“Autumn’s Kitchen,” mixed media by Kerry McFall

At the risk of being asked to turn in my “Locavore” badge, or my Grow It Yourself license, I reveal that I was actually shopping somewhere where they felt it necessary to slap a sticker on a squash, proclaiming that it is “US Grown in WA”.  In my own defense, it was a full two days before the Farmer’s Market, and I was nowhere near the co-op, and it was raining cats and dogs,  and I was experiencing a brief Fit of Domesticity.  I had visions of steaming bowls of chili (my very own recipe for 3-Bean Chocolate Chili), rich baked acorn squash with brown sugar, and hot buttered biscuits.  The chili used up a big bunch of my homegrown tomatoes, if that earns me any points back.  Of course, as I pulled out the cutting board and knife for splitting the squash, it sat upon my kitchen table, burnished by some waxy substance rubbed over the surface by the grocer, calling out to me, “Kerry, paint my portrait!”  So as the chili simmered on the back burner, I pulled out my paints, and thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon.  Supper was a bit later than originally planned, but it was worth the delay.

The quilty border is a start on a new project where I will be exploring “lines and borders” as part of The Sketchbook Project that I am about to begin.  I might even make  a small print of this one and paste it in the beginning of the book.  More on that project soon.