STORY BEHIND THE ART OF MARGARET BEST

Abundant Future: Cultivating Diversity in Garden, Farm, and Field

Portuguese Quince

Cydonia oblonga 'Portugal'

In the spring of 2019 I was preparing to teach a workshop on heirloom plants at the village art center in Chester, Nova Scotia, where I now live. The 5-day workshop was scheduled for September and had already been sold out, with attendees coming from places as far afield as the UK, Bermuda, Ontario, and Alberta. The pressure was on to produce a workshop worthy of their commitment. This meant finding suitable heirloom specimens.

Good fortune smiled on me when I heard about Dr. David Maxwell, a retired emergency room physician who had made a name for himself as an heirloom apple expert. He lives with his wife on the eastern banks of the LaHave River where he has an orchard with about fifty varieties of heirloom apple trees. We were strolling through the blossom-covered orchard when we came across the only quince tree. Clearly, David was particularly fond of this tree.

And just as he had a story for every heirloom apple tree, he had one for this heirloom quince. He told how immigrants from Europe to this region discovered that fruit trees they brought with them did very well. It turned out though that while apples and pears were popular, quinces were not. As a result, very few of the original Portuguese quince varietal (of which this tree was a descendant) remained in Nova Scotia.

I was on cloud nine at the end of the visit. I left thrilled at my discovery of not only an exciting source of heirloom specimens, but also David’s enthusiastic support for my workshop, with an assurance of all the specimens and the information I needed. And, of course, there was the quince tree that evoked many nostalgic memories of growing up in South Africa.

I visited a few times over the summer to see the fruit developing and to narrow down the specimen options for the workshop participants. On each visit, Dr. Maxwell drew my attention to the quince tree and it was probably a combination his enthusiasm for the tree, my childhood memories, and the challenge of capturing the texture of the fuzzy coat of the fruit that convinced me that I had to paint it for the ASBA’s Abundant Future travelling exhibition.

David generously cut a few specimens still attached to the branches with leaves and immature “fuzzy” fruits as well. I started on the piece right away. I decided to use colored pencil as I teach all three mediums—watercolor, colored pencil, and graphite—and I had not entered a colored pencil piece in an ASBA exhibition before.

I’ve known the color yellow to challenge many artists but in colored pencil I find that it is relatively easy to manage. The initial drawings and color matching fell into place relatively quickly, but it took two more visits for fruit specimens to pull together a composition I was completely happy with. I also wanted to make sure that the unique pear-shaped quince, the various textures on the fruit, the deep red stalks that attached the fruit to the branches, and the unusually large leaves would be apparent to viewers.

As I worked, I had in mind my love of the fruit paintings of William Hooker. I once made a special trip to the Lindley Library to see his paintings in the Royal Horticultural Society’s collection. His work did include a quince and although I was intrigued by his presentation, I decided that a cross section of the fruit would not suit my composition. Instead, I waited until Spring 2020 to collect a flower that I then included.

I have painted various fruits many times before but this quince piece, my first, was by far the most enjoyable to date. Capturing the “bumpy” imperfect nature of an heirloom quince was in equal measure challenging and enjoyable.

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Read more about this artist’s work: Out of the Woods