Malus x domestica
Apple ‘James Grieve’
Sarah Howard
Watercolour
Artwork size in cm, 26 x 36
£350.00
‘James Grieve’ is a popular and dependable dessert apple in Scotland, and it grows at the bottom of my garden alongside other heritage varieties. In Spring the twigs are covered in beautiful dark pink buds that blossom into pink flushed white flowers. By late September the fruit can be eaten, juiced or cooked. The flesh is soft, the juice is slightly acidic, and the outer skin is firm.
James Grieve developed this self-fertile variety for Dicksons Nurserymen in Edinburgh, possibly from ‘Potts’ Seedling’ or ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’. The first record of it was 1893. Four years later the RHS gave it an Award of Merit, then a First Class Certificate in 1906. It is often used now as a base for other varieties to sharpen the taste.
I chose to depict the apple from bud to fruit in a tight format to reflect an entry into the tree’s canopy to pluck the ripe fruit. The various greens came alive when I applied its opposite colour – a deep rose pink – to the buds. This was a glorious moment for a glorious apple.
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Please note: Paintings will be on display at the V&A Dundee until the end of July, so a pickup after that date can be arranged.
