Visual Journalism
So a few years ago an amazing creative brief landed on my laps. I was to research, author and edit, both visually and in writing, any subject that got my heart pumping...
One requirement was that the resulting work had to either inform or visually explain an issue to a larger audience. As an organic, slow food and fresh food advocate, the concept for the "Wild Dining Illustrated" series crystallized after a few days of introspection focused.
Delicious "Blossoms & Blooms Wild Salad" Foraged food illustration visual journal entry.I had to choose between:
a) creating an illustrated map of all the fallen fruit in my neck of the woods- inspired from www.fallingfruit.org - which implied going out into all kinds of weahter to do so. Ah...no thanks.
Or...
b) "testing" recipes using wild foods in the warmth and comfort of my own kitchen, using secondary research as my main source of inspiration.
Guess which route this homebody took?
Home sweet home baby.
And that's how the "Blossoms & Blooms Salad" illustrated below found its way into the "Wild Dining Illustrated" new collection. The accompanying recipe is a mashup of multiple sources and my own interpretation. I will point to the original sources of inspiration whenever possible.
WILD RECIPES: Weeds & Blooms Salad
INGREDIENTS
- 1 ts lemon juice
- Apple cider vinegar to taste
- Extra virgin oil to taste
- Grated garlic cloves
- 3 cups arugula
- Butter lettuce, small head
- 1 cup garlic chives flowers
- 3 cups oxeye Daisy leaves and petals (reserve some petals and garlic chives for decoration
- 1 boiled egg, peeled & sliced lengthwise
- Capers, salt & pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS Mix dressing ingredients together & let stand. Toss greens in a bowl with the dressing. Easy, peasy, beautiful. INSPIRATION: How to make a Flower Salad
View more food illustrations. Have licensing, questions about the art, always feel free to contact me here.
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Public Announcement: This blog post was originally published during the holiday season in a Christmas jingle format. It is part of a collection of 354+ posts from my original Wordpress blog "Dreaming Into Being" library. I've now retired and migrated it to “Wander & Paint,” my new blog post at the United Wanderlust art shop. As time allows, I will be reviewing, editing, condensing, updating and releasing a number of these blog posts but not all of them.
Some posts require more precision surgery than others. I'll also probably be publishing new posts as the muse wills it and father time allows. This whole process may take a while but I think these blog post serve as great documentation of my process and reminds me of certain milestones. So, most of them will be made available again- at some point.