Coco’s Soul Food

As a special birthday treat we went to Coco’s Soul Food which is a restaurant in Preston that sells the most amazing Mexican, Caribbean, Cajun and Mediterranean food. Inspired by the colourful beach cabana style interior and the wonderful food I created this page.

I mixed up Liquitex Acrylic paints to produce the orange and blue green paints which I first applied with a baby wipe randomly on the page. Then I applied these paints with a sponge using a brick and also a wood design stencil by Creative Sensations. These colours and textures represent the blue green wooden panels of the interior and the orange brickwork from their menu, the orange also reminds me of the colourful and yummy sweet mango, chilli and lime sauce that I had on my salad too. I fussy cut the palm trees from an old magazine, which took a while, then I stuck them to the page using Liquitex Matte Gel Medium. Once the medium had dried I used a black Uni Pin marker to add more details and definition to the palm fronds and trunks. I printed the logo and image from the front cover of their menu and I fussy cut them out. I stuck the image down using a UHU Stic and the same matte gel medium along the edges, and then I enhanced the detail using a black Uni Pin marker and a white UniBall gel pen. Next I applied the glittery flower shapes which are rub-on transfers by Royal & Langnickel. I stuck the logo to a piece of card and edged it with a black Sharpie permanent marker, then I outlined the wording and dots with a black Derwent Graphik marker and adhered it using double-sided foam tape. To finish I added four postage stamps from my hubby’s childhood collection from Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica and Greece; they represent the Mexican and Caribbean dishes that we had, the buildings on their menu cover which look similar to those on the Trinidad and Tobago postage stamp, and the delicious looking Greek Salad we saw which had us reminiscing happily about our holidays/vacations.

As this page provides a tour around this amazing restaurant, I’m pleased to be able to join Hazel who is hosting the “Magical Mystery Tour” challenge over at Art Journal Journey.

Coco’s Soul Food is an unassuming place, which is located in the University quarter of Preston and we had previously noticed it on our way to the Chinese Supermarket and have always wanted to try it. So we went for my birthday and I have to say we were not disappointed and plan to go back again and again!The interior was so cheery, this is the ground floor and it was like sitting in a tropical paradise. There was limited seating downstairs and although I managed to get a shot between people being seated, the restaurant was very busy.  They have more seating upstairs and do takeaway as well, the menu and specials board lives up to their strap-line “flavours from around the world” not only do they have Mexican, Caribbean and Greek inspired dishes they also have Cajun as well.

The food was absolutely amazing! I ordered the Tropical Mango Chilli Chicken with a side order of Sweet Potato Fries, which seem hard to come by in restaurants in the UK.

 My hubby ordered a BBQ Chicken Burrito Coco Style, and in actual fact we ended up sharing these dishes as we both wanted to try them and they tasted so delicious. As T Stands for Tuesday and we had a pot of green tea with our meal, I’m saying a big hello to the T Gang and wishing you a Happy T Day!

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Christmas Green, Navy, Cadmium Red medium/Lacquer Red, Cadmium Yellow Medium)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (White)
• Sharpie Permanent Fine Point Marker (Black)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Black 199)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Uniball Signo gel Pen (White)
• Creative Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (SYN1470G)
• Printed copy of menu
• Old magazine
• Postage stamps – Mexico, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Greece
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic
• The Range double-sided foam tape