This week we will talk about still life and why there important in the art world and some helpful tips to paint a still life:

Still Life is an important genre for every artist; through it you explore line, composition, value or tone, space and nearly every type of texture, just to begin with. It can be the foundation of your art practice, or a complete and fascinating subject in itself, plus many of technical problems in painting can be resolved with Still Life practice.

If you study the Masters – both modern and classic, many works are Still Life paintings. In other works, Still Life plays what you think may be a minor roll, but as you begin to study them, you begin to realize how important it is to the painting as a whole. Artists such as Giorgio Morandi dedicated himself to working with Still Life throughout his own life with the enigmatic results still delighting viewers today.

Still life maybe difficult for some but it takes practice. When starting a still life, I start with a quick sketch of the still life with a small, hard-edged brush, bearing in mind proportions and perspective. Drawing diagonals on the canvas helps me keep the composition’s key elements in focus. Once I’m happy with my sketch I lay down basic colors.

The I choose what direction the light source is coming from. This is a delicate phase because choosing colors similar to those that our eye perceives can really make a difference in the success of my painting. With a large hard-edged brush I sketch lights and shadows, noting that with a cold light I have warm shadows tones. This is just some helpful tips on making a still life stay tuned until next week!