the shelf forever due to lack of interest, but whatever the reason, we kids had sweet sticky throat-clogging peanut butter and crunchy jam sandwiches for a while.
Christine, that post was hilarious! So descriptive! Crunch gray jam - yechh! You helped to remind me what I never ate them as a kid. I didn't know the EC Art Assn did plein air painting. I'm planning to attend my first meeting next month at the invitation of Charlotte Britton who I met at the Stockton Street Stroll where we were both showing at the Fingado Gallery. It sounds like a great group. I'm jealous of your fig find! I've been paying $4.95 a pound for them at El Cerrito Natural! Will I meet you at the ECAA?
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