Friday 1 April 2011

Artistic explorations: Still Life (1)

Whenever I started with an art course, the first thing I was being confronted with was a set of different tools and/or things attentively placed in a certain composition on a table in the centre of the room. In 1989, when I first enrolled for a course, my instant reaction was when entering the classroom; "ohh no, not THIS, it's soooo boring, I don't like this at all, what am I doing here, etc.??" The same thing popped up in my head when I started my course last year at Aberdeen Art School.

The moment I put my pencil or brush on the paper, however, these thoughts seemed to become less prevalent. The longer I was working on a certain subject (e.g. bottles, cans, bowls, fruit, cloths, modern and medieval etc.), the more I started to appreciate this exercise. We were learning about how to interpret colour, tone, contrast, composition, perspective and proportion and how to eventually transfer this information as accurately as possible into artwork. Even though still life still doesn't thrill me, I can now see it's so helpful to further develop my creative skills in the areas I'm passionate about. As a matter of fact, I just signed up for the course Abstraction that will cover more of still life, so I'd better get used to it!

Here are some samples of still life drawings and paintings I did:


Still life Etching ©Fenfolio 1989



 
Still Life Drawing ©Fenfolio 2011




Still Life Collage ©Fenfolio 2011

Sometimes I had to take a photo of the composition so I could finish the exercise on time!




Still Life Painting ©Fenfolio 2011

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