Abstract Kitchen Art

A frame (mine is 24x36), white cardstock to fit the frame, acrylic paint, fruit and veg, an old plate to put paint on, thick art paper (I used the kind for pen and ink), cardboard, paint brush, scissors and a glue gun.

You can print right onto your white cardstock, but I wanted this to look a little more arty whilst also adding some depth so I started by cutting out 9 pieces of my art paper into tiles measuring 21cm x 14cm each.

Tear down the edges on all sides on the 9 tiles removing just enough to give you a ragged edge. The ink Weight paper is perfect here because of its multiple layers.

When you’re ready to cut your fruit and veg think about the details you want to print, like leaving the stalk on an apple or pear, leaving the seeds in a Chili, or leaving the roots on a radish like I did below.

It works best to brush the paint lightly onto the fruit and veg. If you dip it, it tends to be too heavy and you won’t be able to see any of the pattern from the fruit.

When it comes to citrus fruits like lemon and lime, through trial and error I found that it works best to dry the lemon with a paper towel just enough to let the paint stick to its texture. The picture on the Left is without doing this, and the right picture is much better after using the paper towel.

While your stamped work is drying, cut cardboard into small squares and use the hot glue gun to glue two together. You’ll need 4 of these doubles for each piece of paper.

You’ll need to work quickly here so the hot glue doesn’t set. Start with the middle tile and work 1 tile at a time and Glue your doubled squares onto the tile just set in slightly from each corner. When you’re ready, put a blob of hot glue onto each of the 4 squares and quickly position your tile onto the cardstock. We start with the middle so that we can make sure everything is centered.

Make sure the paint is all dry before framing