A Feast for the Senses

WEST TEXAS-BASED SKETCHER AND LONG-STANDING DRAWING ATTENTION PROOFREADER LESLIE AKCHURIN RECOMMENDS ‘PLAYING WITH YOUR FOOD’.

LESLIE’S MATERIALS:

• Hot-pressed watercolor paper —I love the vividness of watercolor on hot pressed paper, as well as the blooms and other irregularities that are likely to occur.

• Watercolor —Use any good quality brand; granulating colors can be especially fun.

• Mid-sized to large round and flat brushes

• A soft lead pencil or Derwent watercolor pencils

• Caran D’ache Neocolor crayons.

When the outside world is too cold or wet for sketching, the kitchen can be a reliable place to find natural forms and some interesting shapes and colors. Although I don’t cook as much as I used to, I’m sometimes inspired by my pre-dinner tabletop to try a relaxed capture of the more visually interesting elements. For this demo, I used a three-step, multi-media approach to create a lively scene before preparing a simple meal: teriyaki lamb chops with rice and baby bok choy.

I was a kid who liked to draw and then put it away in favor of other adult pursuits, only picking it up again in my mid-50s. As my artistic bent has always been to respond to the world around me, I took to the urban sketching movement like a duck to water. The work of USk sketchers worldwide has been a continual inspiration for me. These days I’m retired and can usually sketch several times a week.

1. Watercolor: With a couple of larger, wet brushes, I paint in washes of color for the objects that catch my attention, letting the paint overlap or mix, and being as free and expressive as

I like. In this step, I try to create the main relationships and an overall unity. I like to leave a lot of white space so that the eye can bridge parts of the sketch.

2. Pencil: I selectively draw in contours where I think they help to define the watercolor shapes, add some interesting pattern or detail, or indicate background objects. Drawn items can imply depth in the scene while not detracting from the main event. In this demo I simply used pencil, but for more expressiveness I also like bright watercolor pencils, sometimes in different colors for different areas.

LESLIE’S TIPS:

• Build the picture organically according to what attracts you.

• For me, the main pleasure of sketching is the surprise of invention while I respond to the particular qualities of my subject matter.

• I typically just start with the form that interests me most and then pick and choose the elements and colors that seem to work with what I already have on the page. This strategy gives me joy. Even if the final picture isn’t successful, I gain a better sense of how to approach a similar subject next time.

3. Crayon: I add texture and vividness with pastel crayons. In addition to making the forms more tangible and recognizable, I can emphasize the parts I feel contribute most to the “dance” of the composition. I also like to indicate shadows this way, as crayon marks don’t interfere too much with the solidity of the watercolor shapes. (However, if I think the shadows are a main element of the scene’s appeal, I’ll probably wash them in with watercolor during Step 1.)