PAINT YOU WANT TO LICK: Artist Interview with Courtney Caroline
Courtney Caroline brings a delicious sense of intimacy to her art. The kind that blurs the line between a meal and a memory. Based in Vancouver and shaped by her Okanagan upbringing, she paints food not as a subject, but as a storyteller. In her work, dishes become vessels for culture, connection, nostalgia, and the quiet poetry of everyday life.
Food appears throughout her paintings with an emotional charge: warm, familiar, and often deeply personal. Her signature “benzi orange” underlayer glows beneath acrylics and oils, giving each piece a sense of heat and history. Whether she’s capturing the comfort of home-cooked meals, the buzz of local cafés, or the raw emotional currents explored in her “Watch Me Rot” series, Courtney treats food as both medium and message- something that feeds, but also reveals.
How did you start painting food- was it a natural process or accident?
It was a sort of accident. I took photos of meals while traveling through Rome and Sicily in early 2022 and had a gut feeling that I needed to paint them. After returning home, I dreamt of that trip for the rest of the year. I painted those two pieces in early 2023, and I fell in love with painting food. It was the natural fit that stuck; I was able to combine my two loves: painting and food and it feels completely and utterly me.
What is your own relationship with food?
I grew up in a family that valued food and connection. We had home-cooked meals every night, and the rule was we all sat down together with no phones. It was a time to eat good food and connect as a family. We also had to try everything on our plates, knowing it was okay if we didn't like it but at the very least we had tried it.
My love for exploring different cuisines truly took off when I lived in London, UK, for a year. That experience, combined with traveling throughout Europe and exploring local markets, really started my passion for trying new spices and ingredients. I continue to love traveling and discovering new foods and have a long list of places I want to explore. My dream career is to travel and paint food from each destination.
What’s your dream dinner table setting, and who would you love to have seated around it?
My dream dinner guests would include:
- Julia Child: To talk everything butter with her.
- Meredith from Wishbone Kitchen: We are from the same generation and share an obsession with tomatoes.
- Martha Stewart: (Of course!)
- Antoni from Queer Eye: Gotta have another Canadian in the bunch.
- My Cousin: We have traveled together, and our shared love for food sometimes makes us cry haha
- Matty Matheson: He seems like such a funny, good-hearted guy!
- My sister (always)
Many of your works play with light, texture, and layers: do you find parallels between mixing paint and mixing ingredients?
I don't actively think about the parallel between mixing paint and ingredients when I'm painting. I tend to slip into a meditative state and get lost in the process without thinking too much about the food in a literal sense. The stronger parallel is between the texture of food and the texture of paint. For example, when you look at my painting of butter, I want you to feel the urge to lick the canvas because you think it's actually butter!
If you could collaborate with a chef, brand, or restaurant to create an immersive dining-and-art experience, what would it look like?
- I would love to collaborate with Maldon Salt! Who isn't obsessed?
- A collaboration with Meredith from Wishbone Kitchen would be fun; I feel we would get along really well, cooking something delicious while sipping martinis.
- I would also love to partner with a grief/food/community organization to host a hands-on experience focused on healing. Food and art are incredible healers, and it would be meaningful to combine my previous work in Mental Healthcare with my art career.
What’s a food you think deserves more artistic attention?
I think anything found at the back of the pantry deserves more artistic attention: a can of maple syrup, a carton of molasses, or canned tomatoes. The foods that often get forgotten are sometimes the ones that hold the most nostalgia.
If one of your paintings came to life as a meal, what would be on the menu?
- Oysters
- Butter
- Wine
- Apricots
- Brie cheese
- Tiramisu
- Baguette
- Any pasta
- Cake
- Fresh fish
What’s your favourite way to unwind after a day in the studio: are you cooking something, pouring a glass of wine, or heading out to eat somewhere special?
My favourite ways to unwind are tackling a new recipe with a friend over a glass or two of wine, exploring a new bar or restaurant, or grabbing fried chicken and enjoying it on my own while watching The Great Canadian Baking Show. Can you tell I’m obsessed with food hehe?
What cocktail your practice would be?
My creative practice would be a classic martini. When you look at a martini, it might seem overrated, but when done right, you take a sip and it's absolutely delicious. I paint food/still life, which could also be seen as overrated, but I have a distinct style that makes it mine and it stand out, just like a really good martini.
When you’re working on a new piece, do you ever find yourself craving the foods you’re painting, or does eating the food come first and painting follows?
Eating the food always comes first; I take the photo and then paint the experience. While painting, it's not so much craving the food itself as it is craving the memories from that meal, whether it was enjoyed with friends or in a particularly beautiful place.
ARTIST PROFILE
Favourite snack
Fresh olive sourdough dipped in olive oil and za’atar
Favourite drink
Classic Martini
Favourite sandwich
Mortadella and Stracciatella on focaccia
Favourite thing to eat in the studio
Sushi
Favourite spice
Freshly grated nutmeg
You can always find _ in my fridge
Whole Milk
