Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Less Than Zero - The Doughnut Hole

Less Than Zero by David R. Darrow 10" x 7" (25.4cm x 17.8cm)
Oil on Belgian Linen Panel
SOLD Collection of Pamela Penner
Encinitas, CA – USA

About This Painting

The Doughnut Hole If you haven't figured it out by now, every painting I do reveals a little something about me. Even with my theme of Everyday Paintings, which is a tongue-in-cheek twist on the painting excellence for which I always strive, I don't just grab an object or any ol' person to pose and just make a painting. In essence, I am painting a history of myself in shuffled chapters, pictures of a memory, a trait, revealing a fondness, or just letting the viewer know what really 'grabbed me' at one moment.

The subjects I choose are all related to what I love about life, whether a beautiful scene, some tasty food or wine, the delicate, innocence of a child, the beauty and grace of a woman, or the rugged stories told in the weathered face of a man. So much to see; too little time.


Powdered Doughnuts
by Justin Clayton
Recently I was inspired by a masterful painting done by a friend and fellow Daily Painter, Justin Clayton. Justin is one of a very small handful of artists on the entire planet who actually comes very close to painting one complete oil painting every day, and they are always exceptional. I admire his talent, determination and discipline.

He chose, as his subject matter for the painting that caught my eye, white powdered doughnuts on a white background. (I think he could have sold a blank canvas with that title in a Beverly Hills art gallery for $150,000, but he has integrity, too).

His painting also made me hungry. See, doughnuts have always been a weakness of mine. One of my fondest memories as a child was when my dad would get me into the car to run some Saturday morning errands with him, and we'd stop off first for doughnuts at the local Winchell's. Just me and my dad. A little box of milk and a powdered doughnut.

As an adult I still like doughnuts. I used to order coffee with them, and in some sort of canceling-out-calories math or culinary division by zero would sweeten my coffee and cream with Equal. You can't be too careful when you're "watching your weight."

Truth is, though, I've never bought doughnut holes. I've always thought they were the big lie, the conspiracy common to doughnut shops. They sell the doughnut to one guy, and the part they took out of it gets sold to someone else. That's like... well, selling place mats made from the neck hole they cut out of a poncho, or making black basketballs out of the centers of tires. Okay, maybe that's stretching it.

But who really buys doughnut holes, and why? They are the un-doughnut. Everyone knows the legal limit is 2 doughnuts in the company kitchen on Friday mornings. But what's the limit on doughnut holes? Five? Seven? Eighteen?

And how do you eat them politely? I feel silly taking a bite out of something that is bite-sized. And popping the whole thing in my mouth just looks bad. And if you do, you're all done, and all you got was one bite.

There is just a lot wrong with doughnut holes. There ought to be a law...  ◙


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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

They're a letdown. When you pop one in your mouth, you know in the back of your mind, "That's it. It's gone. However good it tastes right now, I can't go back for seconds of that one particular doughnut. The next one might not be as good." Whereas if you get a nice whole doughnut in your hand and take a bite of it, as the flavor registers and gets your salivary glands going, you know you still have at least another 3-5 mouthfuls of that very same thing coming your way, and it's stimulating. Makes you feel somehow decadent or special. Sure, if you've got a bag of doughnut holes, chances are they'll all taste alike, but it's just not the same. It's kind of like eating one sunflower seed at a time. Frustrating. It doesn't have the same flavor punch as a scarfing a handful at a time. Or Reese's Pieces. WHY?!?!?! Just gimme the darned cups already.

You've hit a nerve, David. LOL

Diana Moses Botkin said...

Okay... you guys must be of the male gender. Perhaps doughnut "holes" were frugally marketed by women, for females. I personally think they are a nice little treat. They don't fill you up too much or add a lot of grease and sugar to the diet. I think I could get several nibbles out of one doughnut hole... just enough to make my taste buds happy but not give me dunlopt disease.

(For those who have never heard of that condition, it's an Okie colloquial expression... as in "Dun lopt over the belt.")