This is the most precious painting I own. Recently I had a buyer for it, and turned it down because it isn't entirely mine. If you look in my "Helen Van Wyk Shrine" page you'll see this painting on her easel. I took it with me to a study week she held at her Cape Ann home in 1994 so she could critique it. We were asked to bring any painting that she could paint over if she wanted to as part of her critique. So I took Pepper Pot Soup. And she did paint over a couple of areas on the painting which I have left that way. Her touch. Magic.
My actual Red Pepper Soup recipe was published in
Sunset Magazine and you can try it out by clicking here.
PS: there are no beans - as shown in the painting - in the actual soup recipe!
She went relatively easy on me in the critique and gave me the highest compliment I ever received - at least from someone I respected so highly. She said, "You paint like (John Singer) Sargent. You mix brains with your paint!"
