Artist's Drawing & Inspiration
Still Life: The Working Process
This fruit looks way too good to eat!
STEP ONE
Spend time arranging an interesting assortment of fruit and objects in a pleasing composition. Remember to choose things that have colours that are complementary to each other. Check your colour wheel. Reds and greens together, yellows and purples together for example. Think then about where you want your light source to come from - where the highlights and shadows will fall.
The shadows and highlights become a major part of the composition.
When you are happy with the setup, draw it lightly onto your paper using a soft pastel pencil. I find Sennelier Pastelcard is a good paper to use. It is a soft cork substance that is not too harsh on your fingers when blending. It also takes many layers of pastel.
STEP TWO
When placing your pastel painting on your easel, it is important to lean the top of the painting forward (not the usual way of leaning the painting back) so that the pastel dust falls forward off the painting and not down onto it as you are working. This method keeps the painting much cleaner.
I use an assortment of brands of soft pastels. Schminke would be my favourite and the brand I use most of - so soft and velvety. I do however use quite a few Rowney and Art Sprectrum colours as well.
STEP THREE
After completing the drawing, roughly scrub on the background colours breaking the pastels into pieces about 2cm long and using the sides. The background in this painting is very dark. I cover the whole area lightly with Schminke Black then over the top of the black I put Art Spectrum Flinders Red Violet Dark. I find this is a beautiful vibrant dark colour and when blended livens up the dull, plain black. This mix will be the darkest colour which I will retain for the shadow areas.
Now all other areas need to be lightened so that the shadows stand out. For this purpose I used different tones of Rowney Purple Grey over the top of the Black/Red Violet mix. Blend all the colours together with your fingers just covering the edges of your drawing. This is the way to achieve a soft velvety finish. This can be a messy business and you will have to wash your hands thoroughly on many occasions throughout your pastel session so as to keep your painting clean. Keep all the dark shadow edges fuzzy.
STEP FOUR
Start working from the back of the painting and come forward. After the background has been ʻcoloured inʼ, choose the object that is furthest back in the composition. In this case the jug. Firstly colour the whole jug in white. Then put the shadow colours on top of the white. I have used the same colours from the background (Flinders Red Violet and Purple Grey) as the colours of the shadows on the jug. I limit my palette as much as possible and by using the same colours throughout the painting you get a harmony throughout - it brings the painting together. Shadow tones can be deceptively dark so be quite bold when applying the colours over the white. Avoid using black for shadows. Black tends to make your colour-mix muddy and dull. Blend colours together on the paper with your fingers.
STEP FIVE
Next the fruit - once again starting with the furthest back. Also, once again, I have used the background
colours for the grapes, continuing to bring the painting together by using my same limited palette. I have blocked in the darkest grape colour a mix of Black and Red Violet over the entire grape area. Then I come in with my lighter tones of Purple Grey, noticing where the light is touching each individual grape.
This lighter pastel makes them look spherical and 3D. Blend all the colours to make the smooth finish. Continue with the rest of the fruit in the same way - putting all the colours down on the paper, blocking in the general shape and shadows first, working in the finer details later.
STEP SIX
The reflections are the next thing painted in. Notice the reflections on the semi-shiny vinyl tiles I used for a base in the ʻset upʼ. I use these tiles a lot in my set ups because I like the subtle reflection they give - not too shiny. Choose the pastel that is the colour of the object, and put a small amount of this colour on top of the already painted in background colour just where the reflection is to go.
This way the background colour is picked up in the reflections when the blending is done. Also the reflections are dulled back with the background colour which make them look like reflections not merely a mirror image.
STEP SEVEN
Now the last fig can be painted in to sit on top of its lovely green and red reflection. Once all the objects are in place, it is time to begin the long slow process of perfecting everything, including fuzzying some of the edges that are towards the back of the painting or towards the sides of the painting.
Sharpen the edges of the objects that are most forward or the centre of attention of the painting. Correct any strange shapes, making sure all shadows are in the exact place. Correct areas that are too dark or too light.
All this is done by walking well back from the painting and just looking and adjusting and looking again.
I also have a large mirror on the wall of the studio where I can clearly see the reflection of the painting I am working on. A mirror reflection gives a different perspective of the artwork. Mistakes that need to be fixed tend to be more obvious.
FINAL STEP
The last thing to be done is the highlights. All the shine on the jugs and fruit. These are usually done with pure colour from a clean pastel - one stroke just where you notice the light is hitting the object. It is the bright highlights that make the painting ʻsingʼ.
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