Painting Kitchen Utensils Since I Forgot to Buy a Shower Gift

This Saturday, Mike and I had plans to go to a coed Wedding Shower this weekend, and I completely forgot to purchase a gift. Luckily, I had free time on Saturday to paint a card for the sweet couple, which filled in as an I.O.U. for a William Sonoma gift card. Since the weekend is my main time to paint, I took the opportunity to make them a card that was relevant, but also to accomplish my goal of creating a downloadable desktop image for April.

I will always love the look of black pen and ink filled in with watercolor, and it's probably what most people think of when they think of my drawings. However, I want to push myself to rely less on what feels safe, and practice using color, layers, and paint to add depth and dimension.

This was the perfect exercise, since I love painting anything related to food, cooking, and baking.

Above, you can see how I used the light washes of color to draw the objects and figure out where everything would be. This was freehand, but usually I would have used a light pencil to sketch it out, and erase after the painting was completed.

In the picture below, I would add layers of color on the various objects after they dried to create depth and substance. For instance, painting the inside of a pot with a darker color to show that it was deeper. I used light washes of color on the outsides of the objects to ground them on the blank white surface. Lastly, I used my tiny brush to line some of the edges of the objects to further define them. I tried to make it slightly loose and sketchy, and retain a limited palette for a more cohesive design.

I had fun creating this and either drawing things that I have and enjoy using in my own kitchen (a Le Creuset Oval Dutch Oven) or items that I am coveting but don't need in my life right now (like a Chemex Coffee Maker).

Here is the finished piece! My favorite things to paint were the measuring spoons, the details on the measuring cup, and the muffin tins. I'm pleased with how it turned out, and I hope they liked their card. We weren't there to see them open it since we also did not get a babysitter and had to switch off going to the party, which was actually quite convenient since it was a block away!

I liked this watercolor so much, I have also added it as a print in my Society 6 store here.

April Free Watercolor Art Downloads

I have wanted to offer free monthly downloads for your desktop or mobile devices, and this is the first one! Please enjoy and share with your friends who love cooking, fancy kitchen items, turquoise, and baked goods. I really wanted to paint rain or umbrellas, but I was not happy with what I made (that happens, doesn't it?!) However, I loved this recent watercolor I made for our friends' wedding shower, and am always inspired to cook healthy food (and aforementioned baked goods) once Spring comes along.

I also made this print "Kitchen Utensils" available here via Society 6. Maybe for May I will get it together to add the calendar portion, although I like that there is no expiration date on this image! Enjoy and please let me know if you have any questions or issues downloading the images. Click on the link to download the larger image for the device you wish!

Ode to Josef Frank Kitchen

When I was studying interior design in college, my favorite part of every project was the schematic and conceptual work. I would scrounge magazines and books for inspiration with multiple cups of coffee at my favorite bookstore, sketch furiously and take pages of notes. I'd always find an excuse to buy more beloved Tria markers from Pygmalion's Art Supply for my renderings. I loved it because it's that exciting stage where anything seems possible. You can go crazy with ideas, options and color before you need to rein it in and focus. Plus, I love to draw with pen and ink, and use watercolors and pens.

It's a place where you can decide to create an entire kitchen based on wanting to use a beloved Josef Frank textile as wallpaper paired with a lemon-lime SMEG refrigerator.

I miss doing this type of work. Since I don't currently have a job where I get to help clients in this way, or a home to renovate yet, I remembered my fictional clients from college and drew upon them for inspiration. I'm vowing to do this at twice a month to keep these creative juices alive.

Enter Molly Albers, a young librarian living in Astoria who inherited a small apartment from her dear Grandmother Mil (short for Mildred). It's small and the kitchen doesn't have the best work triangle, but she makes it work. She had a bit of money saved up and spent it doing some small cosmetic kitchen renovations.

Molly is somewhat reserved at work, so when she comes home, she likes to let loose with color and pattern. She fell in love with the Josef Frank Hawaii 315 Fabric while browsing through books at work, and splurged on the wallpaper. Her very hip grandma Mil happened to have this fridge (let's just go with it). Molly is learning to cook more, and decided to go with less counter space for this kitchen so that she could have a larger island with seating and workspace (she's learning to bake bread). Plus she had limited options without changing the water and gas lines.

She decided to leave the existing stove, and installed white subway tile with light gray grout to balance out the black wallpaper and colorful floral print. When they ripped up the parquet flooring, there was some concrete underneath that they stained with a slight violet gray.

She installed butcher block countertops and simple white shelves to hold her tableware, cookbooks, vases and dry goods. She likes how the open shelves allow more of the beautiful wallpaper to show. There is also additional storage under the island on the side opposite the seating.

Molly waited patiently for a year searching, and finally scored a pair of hot pink Tolix Marais Counter Stools on eBay, which she lugged back on the subway with her best friend Peter. She put her unwanted Ikea stools on the curb to pass along the good karma to someone else.

The last detail we noted was the red library stool from the basement in the library that her sweet boss insisted she take after hearing she needed one to reach her growing library of cookbooks.

Thanks for accompanying me in letting my imagination run wild with me tonight!

Pantry Ideas + Drawing Grains

I've been collecting jars for food storage for about six years now. My husband and friends make fun of me, but I don't care. Personally, I think they're just jealous of the beauty that is a jar of French Lentils. Plus, looking at all of those healthy foods lined up, it makes me want to eat, cook and bake in healthier ways.

If you're going to display your dry goods, it helps to make sure everything is lined up nicely and neatly. I prefer if the shelves are shallow and everything is lined up only one row deep. I also think that clear jars really let the colors and textures of the grains or dried goods stand out. Necessity in a manner that can be lovely.

Dried apricots, burnt umber couscous, creamy jasmine rice, yellow pepitas, 70s green split peas and pecans waiting to be baked into sweet treats. Is it just me, or do others go nerdy over this type of storage?

Who better to showcase this concept than the covet worthy pantry of EmersonMade? The organization and simple yet pleasing aesthetic make me swoon. And plenty more people judging on how this image has been repinned and blogged multiple times.

Who can go wrong with this cheery storage and rainbow colored painted bowls? Though I do wonder just how many bowls one home can have? I'd hope that they host an annual ice cream social and vie for the Guinness Book of World Records for something. The narrow height of the shelves would allow for less wasted space.

This is my own current storage for our wealth of dinnerware and lack of cabinet space. Looking at everything lined up and the $30 steal of vintage lead-free Fiesta Ware makes me smile.

Though I like to look at pretty things, I do like to hide everything once in awhile. If you can style your belongings nicely, and keep everything neat, overhead open shelves like these are perfect. The white shelves on white walls integrates it into the wall, and makes it look more streamlined and neat in my opinion.

This custom unit is quite the focal point in this San Francisco family's kitchen. I would incorporate a display of food storage, cookbooks, and favorite cookware and kitchen goods, all lovingly arranged of course.

Lastly, here's one more for inspiration. Streamlined, color coordinated to some extent, with a great natural wood ladder and a faucet that makes me forget about the shelves.

Seriously, I want one of those faucets! It reminds me of washing the dishes in my coffee-slinging, barista days.