Bearing Fruit in Mike's Mole

Mike's Mole is almost ready to ship. Here is a spread I did, completing my own full compositions. The theme is Bearing Fruit, inspired I think by the fact that our orchard is in full bloom. We have about 200 trees, which are mostly apple but also include plum, apricot, and pear. Our trees bloomed beautifully last spring and then were hit by a late and hard freeze the first weekend of May. It turned out to be a blessing, though, because my husband had a heart attack that spring (which he thankfully survived and is now thriving) and so harvesting the fruit would have been challenging last year.

This year, however, we're ready for a bounty, literally and otherwise. And the pomegranate? I lived in Granada (Spanish for "pomegranate") in my 20s, trying to be an artist and writer and failing miserably due to loneliness and being lost. But the pomegranate shows up a lot in my art these days, I think as a symbol of bearing fruit.

By the way, one thing about Mike's Mole, which he warned me about: He picked up a notebook instead of a sketchbook, so the pages are very thin. I used a light gesso, applied without water to avoid buckling. The dried gesso surface adds enough thickness that you can paint and do a few more things than if you draw directly onto the pages.

Happy Spring all!