Growing up with a Serbian mother and American father, food always made up a large part of both cultures and held great significance. Therefore, I decided to use tomatoes as the subject of my art, exemplary of the Serbian summer, but also representative of the Sacramento, California region in America. I used different mediums and techniques to suggest the major differences between the cultures, but the same objects and colour scheme to represent the interconnection I feel between them.

Growing up with a Serbian mother and American father, food always made up a large part of both cultures and held great significance. Therefore, I decided to use tomatoes as the subject of my art, exemplary of the Serbian summer, but also representative of the Sacramento, California region in America. I used different mediums and techniques to suggest the major differences between the cultures, but the same objects and colour scheme to represent the interconnection I feel between them.

Through this work, illustrating various fruits and vegetables, I was able to develop my oil pastel skills. Due to the large variety of objects, I focused on creating an aesthetically pleasing composition of shape and colour. Furthermore, I emphasized texture by using a sharp tool to etch into the oil pastel and create thin white wisps.

This piece was primarily an exploration of colour through a red bell pepper and a lime. I made the objects appear bright and bold through the use of red and green, opposites on the colour wheel. Moreover,  I chose a rich blue background to also play off its opposite on the colour wheel— the orange tints and highlights seen in both objects.

 In this depiction of limes I used mixed media, acrylic and charcoal. This allowed me to express and emphasize the depth and three-dimensionality of the limes, in comparison to the monochrome fruit bowl. 

My Serbian heritage and identity has always been shaped by a key part of its culture, food. For this work I decided to draw a fruit that to me can only be associated with my Serbian roots, cherries. In my eyes, they represent the days I spent cherry picking in my great-grandmother Nace’s backyard. Moreover, through this painting I developed my confidence with acrylic paint, in particular,  with my fluency of light and shadows. I depicted these by using a wide range of tones, from bright white to deep blues and purples.