Food for Thought-Eating Sushi

One painting had to speak for me at the Food for Thought show in November 2010. The exhibit was held in the StutzARTSpace Gallery in the Stutz Building and a venue for the annual Sprit and Place program. The show centered around artists who use sketchbooks and who would be willing to display their sketchbooks. For some artists this proved to be a too personal territory. The focus of my sketchbook was "Food as Memoir", a subject that I frequently return to in my work. So many memories of so many people in my life center around food! Grandmothers, the old great-aunts, my mother, the children--great stories about all of them and they have stories about me, too! But this piece was different. The subject is still painful. This painting is a tribute to my friend, Lynn, who died suddenly this past year. Lynn was of Japanese heritage and our friendship had grown for over 25 years. We both loved food, exchanged recipes and were crazy about sushi!! Lynn was my sushi-eating buddy. We would go out to eat sushi together, make our picks--some old favorites and always something new, and always wrap up the meal with a bowl of green tea ice cream. One bowl, two spoons. It was fun and we talked a lot about anything and nothing. In the painting, I have tried to represent Lynn's esthetic of simplicity. Just a little to say a lot. I miss her.