#WorldWatercolorGroup - Day 17 - Mushrooms Fun With Fungus - Doodlewash
By Charlie

Fun With Fungus

Written by Charlie O'Shields

For our prompt of mushrooms today, I decided to get up close and personal and explore a bit of detail, albeit in my doodled style. The interior of mushroom caps are rather fascinating and far more intricate than I was able to portray here. But hopefully, you’ve added in all the missing bits in your mind to make this seem rather realistic. When I first started painting, my fascination with watercolor was immediate because of how little it takes sometimes to make something appear real and dimensional. Just a quick doodle, a bit of color, only three in this case, and some bits of light and shadow is all you need. And even fungus, it turns out, can be an enjoyable thing to paint. I read once that mushrooms are more closely related in DNA to humans than they are to plants. This is certainly a startling headline for those of us who like to eat them, but it’s really that fungi and animals in general are more closely related. Perhaps this is still unsettling for vegetarians, but hopefully seems a bit less like cannibalism for everyone else. Nature is certainly full of strange little surprises.

I never cared for mushrooms as a kid as they mostly came in the version of the canned variety and those were rather slimy. Also, I was worried that such deforestation could upset the ecosystem of The Smurfs as that was one of my favorite cartoons. They lived in cute little wooden houses that had mushroom cap roofs. Of course, these were the brightly colored mushrooms, which are usually poisonous, but I didn’t really think about that at the time. Looking back, I would have to think the Smurfs would have acquired a sort of immunity to them, short of their skin turning blue, I guess. But, I adored watching them on Saturday mornings. I’ve always loved miniatures so what would be cooler than an entire tiny village! Like many of those cartoons of my youth, however, I’ve not attempted to go back and watch them again. I’m sure the original ones would seem perfectly bizarre if not a bit silly or boring, so I’m content with the fond memories I still have.

My time is short today, and I’ve honestly no idea how I ventured into a conversation about Smurfs, but I should wrap things up. Philippe and I are actually off to a concert this evening. We’ve been listening to and thoroughly enjoying a French singer lately named Cyrille Aimée and were excited to learn she was visiting our city!  We don’t often get out to a show in the evening, being such homebodies so that alone is a bit of an event worth mentioning. I’m sure we’ll have a blast and end the evening telling each other we should do that again soon. We will, but it will be weeks or months from now before we actually do. As much fun as it is to explore the world and go to new places, we are very happy and content being at home. Even if our house doesn’t have a multi-colored mushroom roof, it’s still my favorite place, where I can spend a little quiet moment in the day painting with watercolor, and inexplicably finding myself having fun with fungus.

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About the Doodlewash

Da Vinci Paint Co.: Yellow Ochre, Terra Cotta and Cobalt Blue.  Lamy Al-Star Safari Fountain Pen with sepia ink in an A5 Hahnemühle Watercolour Book.
  Day 17 - Mushrooms Fun With Fungus_IG__

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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28 thoughts on “Fun With Fungus”

  2. Mushrooms are closely related DNA-wise to us humans? That explains my fungal ability to grow best under warm and supine conditions. Your mushrooms look more active than I’ve been lately. And they do seem rather human – take a look at the one keeping a look out while the other takes a nap. They’re named Scout and Slouch, right?

    I didn’t like mushrooms till I was an adult but my grands love them and steal them off my plate. You didn’t think I’d say “no,” did you?

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