VEGETABLES: 10 Sketchbook & Color Exercises to Try

THE SECRET TO HAPPINESS (according to something I just read on the Internet) -- IS VEGETABLES!  I guess you have to actually eat them in order to truly be happy, but we're going to draw and paint them, too.

For these exercises, work "from life", if possible.  Visit your local market, grocery store, or farmer's market, and fill your cart or basket with lots of interesting colors and shapes.

Now, try a few, or all, of these exercises/studies -- either in your sketchbook, or on scrap pieces of watercolor paper:



1)  PUMPKIN with SCARF -- Set up a pumpkin, with a patterned scarf draped around the base of it.  Start with a wet-in-wet underpainting (use warm colors).  When that's dry, draw the pumpkin and scarf.
Draw a "frame" behind the pumpkin, and paint a transparent wash over this background shape.  Paint the pumpkin and the scarf, adding some darks in the stem, and some cobalt blue washes for the shadows. . .

2)  A BUNCH OF CELERY -- In your sketchbook, draw a bunch of celery, in pencil -- add shading.  Draw two different views of the celery, on the same page. . . 

  

3)  BELL PEPPERS with DARK BACKGROUND -- Draw and paint 1 or 2 colorful bell peppers.  Add a horizontal line for a tabletop, and paint the background dark. . . not black, but dark. . . 

4)  PEPPERS ON A PLATE -- Put several different kinds of peppers on a plate.  Draw a bird's-eye-view of the peppers -- a contour drawing in ink.  Do a wet-in-wet painting for the color.  (You can either do the painting first, and then add the ink contour drawing; or draw it in ink first, and then add the color.)

5)  CARROTS -- Set a bunch of carrots, with the greens still attached, on a piece of white paper on a table.  Draw and paint the carrots, adding light blue shadows . . . 

6)  EAR OF CORN -- Do a contour drawing, in pencil, of an ear of corn -- either fresh, or use Indian corn. . . 

7)  WARM PEPPERS/COOL BACKGROUND -- Set up 2 or 3 colorful peppers on a tabletop, with or without a tablecloth.  Draw and paint the peppers with bright, warm colors.  Paint the background with cool colors. . . 

8)  STILL LIFE IN KITCHEN -- Set up a simple still life in your kitchen, with salad ingredients.  Do a contour drawing in pencil, and then paint a value study, with Burnt Sienna (or Quin Burnt Orange). . .

9)  PATTERNED GOURDS -- Are gourds considered vegetables?  Probably not, unless they're squashes?  Well, for our purposes, they are vegetables.  Find some gourds or squashes, with interesting patterns or stripes.  Draw and paint a few small color studies. . . 

10)  STILL LIFE WITH PEPPER -- Set up a simple still life that includes one bell pepper in the foreground.  Draw the still life with pencil -- adding shading to the pepper, only. . . 

Are you happy yet?  If not, you may just have to cut up those veggies, throw them into a pot, with a little broth, herbs & spices, and salt & pepper, and turn them into soup. . .