Thursday, March 15, 2012

Nanas - Excellent Fruit

Pineapple watercolor on yupo 6x8" by Meera Rao

I bought a pineapple last week and it sat on the counter for a few days ripening slowly.  I sketched it in graphite first and then in watercolors. It took a lot longer to do the detailed pencil sketching than the paintings as I didn't do any pencil drawing of the fruit for either of the watercolor pineapple paintings.  I used waterbrush pens for the smaller pineapple. I think sketching them in pencil and then with the waterbrush pen was definitely good practice- by the time I painted it on yupo I was familiar enough with the fruit. But I guess no sketching ahead may also explain why it is a little plumper in this version :)  I also experimented by misting the yupo painting with alcohol to get the texture. 

watercolor sketch with waterbrush pen 5x3" 

We call pineapple as ananas in my mother tongue Kannada.  I just found out that "In the scientific binomial Ananas comosus, ananas, the original name of the fruit, comes from the Tupi word nanas, meaning "excellent fruit",[8] as recorded by André Thevet in 1555, and comosus, "tufted", refers to the stem of the fruit."  Tupi is one of the languages from South America and the pineapple plant is indigenous to that area.  I am sure, even though I am not aware of it, there is an interesting story as to how the fruit with it's name came to be a familiar crop all the way in southern India :) 


graphite sketches 5x3"

16 comments:

padmaja said...

You seem to have a firm grip on your colors, excellent work on the ananas, even with graphite.That was an interesting research on the name..on the funnier side, if you ask in Bangalore.. ananas idya.. the shop guy will ask back,, yaavudu, pine apple aa :-)

Meera Rao said...

Thank you Padmaja :) That is funny and sad at the same time! - globalization eh?

Carol Blackburn said...

Wonderful post, Meera. Did you know the pineapple is a symbol of hospitality. I am not sure of the origin of this meaning but the symbol is used on hotels, etc. Enjoy your day.

Meera Rao said...

Thank you Carol -- these exercises kept me busy :) and yes -- I like the pineapple as a symbol of hospitality! Will have surf around and see its origins -he he.

Sandy Maudlin said...

What a great pineapple, especially on yupo! Love it.

Rajeev Mohan said...

Meera, that looks yummy :)

Crystal Cook said...

Beautifully done Meera~! And I really applaud you for taking the time to do such a detailed sketch! Love your colors. :)

Meera Rao said...

Thank you so very much Sandy :) I still have a long way to go !!!

Meera Rao said...

Thanks Rajeev ! The real fruit was was yummy too :) Stayed intact long enough for me to do my daily painting - he he :)

Meera Rao said...

Crystal, thank you --you are very kind! It is interesting what I noticed of the fruit up-close when doing the details --I could really see how pine cones and pineapples are similar to mums in the configuration of the petals / fruit design etc. -Fibonacci numbers in real life!

Jane said...

It seems you have been having a lot of fun with the pineapple :-)) All your different pieces are beautiful in different ways!

Fernando Santos (Chana) said...

Excelente trabalho....
Cumprimentos

Meera Rao said...

Thank you very much, Jane ! I really enjoyed sketching the pineapple while waiting for it to ripen :)

And I appreciate your joining this site too. thanks again.

Meera Rao said...

Fernando Santos, Muito obrigado :)

Thaikaden said...

Excellent work. I appreciate your patience which I don't have.

Meera Rao said...

Thanks you @Thaikaden :) Just start sketching and drawing -you will be surprised how much patience you have -- I didn't think I had it in me either but a desire to draw does help :)

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