Image © Trevor Anzai 2023

Here’s the mushroom trifecta. It’s a simple study of mushrooms that grew in my neighbourhood. One mushroom was from the grocery store and two were handpicked from the front lawn. I used blush pink and tones of green as the complementary colours to brown, which is the main colour palette for two of the mushrooms. I created something fun and colourful from the subject. I haven’t always liked mushrooms, however.

“It grows hair on your chest.” My dad usually said this when I didn’t want to eat mushrooms for dinner. I initially ate them out of obedience. As a kid, I’m not sure I had much of a choice. We ate them in pastas, sandwiches, salads, and so on. They appeared in many meals, and at times, they were surprisingly delicious! Despite my dad’s lame attempt to bribe me into eating mushrooms, I didn’t grow much chest hair, but the taste of mushrooms grew on me. 

Mushroom soup became my favourite comfort food in the winter time. Especially when I got sick, I looked forward to a nice hot bowl of creamy mushroom soup. Some people said they tasted like boogers. As for me, I’ve never made that association. So I kept eating mushroom soup—a real treat, especially on sick days.

These mushroom paintings were inspired by these memories and in response to my mom’s encouragement. As an artist, I paint what I think is true, good, and beautiful. Some of my work is religious (I am Catholic) and others are abstract, landscape, or still life, such as this one. As I’ve started to put my art “out there”, a potential exhibitor wasn’t willing to accept religious art. I told my mom about this and she encouraged me, “Even a mushroom painting glorifies God.” And so, I ran with the idea and painted them. I attempted to show that something as simple as a mushroom can reveal the creativity and wonder of a loving God. It’s all part of God’s creation. Enjoy!

View more artwork here!