Watermelon Anyone?

Just a quick painting done for the Monthly Challenge which is featuring watermelon this month. I chose to crop in close & focus on the one fork in the melon. I thought it would make an interesting subject.

The summer season is just about over where I am, and the fresh fruits & vegetables are coming to an end. There is nothing quite like having fresh grown watermelon in the summer - so juicy & sweet.

As kids we would look forward to getting our triangles of melon to eat, with juice running down our chins and arms. We would always be outdoors when we ate this - probably to keep the mess out of the house. On a hot summer evening, sun setting late, the adults would start slicing into the large melon and dolling out triangles of that sweet, juicy treat. Things would get quiet as each child (not just 1 or 2 kids, but a whole neighborhood full of them!) would sit down on the ground, legs indian-crossed, and concentrate entirely on eating that little piece of heaven.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the seeds! The most important part! As kids we were told to not swallow the seeds, otherwise a melon would grow in our stomachs. I remember the first time I swallowed a seed, I couldn't sleep all night - worried that a melon would grow inside of me. But we get past those little moments, and we realize that the melon won't grow - and then we learn from one another how much fun it is to "spit" those seeds out. We would have contests with each other to see who could spit them the farthest. And not the immature, white seeds - it had to be the mature, dark seeds that would go the farthest. Of course the boys always thought it was more fun to spit the seeds at the girls! LOL

As an adult now, I don't get to eat watermelon as often as I'd like. And when I do, it's more, well, adult-like. But I always remember those warm summer evenings when we had desert outside, and when we held the seed-spitting contests, and when it was ok to make a mess of oneself.

Acrylic on canvas, 6x11