Countertop Bell Peppers

8x5.5 watercolor and ink in old junk journal done recently as part of my host for WetCanvas weekend drawing event challenge. The colorful bell peppers were too enticing to pass up. I used Winsor Newton 0.3 sepia fine liner pen. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2026

Fiesta Peppers

8x8 watercolor on Masters Touch Premium 140 lb cold press paper, a vegetable still life set up of vivid fiesta colors. Photo courtesy Jo Castillo. COPYRIGHT 2023 Kay Smith

Bell Peppers

6x6 watercolor on paper, done today of bell peppers on the vine, back when we got rain and could grow vegetables.  (Temp was 106 F. today)  I started doing a contour line drawing with Pigma Micron 01 pen then decided to color it in with complementary hues of greens and reds.

Footlong Hotdog

Here is my footlong hotdog, complete with jalapenos, red and white onions, slaw, pickles, tomatoes, red bell pepper, cilantro, celery, and mustard on poppyseed buns, all made up! It's watercolor 6.5x11 on Italia 140 lb cold press paper, drawn with Pigma Micron 01 pen, and painted with Daniel Smith paints today.  Now I'm hungry for a Sonic Chicago dog...

Some Like it Hot! still life

15x11 watercolor still life of table top vegetables work in progress is now completed.  Today shadows were added using cobalt violet, cerulean blue, quinacridone magenta, permanent rose, yellow ochre, olive green, sap green, quinacridone red in an attempt to tie all elements together.  I darkened most of the colander holes and added stems that were waiting until the end.  This was a fun and colorful one to do, now on to the next endeavor.  I hope you like it!

WIP step 2 - Some Like it Hot still life

Today's work continued on with adding detail and correcting values of the veggies.  The red purple onion on right side was painted.  I did add a slight shadow on the white metal colander by red bell pepper.  You can see four photo refs I've stuck to the Plexiglas.

WIP - Some Like it Hot (still life)

15x11 watercolor on Arches 140 lb cold press paper work in progress begun yesterday with detailed drawing using fresh jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions of all varieties.  It was painted wet in wet today, and this is about 1.5 hours worth of work in a direct painting style using 1" flat sable brush.  I've been buying old kitchen colanders on eBay and photographing any interesting ones in antique or secondhand stores; love the rusted and shiny metal juxtaposed with smooth colorful vegetables' skins.  I may put these salsa ingredients on a white tablecloth and will finish this still life tomorrow.