Grapefruit And Spoon Watercolor Painting
By Charlie

A Fresh Start

Written by Charlie O'Shields

When I think of “Grapefruit,” our prompt for the day, I always think back to when I was a kid. My mother always had at least half of a grapefruit in the refrigerator. I didn’t really enjoy it as much until I was a bit older. For me back then, the morning simply had to begin with a bowl of cereal, or if I was very lucky on Saturday mornings, a plate of French toast. Looking back, my mom had a much healthier approach and these days I start the morning with a smoothie of some kind. Philippe actually makes them and I know there are berries in the mix, but the rest is always a bit of a blended mystery. They’re quite delicious, though, and I’m certain that whatever is in them is much healthier than the cereal of my youth. We don’t actually buy any grapefruit, and I’ve no idea why. I don’t think either of us are particularly opposed to the idea, it’s simply not a fruit that we seem to prefer. Pictured here is a special pointy spoon for digging out the pulp that I’ve never owned, but seems intriguing and efficient so I tossed one in the sketch. It strikes me that if I had a tool like this, eating grapefruit would be much more fun.

By the time I was in high school, I did really enjoy eating grapefruit. This was done with a normal spoon and I actually wasn’t very good at doing the digging. I would inadvertently squirt it across the table or into my face, which was not particularly civilized. I’d watch my mom eat them like a professional and try to mimic her movements, but I just lacked all of her finesse. My sketch of the fruit is equally giddy, rushed and impulsive, like most of my doodles. So, it’s quite fitting for how I indulged in this particular treat. After breakfast this morning, Philippe and I took down all of the holiday decorations. I was admittedly dreading it, but we were impressively efficient and seemed to have it all down to a science. Our live tree that had gifted us with its beauty for the past month was placed into a bag and then carted off to the recycling lot. Philippe pulled it out of the back of the car ahead dumped it on the pile. As I was driving away, it was a bit sad to see it sitting there, but I know it will serve a new purpose in the future. Our living room looks a bit plain without all of the festive bits, but there’s also a comfort in having everything back in its usual place.

After all the cleaning up, I get a little excited and think I’ll try cleaning more things, like getting rid of things in a closet or organizing the garage. This wears off quickly, however, and I end up getting distracted with something else almost immediately. Sometimes, I actually think I had a longer attention span when I was a child. Certain projects will command my attention for longer periods, or create a bit of an obsession for a time, of course. This website was one of those, which is why it’s packed with some many different features! I’m excited to find a new project this year that will send me into that same compulsive state. Not sure if Philippe is quite as excited as I tend to jump into big projects with very little planning and go a bit nuts trying to actually DO them. But, I’m perfectly happy flitting from one thing to the next. Life is never dull that way. And the best part is that each day when I wake up, even if there’s no grapefruit, I’ll always know that, at the very least, I’m going to enjoy a fresh start.

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About the Doodlewash

Da Vinci Paint Co.: Aureolin, Opus (Vivid Pink), Vermilion, Leaf Green, Terra Cotta and Ultramarine (Green Shade). Staedtler Pigment Liners in an A5 Hahnemühle Watercolour Book. Want to purchase a print of this doodlewash? Send me a note with a link to this post, and I’ll add it to my shop!
 Grapefruit And Spoon Watercolor Painting Sketchbook Detail

Charlie O'Shields

Creator of Doodlewash, founder of World Watercolor Month (July), World Watercolor Group, and host of the Sketching Stuff Podcast. Sharing watercolor illustrations and stories while proudly featuring talented artists from all over the world!

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31 thoughts on “A Fresh Start”

  1. Looks like a delicious grapefruit to me! Love grapefruit and we used to have a tree in our yard that kept us in grapefruit all winter and it was wonderful!!! Loved being able to pick my breakfast right off the tree. 🥰

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  2. I think if I tried to use a spoon like that I’d probably poke out an eye! Seemingly difficult, but I’m sure I’d manage. Your attention span is probably better now, but when you’re a kid there is so much more of the world to explore. An adult fills in half the details (right or wrong) from what they already know, and loses interest because they’ve been there before.

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  3. This looks delicious Charlie! Instead of a pointed spoon I have a serrated knife with a curved blade and after halving the grapefruit I cut around each section. It makes for easier eating. After all these sketches I think I need to buy a few grapefruits tomorrow. I also think I have found a new subject for my black watercolor paper series that I am working on for an upcoming small exhibit. It will likely be painted in gouache and will include a partial lime that I already have and a little orange.

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  4. Wonderful capture and I began to really want a grapefruit and I really cant stand them! The power of art and words. My Nanna always had half a grapefruit in the morning too. She grew them. Huge and the only citrus I detest. I loved my Nanna though. She too had a pointy spoon. Thanks for reviving the memories.

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    1. Thanks so much, Darlene! 😃💕 Aww thanks! Yeah, I haven’t done videos as I and don’t have the time to commit to doing them. I want to write and illustrate books, so that’s what I’ve focused on. I’ll have a couple other Activity books coming out this year with more tips and tricks though. 😉

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      1. I’m thrilled that you will have more books out this year, Charlie! 😊. I haven’t started the one I have yet. A friend and I Want to work through our copies together but she hasn’t had time to start yet.

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  7. I love pink and red grapefruit. I only get two or three a year, and that’s enough. The way I like them is peeled, then I take the skin off each section. All the little juice filled globuals look like jeweks. I must add them to the grocery list.

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  8. My mother tried to feed us grapefruit too. I didn’t like it at all. She loved it.
    I like the expression ‘blended mystery’.
    I have absolutely no talent for cleaning up but I can get carried away for hours by searching for or looking into a particular watercolor paint or supply 🙂

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  14. A perfect New Year fruit, festively colored in defiance of wintry cold. I don’t have a grapefruit spoon but I do have a a small knife with a curved, serrated tip. I had to stop hubby from straightening the “bent” tip. He couldn’t understand a knife constructed to scoop. LOL. We’ve been married for decades and I’m still trying to get him to fix his own messes, not mine. Like right now, I must put away the last of the Chanukah decorations.

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    1. Thanks, Sharon! 😃💕Yeah, Philippe as many tools in the kitchen that still confound me! lol And now I feel like I’m ahead. We’re already put away the holiday decorations. One year they were out until February though. 😊

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