Onion

I brought home a beautiful, freshly harvested onion from the farmers’ market and sat it on my kitchen counter. But before the chopping and sautéing could begin, it had to be memorialized in all its glory. When I begin a new piece it almost immediately takes on an identity and personality. My onion is definitely feminine. I love the reference in Pablo Neruda’s poem Ode to an Onion to the “belly growing round with dew in the secrecy of the dark earth.” This onion leans toward Rubenesque, with a classic, sweetly rounded fullness.

The simplicity of the form suggests a classic globe ornament that would be well complemented by the tall, narrow fastigiated plant forms in your garden. Or, settle it on that open patch of lawn to catch the morning dew on its papery sheath. The sprouts and roots reward with complicated shadows in the late afternoon sun.