How figs feel

I became enamoured of figs today. I have to confess a total lack of knowledge prior to playing with them as they passed me by in the course of my work today and I was transfixed by their loveliness in colour, feel and what they made me think about. Bear with me...

I'm sure I have heard the phrase 'bruised like a fig' at some point in my life and now I understand completely why someone coined the phrase; they are like a soft little living bruise.

The phrase I scribbled at the time was 'startled, organic flesh'. I nearly dropped the thing in surprise; it seemed to have an interior life, to be a living creature in far more ways than a fruit should be. I imagine if I look up figs in the literature of the ancients I will find an array of references; I have memories of their significance in the old civilizations and also in the paintings of yore. The intense, sharp green of the stem surround against the deep, deep purpley-black-green of the body suggest no less than an unfamiliar animal; a little world hiding within like a cell. The fruit is a perfect metaphor for a life, a cell, a universe. I haven't opened or eaten one yet, and I am disturbed by the prospect in the same way as oysters repell me by their aliveness. No eyes looking at me but I am all the same aware of the gaze of a fellow organism, being, creature.

On a more prosaic note, I have been granted liberty to spend my Sunday's in a gallery painting for a living; a truly blissful prospect and long overdue! Very pleased with this arrangement and hope it is the start of a slow descent into a less structured and more creative work time.

Stu has been painting frames furiously all day for the angel show and is so upbeat about it; I knew he had a big fat creative streak just waiting to express itself. It is a joy to see and of course very helpful for me.

Pretty much done with the penultimate angel before I move onto a less structured approach for the second Christmas show; no theme there so I can let my imagination lead me where it will.

The last picture for Angel Haven is to be the title piece; I have been swirling around ideas for an angel/harbour picture since one earlier this year that I called 'The Harbour Arms'. I think at last I have developed the idea to a point that will satisfy me, which the earlier picture didn't; still at sketching phase so we shall see.

The photo of garlic is something I saw while Stu was cooking dinner; in the absence of a fig photo I went for the next best thing as the papery, purple, parchmenty thing that is garlic is also a thing of wonder. Maybe I will buy and eat a fig tomorrow and write about garlic.