How To Peel A Grape...

No, this is an Asian pear sitting on 2 chopsticks.

Or rather it's a "spot" illustration of an Asian pear.

For three years I did line illustrations for the the Q & A cookery questions - in the back of the book (as they call it) at Gourmet Magazine.

The idea is - they send you the text and title,

and you come up with an amusing way illustration, almost like a mini-cartoon. For example: How To Peel A Grape. It's called conceptual illustration. Kind of like being on the couch (the shrink's couch) but they pay you to free-associate.

As one who free-associates all the time, this was right up my alley :) You take the words in the title and see what comes to mind. Words, images any thing will do, but it should be fun! I can't remember how many times I've used a French beret to solve an illustration problem - was it a precursor of what was to come? Frenchiness has taken over my life.

If you do spot illustrations, eventually you get to illustrate some cookbooks. That means you actually might have to cook, or at least photograph some setups that look like you're cooking. These are from an Italian cookbook.

Here's what a page of conceptual doodles would look like. They don't have these in Gourmet anymore. A regime change and out went the little drawings and in came the glossy photographs. Meanwhile I sold my appartment and started to "play" the stock market. I found I could make the same money in a few minutes while day trading. And lose it even faster too :(

So that was the end of my spot illustration days. But next time you bite into a pita think camel, think dessert, NO, wait no I mean DESERT! Oh whatev