Tag: drinks

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Cucumber Water Painting – The Making of Funky Cucumber

glass of cucumber water painting - vegetable still life

Cucumber Water Speed Painting – The Making of Funky Cucumber

Cucumber Water Speed Painting by contemporary artist Bart Carels. This quirky little still life features a cut cucumber and a glass of infused water — all painted in bold tones with lots of layering, texture, and contrast.

Title: ‘Funky Cucumber’
Artist: Bart Carels
Year: 2020

Painting Process

For this cucumber water speed painting, I wanted to switch things up. Normally, I begin with a Vermillion base layer, but this time I chose Magenta instead. I wasn’t sure what would happen, which made it more fun. I drew in the outlines, then jumped straight into color with a green mix I had prepared for the cucumber slice.

Rather than fully covering the base layer, I left some of the Magenta showing through on purpose — especially in the shadows. That gave the piece a more textured, layered feel. For the background, I used a semi-transparent purple-blue mix, again allowing the base to shine through in spots.

In the original reference image, the glass and cucumber were sitting on a wooden cutting board. I decided to replace it with an off-white surface instead. The contrast worked better against the background and felt more modern. Also, the desaturated tone gave the glass and water room to breathe visually.

It was a fast piece, but one that pushed me slightly out of my usual approach. The color choices were more experimental, and I had no real plan beyond working quickly and trusting the shapes. In the end, the funky palette, bold strokes, and unusual contrast made it one of my favorites from this series.

Painting Specs

  • One-of-a-kind artwork
  • Medium: Acrylic on canvas
  • Size: 24×18 cm / 9×7 inches
  • Color Palette: Cyan | Magenta | Yellow | Black | White

Availability

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Tabasco Gone Sideways (Tabasco Sauce Bottle) Painting -Time-Lapse Video

tabasco bottle still life painting

Tabasco Speed Painting – The Making of ‘Tabasco Gone Sideways’

Tabasco Speed Painting by contemporary artist Bart Carels. A bold little still life that flips the script — literally — by tilting a classic bottle of Tabasco hot sauce on its side. The result? A quirky, color-rich painting with strong contrast and a laid-back vibe.

Title: ‘Tabasco Gone Sideways’
Artist: Bart Carels
Year: 2020

Process & Approach

I’ve seen a lot of Tabasco paintings over the years, so I knew going into this that the subject wasn’t groundbreaking. To make it more fun (and more challenging), I placed the bottle on its side. This messed with the symmetry and forced me to really pay attention to proportions and angles. It made things trickier — but also more interesting.

The technique followed the same flow as some of my other recent still lifes. I started by sketching the outlines using a tone already close to the color of the sauce — a mix of Magenta, Yellow, and a touch of Cyan. I filled in the shadows first using that same blend, letting the darker areas define the form early on.

Next, I blocked in the green label, the background, and some depth for the sauce itself. I added just a few hints of text and highlights — no full label details. Because this was a speed painting, I kept the level of detail consistent throughout. Leaving out the small text gave it a cleaner, more graphic look.

Sometimes the best part of speed painting is not trying to get every little thing right. This piece felt loose, warm, and balanced once I stepped back from it. Plus, it was fun to take a common object and give it a literal twist.

Painting Specs

  • One-of-a-kind artwork
  • Medium: Acrylic on canvas
  • Size: 24×18 cm / 9×7 inches
  • Color Palette: Cyan | Magenta | Yellow | Black | White

Availability

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Yesterday’s Dessert (Two McDonald’s Milkshakes) Painting -Time-Lapse Video

Milkshake speed painting by Bart Carels showing two McDonald's cups in teal background

Milkshake Speed Painting – The Making of ‘Yesterday’s Dessert’

Milkshake Speed Painting by contemporary artist Bart Carels. This quirky still life captures two McDonald’s strawberry milkshakes, leftover from a random late-night snack run during Covid. Painted fast with leftover acrylics and no prep, it’s a loose, playful tribute to pop culture and poor dinner decisions.

Title: ‘Yesterday’s Dessert’
Artist: Bart Carels
Year: 2020

Milkshake speed painting by Bart Carels

‘Yesterday’s Dessert’ – Acrylic on canvas by Bart Carels (2020)

How I Created This Milkshake Speed Painting

This one came straight from real life — and real fast food. One night we went for a drive, didn’t feel like cooking, and ended up in the McDrive. Covid was still going strong, so everything was handed out on trays attached to long sticks. Kind of surreal, to be honest. After regretting my burger choice (the “Double Tasty” isn’t making the list again), I looked down at the milkshakes and thought, “Yeah, that’s a painting.”

Instead of prepping a new canvas, I used what I had from the day before. I grabbed the leftover paint and sketched the composition using Vermillion. That base color still shows through in spots, which actually works well with the yellow M logos on the cups.

To make the cups pop, I added a teal background. The contrast pulled everything forward and made the scene more playful. For the shadows, I used a mix of white, magenta, cyan, and primary yellow — adjusting as I went to keep things loose. The cardboard tray holding the cups got a few darker tones mixed in with magenta and blue for more depth.

This milkshake speed painting stayed rough on purpose. I didn’t want to overwork it. It was about capturing the moment — fast, imperfect, and kind of funny in hindsight. Definitely one of those “accidental favorite” pieces.

Painting Specs

  • One-of-a-kind artwork
  • Medium: Acrylic on canvas
  • Size: 24×18 cm / 9×7 inches
  • Color Palette: Cyan | Magenta | Yellow | Black | White

Availability

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Glass of Whisky (“Firewater”) Original Painting

Original acrylic painting on canvas 'Firewater' – whisky glass painting by Bart Carels.

Summary

Original Glass of Whisky painting titled “Firewater” by contemporary artist Bart Carels.

Title: ‘Firewater’
Artist: Bart Carels
Year: 2019

Progress Shots

The images below show you the overall progress of the painting from start to finish. I started on a blank canvas and painted it with a mixture of gesso and burnt sienna.This is called a toned ground (or coloured ground).

There are several reasons why artists do this. Personally I do it for two reasons. The first is that the gesso creates a nice smooth layer and prevents my paint from getting soaked into the canvas. The next layers basically lay on top of it.  I add the Burnt Sienna to the gesso so I don’t have the white spots showing through my paint in case my other layers did not cover the entire canvas.

Many artists also use this first layer to create tonal values, which serves as the foundation to build on top of. At times I do this too, but in this case the first layers were more to cover my canvas and to make sure my overal composition looked good. Anyway, here are some progress shots of the piece:

Description

Glass of Whisky Original Painting titled ‘Firewater’ by contemporary artist Bart Carels.

This artwork shows a glass of whisky on a very vibrant teal/turquoise background. The original artwork is hand-painted. The fine art prints / posters are reproductions and digital versions of the original painting, printed on Museum-quality thick, durable and matte paper.

Original Painting

  • Just one in the world
  • Medium: Acrylic on canvas
  • Dimensions: 80×60 cm / 31.5×23.6 inches
  • Color Palette: Cyan | Magenta | Yellow | Black |White

Fine Art Print

  • Paper thickness: 10.3 mil
  • Paper weight: 5.6 oz/y² (192 g/m²)
  • Giclée printing quality
  • Opacity: 94%

Check below for availability of this original painting or Fine Art Prints of this Back to the future artwork.

Availability