Saturday, March 10, 2012

Green Striped Cushaw Squash - Finished

Here is the finished illustration of the Green Striped Cushaw Squash:
What was fun for me about this was painting the stripes. In order to get that laced, sort of un-solid, look to the stripes I used pretty dry paint so that when it went on it would automatically not be a solid color but leave rather regular little bits of color missing almost in the same way as the actual squashes' stripes look. I don't normally use watercolor or gouache in this way, so it was a bit of a new discovery.
The SESE catalog tells me that this squash was "introduced before 1893, possibly pre-1860, then known as 'Improved Cushaw'. Cushaws came from the West Indies earlier than 1700." It's a pretty old variety.

2 comments:

Elizabeth said...

That looks so realistic. I love it. Good job!! I thought you might have used that technique for the strips. It's perfect!

Jessie said...

oh cu-shaw again. shanks!