Smell
We spent last week in California, mostly in Monterey and Carmel, and now all I want to paint are beaches and cheese. The beaches are an obvious choice because when you live in the Canadian Prairies being on a beach is a big deal. I'd forgotten, though, how beaches smell. If that smell is in the air here at home, we're worried that something has gone rotten, or worse - died.... but that smell accompanied by soft white sand and huge crashing waves is for some reason completely welcoming. It smells like vacation.
Fromage. Make sure you say that with a fancy French accent:) It didn't matter if we were in a little grocery store, or walking by a specialty cheese shop, the cheese displays were works of art. They were piled, varied, balanced, and accessorized with edible flowers - they made cheese look very important and not at all like the smelly masses they are. Smell seems to be a theme here. I'm not sure how I'll approach a cheesy painting, but I'm thinking it will be tough to recognize the subject unless it's rather realistic.
Before I think about that too much, I'll finish the piece I'm working on now, which is based on this image that I snapped at our hotel. I know - the most horrible lighting on the planet for a reference photo, but I'll fake the highlights and contrast. He looks relaxed, doesn't he?