Watercolor Snacks: Inspiring Lessons for Sketching and Painting Your Favorite Foods

Introduction

I never went to art school. My ignorance was bliss. I didn’t know how many ways my art could go wrong so I was open to trying anything! In fact, I didn’t expect myself to be any good at all, so my focus was to just try new things, experiment, and essentially play with colors. My intention is to encourage you to do the same: whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned artist, I hope you find some useful and inspiring tips to get you creating on a consistent basis. And since food is such a huge part of our lives, there’s always something inspiring and yummy to paint.

Watercolors are my favorite medium for several reasons. First, I find the way water interacts with pigment incredibly soothing. Second, you don’t need a lot of setup time to begin working. Typically, you can get a beginner’s palette that will come with a wide range of colors in it. So, the time from decision to action is minimized, which I feel is important. We all lead busy, hectic lives, so I encourage any little hack that can allow us to have a bit of creative fun during the day. Another reason I love watercolors is the ability to almost erase accidental marks from the paper. In the coming chapters, I’ll share with you a few basic techniques that will make your watercolor paintings pop off the page.

I hope this book inspires you to keep exploring the wonderful world of watercolors with these simple techniques for painting foods. Since this book focuses more on painting than on learning how to draw, I’ve put together a bonus PDF that contains all the line drawings found in this book. If you’re not a proficient drawer, I don’t want that to stop you from experiencing the magic of watercolors! Feel free to trace the drawings with a pencil and then you can get to painting right away.

Recommended Supplies: The Ingredients

Paper

Paper is probably the single most important part of a joyful watercolor experience. Too often, I’ve bought cheaper paper and was disappointed because my watercolor paintings did not look the way I wanted them to. For this reason, I highly recommend investing in paper over other materials because the right paper will enhance your experience and will only add more joy to the process.

Typical watercolor paper comes in two types: cold press and hot press. Hot press has a very smooth surface, with almost no tooth (or texture). This paper will dry fairly fast. Cold press paper has a slightly textured surface and won’t dry as fast because the paint will pool in the textured surface.

Watercolor paper also comes in various weights that essentially indicate how thick or thin a paper is. Water-color paper is measured in pounds (lbs.) and typically ranges from 90 to 300 lbs. The standard and most common weight you’ll see is 140 lbs. Most papers that are less than 140 lbs will buckle when wet and may even tear, thus ruining the whole experience. (If you do end up using paper that is less than 140 lbs, for example 90 lbs, then be sure to be judicious with water usage). Even 140 lb paper can buckle a bit but it’s manageable and given that we’ll be working on food illustrations and not applying a lot of water onto the paper, you shouldn’t need to stretch the paper. If you choose to stretch your paper, one common way of doing so is to use washi tape around the edges and attach it to a hard board. This will prevent some of the buckling that can occur.

My favorite brand of paper to use in my watercolor workshops, and even for client illustrations, is Cold Press Canson XL Watercolor Pads 140 lbs. A pad of this paper will have one of the edges glued together, which allows for easy tearing once you’re done painting. This particular brand also comes in a large pad size of 18×24, which is what I buy because the price is better and it’s easy to fold and tear the large sheets into smaller sized sheets (and tearing gives us those nice, deckled edges).

Tip: When I’m working on a painting, I like to finalize my pencil sketch on copy paper (or any paper just to practice on). I then use a lightbox (or my window) to trace the sketch onto my watercolor paper and then I get to painting. This allows me to work out the kinks in my design and do all the erasing on the copy paper instead of doing it on the watercolor paper. This way, I am less likely to damage the watercolor paper’s surface if I end up changing my mind and doing a lot of erasing.

Brushes

My most used and overall favorite brush for food paintings is a water brush pen. It’s essentially a brush that holds water inside its barrel, which gets released when you squeeze the barrel. My reason for suggesting a water brush pen is so you can work on your food paintings while you’re out brunching with your friends.

While there are many kinds and sizes and shapes of brush pens, I want to keep it simple for you and recommend the brush I use most often: the Pentel Aquash water brush pen.

Here are some of the reasons I prefer using a water brush pen to a traditional watercolor brush:

•It’s great to travel with: you can even take it on the plane and do some watercolor paintings during a long, boring flight.

•It allows me to paint on location, so if I’m at a restaurant and I feel inspired, I can start painting right then and there.

•There is no worry about spilling a cup of water or working with muddy water.

•It is easy to refill.

•The bristles are firm and work great for lifting off a highlight.

•Compared to a traditional watercolor brush, it doesn’t hold a lot of water in the bristles, which allows for more control. A traditional brush will typically absorb a lot more water and be harder to control when painting small details (especially when depicting food).

There are many other great brands of water brush pens out there. For the entirety of this book, I created all my paintings using a medium sized Pentel Aquash water brush pen. I love that thing and I actually have several loaded up with water so I can keep painting without interruption.

If, for some reason, you’re not a fan of brush pens, another option of brushes I really like are the Princeton Heritage brushes in sizes 2, 6, and 8. Those will give you a nice range of sizes to use for adding details to the snack paintings.

Tips on using a Pentel Aquash Water Brush Pen:

•Squeeze the water brush pen’s barrel and the water will be released.

•The harder you squeeze on the barrel the more water will be released.

•You can squeeze a few drops into your watercolor well and load up on color that way.

•Move the brush on your paper as you squeeze to prevent puddles from forming.

•Use a towel or washcloth to wipe off the color from the bristles.

•Squeeze a little bit of water from the water brush pen as you’re cleaning off/wiping the bristles on the towel.

•You can fill up the brush with tap water from the faucet or by even squeezing on the container so it sucks water into it.

•It rarely happens, but if your water brush pen container gets paint inside, you can clean it with a cotton swab and some warm soapy water. Be sure to rinse it well.

•By adjusting the pressure of the brush pen on the paper, we can control how narrow or wide the brush mark will be, like in the illustration here.

Watercolor Paints: Pans vs. Tubes

There are lots of amazing watercolor brands out there and I love many of them, but I want to share that you can create beautiful art even with the cheapest sets. Don’t let the price point stop you from enjoying and exploring this medium.

When I first started with watercolors, I picked up the cheapest set I could find at a local craft store. What I want more than anything is to have a nice range of colors to play and experiment with. In each of the following chapters I will share the names of the exact colors I use,