Mochi Balls

Here's the finished Mochi Ball drawing that I barely had a hint of drawn in the last post.

I bought a little package of these at my favorite Japanese store (Oto's Marketplace) while shopping for my kitties' bonito fish flakes, on a whim. I love all the Japanese snack foods, but because I don't read Japanese, am usually mystified as to what some of them are. Some are pretty easy to identify, like most type of rice crackers, but I've had a few surprises when I've bought something that I thought was going to be sweet, then it turned out to be fishy or seaweedy! Or the other way 'round.

Anyway, these caught my eye and I thought they'd be a fun drawing. I wanted to do something different with the arrangement, and played with all sorts of geometric shapes before I ended up with this. I love how artfully arranged those little veggies and pickled things are in Bento boxes, or just about any Japanese meal I've been served, actually. It just naturally seemed right to do something 'organized' with these. The "rack 'em up" layout doesn't really have anything at all to do with anything Japanese, but it made me smile so I went with it.

I also came to a realization, or decision, that this is what I like to do - line things up in a pattern. Unless I'm doing a 'one thing alone' composition. So now I'm going to consciously do this with all my food drawings, at least for a while.

This is 8" x 10", drawn with Polychromo colored pencils on Stonehenge paper. I'll have prints in the etsy shop in the next day or two.


Downton Abbey starts up again tomorrow night! I will be all tucked in with my tea and scone or biscuit or mince tart or something suitably British, with a kitty or two snuggled in, drinking it all in - its been a long wait! I've been reading my "Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey" book, so feel very 'in the know' about how they film it. I just read (not in the book) that Paul Giamatti will be making an appearance, in the Christmas (last) episode. I love him, and look forward to seeing how he mixes in with the Downton crowd. I so enjoyed the HBO mini series "John Adams" from a few years back, in which he played the lead role (and won an Emmy). The Times seems to think he was miscast, but what do they know? I thought he was brilliant.

On that note - I'm going to pack up my pencils, clean my board and get organized for the next project. I think it may be something Downton-themed ...