The Bounty of my Kitchen

Three Essentials, 2005, oil on canvas, 12 x 15 inches

Onions, potatoes and tomatoes are the main ingredients I keep at hand at all times. I'm able to cook different dishes with these as a base and without them I think I'd be lost. I have been painting onions and tomatoes for a while but the funny thing is that I've never painted a potato. I love potato to death, fried, in a soup or stew, boiled you name it I love it. So it was time to include this little delight in a painting.

This is one of my favorite paintings because not only I hold the subject matter very close to my heart but because it was a new direction in painting for me. This is the painting where I used Unbleached Titanium Pale in the background and ever since then I haven't stopped. I thought it was an amazing neutral and neutrals fascinate me. I have been trying to duplicate this background in other paintings but it's not working out the same. This is the mother of all my white ground paintings.