LESSON PLANS SUMMER TERM 2024 (2nd half). Lesson 1: View with Still Life

Getting back to thinking about lessons, projects and ideas after my travels! In this project I'm asking my students to put together a still life with a view. In this lesson we'll concentrate on the still life but we'll be aware that we'll need to accommodate a view through an imaginary window. Both truth and imagination will come into this project.

Summer Term 2024 (2nd half) Lesson 1: View through a window with still life.

·         For this lesson we’ll be concentrating on the still life. Place your bowl of fruit, cloth and any additions in front of you.

·         Think about where you’ll place your still life within the boundaries of your page because later on you’ll be putting in the background (the view) and the still life will want to accommodate the view.

·         I’m not looking for ultra-precision – I’m looking for something a bit looser, at least to begin with. You can work entirely with pencil or you can start your drawing with pencil and move to colour-pencil if and when you feel like it.

·         Very loosely draw your subject. Use a loose (and continuous) line and be ready to correct or change things.

·         Gradually add shading when you’re clear about where things are. Continue shading with pencil or move to colour pencil.

·         When using colour pencil, think about the tones (dark tones, light tones). Use a mix of dark colours to make the dark tones. Check the edges of your fruit, they will be both light against dark and dark against light. Check for those places where the edge’s relationship changes from one to the other.

·         You can see in the example drawing, the bowl was brought down and to the left just enough to accommodate a view.

Next lesson: finish this drawing with its landscape. Bring watercolours. If you finish the drawing with time to spare, you’ll make a rapid watercolour study of the whole image using some wet-into-wet watercolour. (If you preferred you could use soft pastels.)