How I Paint a Still-life

Pear and Silver,  11 x 14 inches, oil on canvas

                                Available at DPWs

Blue Plate Special, 12 x 16 inches, Acrylic on canvas

                                          At Bishop Gallery, FIA, Flint Mi June 2014

Thought I would share a peek at how I work on painting a still-life.  

One of the most important things I do to start, are small drawings of a still-life set up.

The drawings helps me plan the composition to work from.  Even thought I have a physical set up, deciding how I want to approach the painting really begins with the rough sketch.  

The drawings are tonal, white, grey and black, three basic values.  I do several of these drawing focusing on areas of the set up I find most interesting. Once I pick a favorite it used as a guide for my painting.

In this case I did four drawings, and ended up with two different painting. For one painting I followed the colors present in the set up and focused on the pears. 

For the another painting I went with more earth tones, and work directly from the drawings.  I also utilized my color charts to help with the colors.  

Drawing in a key part to painting because it give you a foundation to work from.  Drawing is not just for paper and graphite.  If you want to paint better, take time to draw.  Draw with pen, ink, graphite, and paint, especially paint.  Quick sketches with a paint brush helps build skill in handling a brush, and can create some very interesting pictures, also.

Mary

Schiros-Art