Thank you for your interest.
If you still aren't sure, here's a recent sample:
Here we are in February, actually nearly through it! This year seems to be flying by. I can see as I type this that my garden is waking up and is going to need tending in short order. It appears that the previous owners were lovers of daffodils - I have quite a few little surpises making their way up to the sunshine.
In the studio I've been doing trench work of a different kind - sharpening up skills, trying out new things and generally just enjoying the experience of making art. You can see some of that effort reflected in the rose above.
Art In Your Everyday Life: Food Presentation
Food. We all have to eat it. It might be a comfort for us, if it invokes a happy memory. Or, it might be more like an enemy, if we have an allergy or condition which restricts us. But for all of us, food is a tool. It's the fuel we need to live, without it we can't function.
And so, regardless of where we are emotionally about food, it seems a natural place to put some art in our lives - because we deal with it multiple times every day. This is all the more critical when the food itself is not exactly what you are hoping for, as has been the case in my family recently. We've been working on some lifestyle food adjustments in the last month. Out with bad and in with the good. On a scientific level, it is working very well - pounds are coming off, energy levels are higher, general health is improving. On an emotional and experiential level, we need to do something to "jazz it up" and make it sustainable.
So how do you make boneless, skinless chicken breasts exciting and full of variety? Presentation, of course. Doesn't water taste better served in a cut crystal glass under candlelight? Scientifically, no, it tastes just like tap water. Emotionally and experientally, yes, it tastes a ton better.
As I was doing research on this topic and compiling tips, they all sounded very familiar, like I'd heard this before. Then the obvious crashed over me: good food presentation is rather like good art composition and technique. So, I'm going to give you some art principles and then apply them to food presentation.
From Empty Easel, an online art resource, 9 Steps to Better Composition:
- Pick a Good Subject - with food, this isn't always possible. But certainly you help matters by being excited about what you are presenting. At the very least, wanting to make a good show of it is vital to making a good show of it.
- Choose the Size You Want - serve your food on a plate that fits. Don't go so big that the portions seem skimpy and don't go so small that the arrangement looks crowded or it's hard to eat.
- Create Your Own Crop - environment matters. Remember the water example above? Try to make sure the table is tidy. Lay out the napkins and glasses nicely (you can even do this sort of step earlier in the day, so you aren't racing around trying to create calm and order in the midst of the chaos of cooking.)
- Think About Placement - the plate is your frame, place the food on the "canvas" in an attractive manner. Of course, "attractive" varies but this is why some popular chefs stack meat on top of vegetables in a central pylon-type fashion - just the way it looks seems trendy and modern. You can arrange your green beans to have that "casual but oh so artful" look. For your dish, is a single chicken breast or fanned slices a better look? Can you make a simple pattern with your food?
- Control Your Lines - Just like a good painting, your eye needs a way in, a way around, and then a graceful exit. Think about the angles you are making with the food edges.
- Balance Positive and Negative Space - don't clump everything in the middle or to either side. Put some elements to the side and some towards the middle - apply the rule of thirds.
- Add Contrast - if you are serving a "chewy" main dish, a softer side adds variety to the meal. Texture is an important part of food and our perspection of it - make texture contrasts work for you, not against you.
- Simplify Distracting Elements - Serve simple food on a more elaborately decorated plate, serve more complex-looking food on a simpler plate. When I served lettuce wraps recently it occurred to me that if I had small rectangular boats to serve them in, the "almost a taco" sale would be made - it also would have made the idea of picking up the lettuce holding the pork and vegetables a simpler task. (The lettuce wraps were still a hit though.)
- Choose Your Colors Deliberately - most protein falls in the tan and brown range. Thankfully, there are plenty of colorful veggies to spice up the contrast. Just last night I livened up a beige chicken breast in a beige sauce with some bright green pea pods and a tomato, cucumber and mozzerella salad just to the side.
I hope these thoughts have sparked an idea or two for you, so you can enjoy a bit more art in your life!
Until next time,
Rose
