Donald Diddams
The Art of Digital Art
A Feast of Fruit for the Eyes
Seed of the Mamey Sapote - 2010
Each summer, the local botanical garden hosts “Mango Melee”, a festival focused on mangoes and other tropical fruit. Many of these fruits are unusual in their texture and flavor, and unfamiliar to those of us used to the apples, grapes, peaches and pears more common in the temperate regions.
Some tropical fruits are a bit sour, others cloyingly sweet, some firm and crunchy, some soft and pudding-like, and others almost liquid inside. And each is unique in flavor and appearance, unlike anything else.
These two images suggest the feast of fruit for the eyes. Unfortunately as I took the photos, I didn’t do a very good job of taking notes, so the names are my best attempt at post-facto fruit ID!
Star Apple - 2010
Donald Diddams 
Whenever I start to miss fresh berries in June and July, I reroute my longings to mango, Attamoya, Cheremoya, and the Sapote families (probably where that cloyingly sweet description came from ).
That Mamey Sapote couldn’t pull your eye into the frame any more if it had a lasso. What a bulls’ eye you scored with that one Don.
And then cooled us down with the blue hues of the Star Apple.
BTW, what color was the Star Apple on the outside? Was the skin green?
It looks a lot like the Black Sapote which is green on the outside and a dark brown on the inside- also called the Chocolate Fruit.
PS – nice slideshow feature on the right column. Could you possibly describe how you added it?
Hi Bonnie! Glad you like that sapote… that seed looked like some sort of internal organ, with a strand of fat attached. Another hot/cool pair here. The star apple was one of the green ones, with a very pale cream-colored translucent center with the black seeds. There was a black sapote right next to it; a really odd surprising flavor to get from a fruit!
Glad you liked the slideshow. It uses some javascript I found on “Dynamic Drive” — free if you give them credit in your HTML code. they have lots of different image handlers to choose from. It’s hosted over where I have my website, and the link on the wordpress sidebar is just a text widget with some text, and an image-link to the other server.
Ooooh. This is a powerful photo. I see reverberations of red rhythmically moving outward as the core of the fruit bursts forth. The star apple is, well, so exotic that I don’t have words for it. However, your photo work is fantastic.
I’ve never even heard of these fruits!
Isn’t that seed something, Melinda? It is a grabber… There are so many new and different fruits to try here, I feel like I have only sampled a few. Some instruction on how to eat them is helpful, too! Thanks!!
Nice opprotumity to try new fruits. I enjoyed the different foods in Hawaii the lechi I don’t think spelled that right was wonderful with the bright torny outside and grape like fruit inside. I also remember the cheremoya to be wonderful. Beautiful pictures the first one really stops you in your tracks and the second dlightlfully cools your down.
The top photo is really nice. You should try to market your art to some upscale hotels. I think your colors and composition would work great with decorating styles that are popular these days.
Hey, thanks, Starla! That first image of the seed is an eye-grabber, isn’t it? Now you mentioned some fruit I have never tried, like the cheremoya… I had to look it up and found that it is similar to “custard apple”. We may have them here, so I’ll look for it now that I know what it looks like.
Thanks, Dave. These images do lean toward the decorative. There always seems to be tension and inner conflict for me between pursuing the decorative or the more personal social/spiritual commentary in my work.
Massachusetts is the first state to have doctors who write “Veggie and Fruit” prescriptions…(it’s a voucher for local farm stands).
Aren’t we progressive? In the winter, I’ll suggest they give St. Croix presriptions!
Hi, Pat! What does it say about us that we now need a doctor’s advice to eat fruits and veggies??
Only problem with your plan for winter is that most of this beautiful fruit is in season only in the summer here, too. Eat it before it’s gone!
I didn’t mean my comment as a slight in any way. After rereading it I realize you could take it the wrong way. Most hotel art is pretty low brow and without meaning.
I should have added to my comment that I stay in some fairly upscale hotels around the United States and I am seeing a trend towards better art. I think what you do would might find a nice market. Not trying to say that finding a place to sell photos and art is the end all be all…
These are wonderful. The top one looks like an oyster or clam (I don’t know the difference, since I’ve never eaten them) to me. It reminds me of a couple of O’Keeffes where she did a long skinny black clam (oyster?).
In Hawaii I ate some amazing fruits, I remember… I had a mangosteen, which was awesome, and a “wi apple” (no idea if that’s a real name; the seller was Asian and it sounded like that) which was really interesting. And then those lychee things with the spikes on the outside…yum.
Hey, Dave, not to worry! No offense taken. there’s some pretty awesome work in public places, I know.
Thanks Jala! To have reminded someone of an O’Keeffe is a great honor! The names of these fruits are confusing I think, not only because they are foreign to most of us, but also because they have different local names in different places.
When I saw the image of the star apple, I thought it was a mangosteen (my favourite tropical fruit). It looks so simmilar but I checked it out and it’s not even related.
Hi razzbuffnik. No it’s not a mangosteen. I must admit, I had to look that one up. They sound delicious. Welcome back, by the way!!
Rambutan! That was the name of the spiky fruits from Hawaii. Mmm…yum.
Jala,
There is what I believe is a rambutan tree at the botanical garden here… I don’t know what the locals call it, but the color of the fruit is spectacular.