Pawpaw Folk Art

Several years ago NJ read a passage in Isaiah: "all the trees of the field shall clap their hands." And to her, it seemed like a great metaphor for bearing fruit. And so she made this painting. It has a folksy feel to it, so I asked her if it would be okay if I put it in a blog post titled "Pawpaw Folk Art." She said that would be fine, as long as I included an asterisk saying that when I say "folk art" I actually am talking about very high and very finely wrought art.*

*When I say "folk art" I actually am talking about very high and very finely wrought art.

The painting generally is displayed on top of a book shelf near the ceiling in the kids' playroom/TV room. I wandered in there tonight and took it down to photograph it. The kids saw me and were roused from their vegetative state in front of the TV, keen on contemplating the vegetative state of the trees clapping their hands. When W learned that NJ herself had painted this piece of folk art*, he got excited and said, "Oh I know what all of those kinds of fruit are." He pointed to the fruit floating near the top right corner and  said, "That's a pawpaw." And then he pointed to the fruit floating near the top left corner and said, "That's a...that's that kind of fruit...what kind is that?" "It's a mamey sapote," I told him. And then with confidence he pointed at the two fruits descending the right side of the painting and said, "And those are...what are those?" "Persimmons," I said, and all the trees of the field clapped their hands that he at least knew the number one fruit in this house.  

If you like this pawpaw folk art*, you might also like looking at some "found art" depicting some pawpaws. I found this pawpaw art a few months ago in a colleague's office: Found Pawpaw Art.