Family crest

The start of studies for a family crest, the homely comfort I enjoy most. To be developed to include the other interests of husband and kids.  After finishing a big project that took a lot of my free time over the past few months I am taking back the time to paint for myself a little.

Chestnut honey

In England the honey production this year has been very low.  Lots of sugar fed to bees for their survival did not even ensure a good level of honey.  In the South of France, not as much. The production this year was lower but healthy.  We loaded up on kilos of the gold stuff to bring back to London. And had to draw the light coming through my favorite flavor, chesnut honey.

Vacances

Breakfast table doodles from the South of France.  "Ricore" is a half coffee - half roasted chicory root drink that is sometimes given to teens for breakfast as the first steps before coffee.  It is a lower caffeine way to start the day for adults and perfect for a vacation cafe au lait!

Messy breakfast table included.

The cherries were hand-picked in a burgundy garden on our way to the South. Drawn under a parasol.

Mangelwurzel or mangold wurzel

I learned a new little mangled word when showing one of my watercolours: "Mangelwurzel" !

Sounding very medieval or saxon and referring to this:

(FOR SALE at Achilleas on Mill Lane (London NW6) or contact us here)

or quite possibly this:

Wikipedia tells us that Mangelwurzel or mangold wurzel (from German Mangel/Mangold, "chard", and Wurzel, "root"), also called mangold,^[1] mangel beet,^[1] field beet^[2] and fodder beet, is a cultivated root vegetable derived from Beta vulgaris. Its large white, yellow or orange-yellow swollen roots were developed in the 18th century as a fodder crop for feeding livestock

Apparently Brits used to eat "Mangowuzels" during the war and that left an upalatable dislike for this root vegetable! Not having experience that, I personally love root vegs, and they still looks good enough to paint.

The Carrots Of Love

Carrots are one of my favorites subjects to paint.  Don't know why I find them oddly relaxing.  That and I love all shades of oranges.  These includes the purple and yellow carrots found at the farmer's market. 
In a soup with cabbage and leeks, the carrots give sweet creaminess and body.

Christmas market

2012 is drawing to an end.... (but of course it is not an end to our drawing....:)
Here are pictures of our stall at the West Hampstead Christmas market, with our goods on proud display.  Melinart paintings of vegetables, fruits and donuts but also Mr MelinArt upholstered storage boxes, made of Toile de Jouy and French wine boxes.  We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, talking and sharing coffee and cookies with our neigboring stalls and the happy visitors of the market.  We hope to do it again next year.  In the meantime, we are celebrating the holidays with family and the new year with the happiness that is wanted and needed for all of us.

 

 

 

Zesty Clementine

This juicy sweet clementine was taken by the little hands and dispatched before I return to complete the leaves.  We also made a cake with the rest of the lot, using all the juices and zests.  Poppy seeds added for crunch.  YUM!

This watercolour is now displayed in a little girl's room, and she is named Clémentine!

If you would like your own custom watercolour, contact us!

Woohoo 2

The lovely Clotilde strikes again.  Featuring a Melinart illustration on her famous and mother of all food blog site,  Chocolate and Zucchini
This series features French Food Idioms and has been so interesting over the years, mixing a bit of French history and litterature with the food theme. Check it out!

Thank you Clotilde!

Just Beet it!

In the famous words of Michael Jackson....!  :)
Ok so his one will be on sale at the Xmas market this Saturday, unless of course you snatch it before by contacting us here !

Close-up of the wonderfully runny colors..!

Watercolor Mushrooms

I am back from a one week business trip and painting like crazy for next Week-End's Christmas Market.  It will be on West End Green 10am to 4pm on Saturday 8 December. 

I hope it will be a success!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN - Why do we dress as witches?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM MELINART!

Halloween, All saints, Toussaint, Eid Al Adha, Shemini Atzeret what do they have in common?  Read on.....

This watercolour witch is riding a watercolour paintbrush....
Interestingly, halloween matches the French "Toussaint" where you traditionally go with your family to visit the tomb of your ancestors/departed family.  It involves a lot less candy.....

So why is this holiday asssociated with witches and grim reapers?

In astronomy, halloween represents the halfway point between the autumnal equinox and winter solstice, the last of four "cross-quarter" days on the solar calendar.  It was the end of the year, beginning of the new one for the celts. And in esoteric tradition the day of the year where the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest. 

The Celts believed that at the time of Samhain, more so than any other time of the year, the ghosts of the dead were able to mingle with the living, because at Samhain the souls of those who had died during the year traveled into the otherworld. People gathered to sacrifice animals, fruits, and vegetables.

Shemini Atzeret in the Jewish religion is around the same time and marks the end of the year's weekly readings of the Torah (Five Books of Moses) in the synagogue, and the beginning of the new cycle of reading.
Eid Al-Adha for Muslims concludes the annual Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca. 
Many more religions have major celebration linked to end/beginning of year around Halloween.

We will be spending Halloween going around West Hampstead and Hampstead with a group of Pokemon dressed teenagers.  I guess it good that these happy teenagers don't really like to dress in ghoulish styles.  But I'll be sure to explain to them why they shouldn't look too cheerful when going to bed less the Hallloween spirits find them too delicious!  (That a good halloween scary story isn't it!)
I'll be dressed as a witch, like every year before!

(Cropped picture below to see better cheeks and ragged hat!)

Halloween Pumpkin Soup



Hello there! I am back from a short trip and a spicy pumpkin soup was waiting for me at home.  Just what you want to eat for diner rolling off the plane. 

