Written by For our Doodlewash prompt of “nuts” today, I opted for some walnuts, even though I prefer pecans, as I find them a bit challenging to sketch. I figured an etched glass bowl would up the challenge a bit more, so I tried both at once. Walnuts displayed like this always seem a bit more like autumn décor than something one should actually eat, like a bowl of hard candy around the holidays. When I was a kid, we had bowls of nuts during the fall season and even if I didn’t always partake, I liked seeing them return. It was like a familiar signal that the weather would be getting cooler and Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas would be arriving one by one each month to make the end of the year the best time of all. I had to find a reference for nuts, as Philippe doesn’t really like them on their own, preferring them as part of a dish. For example, he loves peanut butter, but is completely disinterested in eating a handful of peanuts. This suits me fine, as I have a can of peanuts that is now blissfully my own private stash. Yep, it’s the little things in life that make me smile.
I mentioned that I love pecans more, but it was really because I have memories of going to collect them off of the ground and bringing them home in a paper bag as little trophies. Each little pecan was nestled amongst brown crackling leaves of roughly the same color. It was all like a dimly colored Easter egg hunt, so it made it extra challenging. I did manage to eat a few, but for some reason the event of actually collecting them is what I remember most. I think that’s what I enjoy most about these daily sketches. They are my little trophies and I simply add to the ever-growing collection. Some are cooler than others, but each one holds a special place in my heart. Mostly because I simply manage to make one that day. On some of my busiest days, it can be daunting to pause and sketch something. It feels like I’m taking precious time away from something else. But, then I remember, oh yeah, there’s always something else waiting there to be done and say, “screw it, I’m gonna go paint something.” I’m bound and determined to find that little pecan amongst those leaves, and then, and only then, I can move on to those other pressing things that are always there nagging at me.
And just like when I was a kid, I feel energized and excited after I’m done. I’m better at doing absolutely anything I attempt next in this state. So, yeah, I know I’m the guy who always tells people, “do take the time to create something each and every day,” but that’s the simple reason. If you take that time, everything else you have to do will be better for it. Some of my friends are still amazed that after over three years, I still manage to show up each day and create a little doodlewash. I find it rather odd that it should be seen as something miraculous when there are so many things we do each day. Nobody applauds me for brushing my teeth each day or indeed, remembering to put on clothes before I go out the door. Sure, those things are a bit quicker, but I did prove early on that you can still sketch in the amount of time it takes to brush your teeth. And maybe on some level, I think my sketching addiction is perhaps a bit crazy and over the top. Another reason why I can’t bear to do it alone. So, I do hope each of you will join me in the insane act of actually making something new each and every day. Together, we can show this crazy world that of all of those tasks in life, creating is one of the most important. Others may not always understand, but we do, and can happily come together, like nuts in bowl.
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About the DoodlewashDa Vinci Paint Co.: Aureolin, Vermilion, and Indigo (my “Vintage” Trio!). Lamy Al-Star Safari Fountain Pen with black ink 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! |
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If I didn’t know better I’d accuse you of painting your picture from a scene in my childhood home – same walnuts, same bowl. Probably not too many pecans, but Oregon does share hazelnuts (filberts) with Texas, so we’d have some of those too. I’m not sure many of them were ever eaten. They’re all so expensive these days so I wonder if people still decorate with them this way.
Hehe… yay! Glad this came from your childhood, Sandra! 😃💕Yeah, truly, nuts are not so cheap these days, so I’m sure if they’re bought, there must be a plan to eat them at some point.
All the “nuts” I know are running around loose in this world and many of them are “cracked”. It’s a relief to see that some are simply walnuts confined to a bowl in a lovely painting.
Thanks so much! 😃💕 Hehe.. yeah… there are a lot of nuts in this world. I prefer the good kind, like the artistic ones, or yes, the kind confined to a bowl. 😉
Fantastic job on both the crystal and the nuts!
Thanks so much, Sharon! 😃💕 Glad you liked this!
Im nuts for these nuts! Superb treatment. I enjoyed your blog too…it only takes 1000 hours of practice to be an expert at something, and that can be done a little everyday. I made 1 painting tonight and started another. It felt great.
Thanks so much, Kris! 😃💕 I read it was 10,000 which seems perfectly daunting! lol 1,000 I’ve done… yay! And yay for for moving on to a second painting! That’s awesome!
We always had nuts at Christmas. It wasn’t a holiday without a big bowl of nuts to crack.
Yay! Glad you enjoyed the same memories! 😃💕 Yeah, it just wouldn’t be holidays without nuts! 😉
Charlie says, “I have a can of peanuts that is now blissfully my own private stash. Yep, it’s the little things in life that make me smile.”
Yes!!
Both walnuts and bowl draw me in, awaken memories, celebrate autumn.
Thanks so much, Sarah! 😃💕 Thrilled this brought back good memories… and glad you liked it… etched glass was sort of a crazy thing to attempt! lol
Beautiful walnuts! Beautiful crystal bowl! Beautiful shadow of the bowl!
Thanks so much, Leena! 😃💕 Thrilled you enjoyed this one!
Pecans are my favorite too. Because PIE!! Walnuts go in things like banana bread and apple crumble! We have a couple of black walnut trees and a hickory nut tree in our yard. The squirrels hide them all over then we have to dig them out when they start growing in the spring of they poison the ground.
Yeah, seriously? PIE! hehe… Actually I didn’t like pecan pie until I was older… but now… YUM! And yes, walnuts are far better as simply an ingredient. 😉
Amazing art.
Thanks so much, Abhishek! 😃💕
That is the most realistic bowl of nuts! We had bowls of nuts in our home around rhe holidays too…. in a wooden bowl with those little steel nut pickers along with a nutcracker. I remember the butternuts being hardest to pick out of those dark brown rigid shells.
Thanks, June! 😃💕 hehe… I always hope to give the illusion of realism with my doodlewashes as quick as they are! Yay! And yes to those wooden bowls and nutcrackers… I love those times so much!
As always, wonderful painting – thanks for upping the challenge to create walnuts AND a glass bowl. But my favorite is thinking that I’m along with everyone else as nuts in a bowl. ( :
Thanks so much, Ellie! 😃💕Yeah, this was a crazy challenge… hehe… but fun to try! That’s what nuts do, right? Glad you’re one of us! 😉
Love! Thank you so much for bringing back wonderful memories Charlie!
Thanks so much, Melissa! 😃💕 Thrilled this brought back wonderful memories!