I like to draw food with my watercolour pencils. (I also enjoy urban sketching, sketching nature drawings, and objects). I have been drawing my food since I started my daily sketching over 10 years ago. I don’t enjoy cooking and do not have a strong sense of taste or smell, but love the visual. everything is sketchable, however, I have been known to choose my meal for its sketching possibilities.
Over the last few months, I have purchased takeaway dinner from Il Duca, a local restaurant. I bring it home and set up my white table cloth and wine glass and enjoy ! -and also sketch. This week I asked the owner Dom to suggest a colourful meal to order, as sometimes the pasta and risotto are not as visually exciting as other meals.
I was generously given a delicious meal of Lamb Shanks with salad. Lots of colours and interesting shapes (and then sketching the end of the meal). .Enough for two meals for me and more protein than I have had all week !
During the year I usually run a number of Watercolour Pencil Sketching classes in Melbourne. These include food sketching and High Tea sketching classes. They are always great fun, with lots of food to sketch and eat . They are on hold at the moment, but the sketching has not stopped. Food is great to sketch as it is instantly obtainable, you can control it, and (as always) there is no right on wrong.
Here are some hints and tips and my approach
- it is not a still life or finished piece, it captures the suggestion of the food
- you can write notes on the page about your experience – taste, smell, who you were with and where
- just draw the food, not the plate
- choose where to add the colour – it does not all have to be coloured in
- choose a part of the meal, not all of it
- draw on overview or focus on detail
Yes, I eat a bit of cold food! However many meals have repetitive shapes and ingredients. Once I have sketched in the major shapes and the detail and colour of some major ingredients, the rest can be sketched in while eating.
and a link to a previous blog post on step-by-step sketching lunch. to see my approach to sketching this meal below.
Click through to see my Flickr albums to see my watercolour pencil sketches of sweets, raw food, and food,
Do you sketch food now? I hope that this inspires you to sketch the everyday – the food on your plate.
You are so lucky to have an obliging restaurant and what a delicious meal of lamb shanks you had to enjoy. With the salad there was plenty of colour.
Thank you. I have lived in this suburb for over six years and had never eaten at Il Duca. Now I know the owner and some of the staff at the counter who are there when I pick up my meals. They offered a takeaway only menu over the last few months and are now open. At first, the restrictions eased and it was for 20 people. As of Monday, it was going to be 50, but in Victoria, we have had a spike in infections and the restrictions have been put back. I will definitely be going there to eat one day in the future, but n the meantime, I am looking forward to next weekend’s fine dining experience
Love your flicker foodie pics. My goodness I’m constantly amazed at so much talent. I wonder what I can draw .. you draw it ALL!