Still Life, charcoal & goodbye to grids... for now

We looked at a very brief history of still lifes.  How they evolved from being portraits of wealth to vehicles to develop individuals' visual language:  from photorealism to every other art movement we have given a title to.  
Still lifes are a low cost, accessible way to develop drawing and painting skills.

Willem Kalf (1619–1693), oil on canvas

Paul Cezanne:  Still Life with an Open Drawer 1877–1879 

Piet Mondrian:  Still Life with Ginger Pot (1911)

We approached ours by using a straight edge to enable measuring heights and widths by sight and determining differences from the vertical and the horizontal.  Once the drawings started to evolve they became as individual as those who made them.  

We went on to explore how charcoal can add depth by smudging and redrawing and finally we gave definition by carefully adding white pastel.

The finished pieces were "revealed" by removing the "frame" of masking tape. 

  

Beautiful results - well done everyone!

Next time we're going to consider how and why artists work in a particular way.  Plenty of room if you would like to join us...