apPear-ances can be deceiving

"If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself. If you want to know the theory and methods of revolution, you must take part in revolution.  All genuine knowledge originates in direct experience."   (Mao Tse-Tung)

This post is about neither the pear nor revolution. Or perhaps, it's about a bit of both ...

First, the pear. 

Variety of Pears - Comice, Bosc, Red Anjou, French Butter, Bartlett
Photo © Getty Images, used without permission

I once did a taste test with all the different types of pears that I could find at the supermarket. They differ markedly. Some are a bit dry, others deliciously sweet. One pear website describes the flavours this way:

Comice - succulent, buttery, exceptionally sweet

Bosc - crisp and woodsy with a honey sweetness

Bartlett - signature pear flavour (?) with abundant juice (not my favourite).

In terms of experimentation, it's a worthwhile exercise, not to mention one that is good for your nutrition (a medium pear has 100 calories, 190 mg of potassium, 6 grams of fiber and is a good source of vitamin C).

But our creative exercise doesn't involve eating pears. It's about washing them. With watercolours, of course.

 

Our reference image is a photograph of lots of pears (naturally - remember the cherries? One is apparently not enough). The technique is to do numerous washes - starting with a yellow (for the sunlight) followed by a very light green that gets progressively darker until finally the shadows are filled in with a blue watercolour pencil.

 

The multiple washes are my revolution (see quote above), and Mao's quote holds true about knowledge originating with experience.  Before I attempted this, I thought it was going to be much easier than it was!

Now before I reveal my finished piece, some more pear pontification.

Pears are a unique fruit in that they don't ripen well on trees. They're picked when they are mature but not ripe. (There - don't blame your grocer for bad produce. You just didn't know!)

Because pears ripen from the inside out, the best way to check for ripeness is "check the neck". Gently press near the stem with your thumb. When it gives way to gentle pressure, it's ripe. If you wait until the pear is soft around it's middle belly, it's too late.

"It is, in my view, the duty of an apple to be crisp and crunchable, but a pear should have such a texture as leads to silent consumption."  (Edward Bunyard, 'The Anatomy of Dessert')

"A pear will never fall into a closed mouth."  (Italian proverb)

"Eating pears cleans the teeth." (Korean proverb.  The Koreans - not well known for their poetry or romanticism).

And finally, from my guy Abe (I can call him that because we share a birthday) ...

"A man watches his pear-tree day after day, impatient for the ripening of the fruit. Let him attempt to force the process, and he may spoil both fruit and tree. But let him patiently wait, and the ripe pear at length falls into his lap!"   (Abraham Lincoln).

And for your patience ... the finished pears!