Recently I got out my old Joy of Cooking and opened it up to
the recipe for Mulligatawny Soup.
It had been one of my favorites in the past, and I had a hankering for
it. But when, after several hours
of chopping, dicing, and simmering, I sat down to a bowl of the soup, I was
unpleasantly surprised. Too much
curry! Either my taste buds had
changed, or my curry powder was far stronger than what I had used previously.
Unpleasant surprises can happen in the illustration world as
well. I was recently on a very
tight deadline, concocting a small illustration. I started out, as I often do, with an India ink line
drawing. But when I began to add
my watercolor washes, the black ink lifted slightly and bled into the color,
adding an unplanned somber cast to the image. Either I had not let the ink dry long enough; or the ink was
too old (it does contain shellac, and deteriorates over time.)
There are often ways, in both cooking and art,
to salvage an unfortunate situation.
For the Mulligatawny, I added more chicken broth, diced chicken, and
rice to the pot. This diluted the
curry to a manageable level. And
for the illustration? It's difficult to brighten subdued colors, at least in watercolor washes. And I didn’t
have time to purchase new ink, or re-do the art. But artists do also have the option of changing their minds. I realized that the muted colors and blurred ink lines of
my piece were just fine. Quite nice, in fact. Fortunately, consumers of both soup and picture were happy
with my results.
