Back in February we visited Jerusalem. Over the past few months I painted various favorite scenes with watercolor, colored pencils, and ink.
I love pomegranates. They taste juicy. Plus, the pomegranate is a beautiful fruit. I took a photo of pillows decorated with pomegranates in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. When I got home, the photo became a watercolor illustration.
Yemin Moshe is a beautiful neighborhood outside of the Old City of Jerusalem. It was built in the late 19th century. It is fun to wander through the alleys and streets. And the scenery inspires me to paint.
There is a big windmill in Yemin Moshe. I took a photos, and when I got home, I drew the windmill in ink. Later I painted the windmill with watercolor.
Finally, these are salads at the Ezra Restaurant in Jerusalem, painted from a photo with watercolor and colored pencils. These were only appetizers. I got a heaping plate of lamb chops. Yum.
I took a piece of pomegranate and put it amongst my canning jars (and there’s a water bottle in the back). So it looks like a pomegranate seed among glass. I have a lot of canning jars because I’ve been pickling and more recently I sprouted some lentils.
My original First of the Month was the rhododendron shrub – above is rhododendron leaves in late October. Below are May, April and February.
I bought a pomegranate a month ago for Rosh Hashana, and it was disappointing and too white inside, not quite ripe. The seeds were bitter. On a whim, I decided to try again on Friday and was pleased to find bright red pomegranate seeds inside the pomegranate.
Pomegranates have Vitamin C, anti-oxidants and are considered to be anti-inflammatory.
One traditionally eats pomegranate on Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, and thus I have been working on a watercolor of a pomegranate as part of my series on the food symbols of this holiday.
The prayer that one says, the yehi ratzon, is as follows:
“she’nirbeh ze’chu’yos k’rimon”
“…that our merits increase like (the seeds of) a pomegranate.”
You can read more about the pomegranate in this Jewish Action article.
About the watercolor painting process
Enjoy the watercolor pomegranate!
