Meeting the Artichoke Man

One bonus of the commission wanting Jacob to change the artichoke: we were invited into the fields to look at the different stages of growth. One afternoon we met Lionel, the Artichoke Man, who has cultivated and marketed artichokes for almost three decades and spent several hours exploring and photographing.

This is definitely NOT the specimen Lionel wanted to see in the new painting. He was adamant that the choke be closed and round, bulbous. But I loved this choke for showing its floral-side.