My art: before eating the food draw it!

 My yoga guru once remarked, jokingly: "He that does not meditate shall not eat". What he meant is: if you want to eat, find the time to meditate before it. Sometimes I apply the similar principle to drawing and draw the food, which I am going to eat.
  Painting still lifes from nature is one of the classical methods of training life-like depiction of objects, developing skills to grasp proportions and create volume with color or tone. Of course it could be also trained by life painting portraits, for example. But normally beginner painters quite rarely have access to models willing to pose for them. On the other hand, I suppose one can always get hold of a piece of cake! :)

 More so, when there's something delicious in front of you that you can eat only after you draw, this motivates to paint faster, which leads to more lively, sketching character of the picture.
 Painting of static objects allows to study different textures and materials. Try to figure what is the difference, visually, between metal, porcelain and glass, and where the overtones will be on each.
 Later when you paint compositions even purely from your imagination you will already have your own visual experience, which you can transfer to imaginary objects. An inner subconscious library of materials and shapes.

  And the main thing that drawing still lifes from nature relax your mind! Indeed painter, in this case, doesn't have to invent anything by himself, life always directs what color to use, where to make lighter or darker stroke. All of the visual information is already present in nature. The painter's goal is to see it, to be observant and to be wrapped up in the contact with the object, which he draws. And this contact may become amazing journey, even when you draw an ordinary apple. Because indeed there is nothing "ordinary" in the world around us. Even in a familiar apple you could see wonderful things.
  Enjoy!