 

"Hearsay" recipe from Husband: A huge butternut squash, 2 small onions and a couple of small potatoes thrown in, a couple of carrots, 2 cloves of garllic, salt, cracked pepper and lots of pepper flakes!  Creme fraiche was witheld due to (my...) diet concerns but the soup did not need any. 

 

 

We are now the proud owner of one of these.  I brought it back in my carry-on suitcases.  Iberia personnel did not see anything odd about having a hoof sticking a fair way out of my suitcase!

 





So one of this now hangs from the kitchen ceiling in a "sock" the shop gave us for it.    It took 2 of us and some fairly deep cuts (finger cuts) but the transparently thin slices are awesome with a bit of pumpkin soup!

HALLOWEEN IS COMING!!!
FOR SALE - Contact me!

Watercolour Marrow Gratin and TINTAGEL Fudge

£50 Original vegetable portrait - A4

We went to Tintagel in Cornwall for the week-nd.  The Gratin recipe on the picture is the treatment we gave to the marrow waitng for us when we got home.  An eggy-cheesy-nutmeggy custard on top of it and quickly in the often. The result is a warm, soft and sweet gratin. 

 

 

Tintagel (Arthur's Castle, or Camelot) was magical, and magikal. 

(Merlin's cave below)

Before I speak of our encounters and sacred places, I can talk already about the seafood, amazing and just picked from the sea.  We had huges crevettes in buttery sauce with coarse garlic, sea bream with sun-dried tomatoes and hazelnut-garlic salsa verde.  Smoked mackerel and home-smoked mussels.  Just a few of the dishes there. 

 

In Tintagel we had some of Granny Wobly's fudge.  Now until then I thought fudge was a preety bland, albeit slightly caramely blend, of sugar and butter,  Not so there.  An explosion of flavors, melting.  The choice of flavors is just varied enough, without getting confusing.  The banofee one, the maple walnut and the butterscotch one were my favorites.  And the owner (below) is a very peronable guy! Look at his 1/2 ton marble table where he turns the fudge.  He explained it is so the crust gets back in the folds and creates the texture.  Highly recommend this in Tintagel's high street. 

 

 

and Granny Dootlitlle's home-made jams....! With the honesty box to leave the money in!

 

 

 

So much to say about this trip.....more with more pictures soon! 

No off to Paris for a couple of days for work!

 



But I finsh with this Giant's face under Tintagel (earily like Manu's profile!)

 

Watercolor Marrow 1

Now that autumn is starting to settle, I am looking forward to wearing my furry boots and making soups and stews.  Marrows are huge here and work well for large families.  Thrown in with the roasting chicken, sprinkled with herbes de provences.  In a gratin: with eggy nutmeg-y-cheesy custard.  Or in a Ratatouille!

 

And of course....fascinating to paint with all its little spots!

 

Framed it could look like this....!  :)

And now framed in MASSIVE proportions in the museum...

Cauliflower - West Hampstead Farmer's Market - (WI and walnut cookies)

Picked up a couple of nice cauliflower heads, along with biodynamic eggs at the West Hampstead Farmer's market.  Made a vat of cauliflower mash with milk, salt, papper and a pinch of cumin.
oh yeah...and I sketched one head with a quill....
Now wondering about a little watercolor wash.....? What do you think?

 

I missed the Women's Institute crowd, the market was so busy! But won't miss the October 4th meet at Brioche café!!!

 

 And since the weather is so wet, a batch of roasted walnut butter cookies-pinch of cinnamon sugar on top.  The house smells lovely.

 

 

MelinArt at the Tate

How cool is this frame for my little lamb's lettuce drawing! This site is so handy
It would look good in your house too!  Contact us for commissions and prices!

 

Watercolour Family portrait - a kitchen drawer view

£50 - A4 size- Custom Spoon Portrait with your family name
This is a family portrait, from the breakfast table!  Papa, Maman and kids (including twins), all with their stages of favorite spoons!  Contact us for your own watercolour spoons family portrait.   You can even send us a pictures of your own spoons along with the names to be added! We'll create it within the next 3 days.

Carrots - drawing ink exercise

 

Carrots in drawing ink, I drew on kraft paper with the fountain pen very quickly but happy with the result.  Farmer's market is coming to West Hampstead 22 september, certainly a source for inspiration!  See the London's Farmer's Market site for West Hampstead

 

 

 

Fern and Dandelion - West Hampstead watercolours

To follow up on the last post for West Hampstead leaves, A little fern and some dandelion picked on the way back from the tube.  Simple and uncomplicated like those little leaves.

 

 

 

 

Watercolour West Hampstead Leaves



Here are my West Hampstead leaves.  I intended dandelions ("pavement lettuce" as I call them...) as we have plenty growing in pavement cracks but a bit of house salad sounded more appetizing instead!

Dandelions tommorrow, I promise!  Check out our contact pages for house or shop portraits commissions!

The French Food Watercolour random theme tonight was "Leaves".  I used watercolour, drawing ink and on Kraft paper with a white gel pen.  The lamb's lettuce is actually picked from my dinner's salad.  I will try some greener fresher greens tonight by picking dandelions on the way back from work!  Hope you like them. Details below.

 

 

The Patchouli watercolored leaves are inspired from an aromatherapy book I just read. 

Kraft parper, while gel ink pen and splatters made by shaking the brush about!  :)