Watermelon, I

charcoal & acrylic on canvas

18” x18”

2017

This cliché of a “Southern” still-life is actually reality-based. That’s a Smith County watermelon arranged on my mother’s white platter atop her gingham tablecloth and photographed in my Natchez, Mississippi backyard (on a card table) under the hot blaring sun of steamy July. It’s quintessentially Southern, cliche and all.