Mastering a second skill

“I was totally new. I had never really taken it seriously. Cooking was really more of my main focus.””

Elijah Berry Sous-chef and artist

Brennan LaBrie

blabrie@ptleader.com

(Editor's note: This story has been revised to correct the spelling of the names of Elijah Berry and of Patrick Ryland.)

Elijah Berry often finds himself painting at midnight.

It’s not entirely by choice - his 50 hours a week working as sous-chef consume most of his daylight hours - but he enjoys it.

“It’s very satisfying,” he said of his midnight painting sessions, “because it’s kind of extreme.”

He likes the challenge of fitting both cooking and painting into one day. “I like to stay busy.”

Recently, he painted an underwater scene at midnight after getting home late from work, and it’s one of his favorite pieces to date.

Berry’s art hangs beside gardener Kira Mardikes’ in the lobby of the Old Alcohol Plant. Four portraits, two of hands and two of farmers, demonstrate his skills in oil painting. Right behind this wall, he is hard at work most days, doing the long hours required of the sous-chef at Spirits Bar and Grill, the Inn’s restaurant.

His paintings were displayed at the Inn’s gallery last year, shortly after his arrival, in a show called “Food and Flowers.” He was the “food” and she the flowers. It was his first time ever showing his art.

A lifelong sketcher, Berry said he didn’t get serious about art until a few years ago, when he began using oils.

“When I started oil painting, specifically, it really just clicked with me,” he said.

Berry, at 23 years old, has worked in restaurants his whole career. A graduate of Sequim High School, his first job was as dishwasher at the Fountain Cafe in Port Townsend, and he’s worked his way up the food service ladder since then.

His position at Spirits inspired him to start taking not just his cooking more seriously, but his other passions as well. He started playing basketball more, and decided to take his interest in art and passion for drawing to the next level.

At the time of the show, he said he was “totally new” to art.

“I had never really taken it seriously,” he said. “Cooking was really more of my main focus.”

And while Berry continues to be dedicated to his culinary career, art has taken an increasingly larger role in his life. The positive feedback he got from his show, along with the support for his ideas from the Inn’s staff, have encouraged him to keep painting.

Berry enjoys painting portraits above all else, and especially hands. For the show, he chose to paint farmers and their hands, as the process of growing food has always fascinated him. In fact, it was the Inn’s garden program that was implemented shortly after he arrived that has excited him most about working there. One of the farmers he chose to paint was Patrick Ryland, Mardikes’ fellow gardener at the Inn and a favorite model for the two artists.

More recently, Berry has grown an interest in painting animals, wild and domesticated alike, especially dogs

His influences include impressionist Claude Monet and “grand manner” portraitist John Singer Sargent. However, his favorite artists, he says, are the contemporary artists he follows on Instagram, a social media platform that emphasizes images over words where artists share their work. Both Berry and Mardikes run Instagram accounts for their art. Berry says he hopes to expand his internet presence as an artist to “stick with the times,” especially with what he believes is the challenge of finding spaces for artists to display their work in public. He acknowledges his good fortune of having his employer put up his work.

“I got lucky. A lot of times people have a hard time getting a chance to show their art,” he said.

Berry is always looking for ways to weave his passion for cooking and art together. Some ideas he has are creating a special dish and painting it for display at the restaurant, and painting the plates that he serves food on.

He is currently working on building his portfolio so he can put on shows across the Peninsula, with a showing in the works in Port Angeles later this year.