Drawing: Carrots and Pumpkins

The most creative side of people tends to come out when they're bored, which most often happens at school. Granted, the teachers and students are amazing, but sometimes it's just doesn't work out. Doodling is the result, and it happens everywhere. A notebook, a scratch piece of paper, even the homework sheet that is supposed to be turned in. But the question is, what to draw? One cannot simply scribble everywhere, that offers no sense of accomplishment. In Sachiko Umoto's book Illustration School: Let's Draw Plants and Small Animals, she provides hundreds of ideas for little drawings and doodles. They say that learning begins by imitating, so that is what I am attempting to do. To imitate these drawings, and ultimately, produce something that I can be proud of. In Chapter 2, A Harvest Festival of Fruits and Vegetables, there is a page for carrots and pumpkins. A step by step process for each object is given, and these two drawings are no different. To draw a carrot, one simply must "1. Draw the outline of the vegetable and the base to which the stalks and leaves are attached. 2. Draw the stalks and leaves. 3. Draw the grooved lines on the carrot and a wavy line around the leaves" (Umoto 92). Though it may seem a little vague at first, these instructions are helpful in that they remind the artist, me in this case, to take it slow, and draw layer by layer instead of trying to draw all at once. The pumpkin has similar instructions, suggesting to start from the center and work towards the outer edge of the shape, drawing an outline and lining everything up (Umoto 92). I found the pictures provided and the instructions given to be useful. Being a visual learner, I like to see what the finished product is supposed to look like and be given the steps to get there. In this book, I was able to learn my way and it helped me to produce cute, autumn food doodles that I am proud of.

If you draw, why? What does it help you with? How might being given simple drawings and a step by step process help you to learn about your own capabilities and learning style?

Umoto, Sachiko. Illustration School: Let's Draw Plants and Small Creatures. Quarry Books, 2010.

Healthy Green Drinks: Beetle Juice

So today, I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and make a juice that I would almost never make. It is called, the Beetle Juice from the book, The Healthy Green Drink Diet by Jason Manheim. I wasn’t too excited to make this juice, but I did want to try it, and I have to say, it wasn’t as bad as I thought ti would be.

                         Ingredients:

                         1 yellow bell pepper

                         1 Fuji apple

                         1 small crown broccoli

                         1 small beet

                         ½ sweet potato

                         1 handful parsley

                         2 carrots

First, I took a yellow bell pepper, washed it, took out the seeds, and sliced it up.Then I took a Fuji apple and washed and chopped it up. After that, I did the same for the broccoli, beet, and the sweet potato then put them all into the blender. For the parsley, I first washed it, then I chopped it up. After that, I took the the carrots, chopped them up, and and put them into a food processor before putting them into a blender so they would blend more smoothly. Lastly, I put in some water for easier blending.

Now for this drink, the first ingredient would be bell pepper. When I first looked over the recipe for this juice, I was kind of weirded out by putting bell peppers in my juice, which is also the reason for why I wanted to try it out. Yellow bell peppers are a great source of vitamin C. Also, they actually contain many vitamins. They also contain fiber, protein and iron and add a sweet flavor to the juice. The next ingredient was apples which are very rich in important antioxidants, flavonoids, and dietary fibers. Moving on to our greens, our first green is broccoli. I have talked about broccoli in my last post, but what I didn’t mention before is that broccoli is also known to help combat many diseases and cancers: “Things like diabetes, Alzheimer’s, stomach, breast, lung, and colon cancer, heart disease, arthritis, and more” (Manheim 14). So as you can see, broccoli has many great health benefits relating to many different diseases or cancers that you may have been unaware of and that I was unaware of too. The next green in this drink is parsley which according to Jason Manheim is a great source for folic acid. Folic acid helps keep your heart functioning in a healthy way so no matter who you are, you should be taking in lots of folic acid to keep your heart healthy, Along with that, folic acid also helps combat colon and cervix cancer. After that, the next ingredient we have is beet. Beets are very high in immune-boosting vitamin C, fiber, and essential minerals. They also contain manganese and vitamin B folate. So even though you do not eat beets, like me, it is good to at least have them once in a while because they are great for your immune system. The next ingredient is sweet potatoes which are supposed to be very good sources source for vitamin A, vitamin C, manganese, copper, pantothenic acid, and vitamin B6. I personally do not like sweet potatoes because I feel as if they are ruining the vegetable by them being sweet. Though, if you are into the current trends, you must know that many people are starting to consume sweet potatoes because of their great health benefits. The last ingredient for this juice is carrots. Carrots contain a lot of beta-carotene and fiber content. Beta-carotene also converts into vitamin A which is very important for eye health and good vision. So make sure to have yourself a carrot here and there. 

This juice is something I never would have tried if I hadn’t gotten into  making green juices. It did taste kind of weird, but it was not as bad as I had thought it would be.The consistency was not my favorite and I probably would never make it again. But, I do recommend you to try it, maybe you’ll like it more than I did.

What’s the weirdest juice you’ve ever tried?

Manheim, Jason. The Healthy Green Drink Diet. New York, Skyhorse, 2012.