The Pain Exchange

ART BLOG 4

What is in the shelves and cupboards, what is in the kitchen…?


After the frenzy we experienced from weeks ago maybe from watching the news or going to buy food in the supermarkets.  For some people experiences of cooking began, whether inventing new dishes or trying to improvise with what we have in the cupboards.  To fight boredom or for others like me getting caught into the trap of, baking, eating, munching, snacking.  I never baked before ….I wondered what was going on with me. I think the anxiety got me and the boredom too.

I thought, what about making a bit of art with what is in the cupboard.  Looking at the colours of the food I enjoy cooking or eating what about spending a bit of time just looking at the shapes of a fruit bowl and vegetables for a few moments and start drawing or painting and forget about the world for a while.


still life


Image 1

Making fritters with carrots, egg, cheese for example.   

The things we need to make a still life :

Making a composition with any food you have, looking at the bowl of cereal, perhaps looking at what we are making for breakfast e.g. eggs on toast. Eggs could be a good topic, Salvador Dali painted those why not me? 

1. Start by making a soft drawing with pencil of your chosen composition

2. make a soft colour background, paint the paper with a big brush very quickly and let it dry.  In this sample I used pink, any colour is welcome, just experiment and see what works for you.

Main colours; blue and the complementary orange, the idea that  opposites attraction works well.

Look for  the light and the dark areas, are there any reflections……?

3 begin to use watercolour paints, just give it a go!

Materials: Paper for Watercolour (A4), watercolours or food colouring and a pencil. 

blog 4 2

Image 2

Following the same basic steps as above

Experimenting with simple resources I found in my cupboard food to colour with

e.g. red wine, soya sauce, turmeric, food colouring, tea, coffee, among others. You can see the small colour chart on the picture.

food paint

colour chart


What else do I need :  Paper for watercolour (A5), pencil , 2 brushes and a candle stick to block areas where the light is being reflected.

paper and food paint


These 2 are examples I did but you can have fun making your own arrangements