“The Still Life Workout”
Most art students absolutely dread still life art projects and complain bitterly about it being dull and boring. After all, still life artwork is just drawing or painting a collection of random, inanimate objects in front of them. But what they are really feeling is the discomfort of having the artistic challenge of depicting objects as they really appear. We never think about how hard the still life makes us work as artists. There is no escape from what we see and there is nowhere to hide if our skills are not sharpened.
I like to think about still life as a “work out” for the artist. It’s like a 20 minutes of weight training followed by a 40 minute run. It summons all of our perceptive and artistic skills to function at the same time. Think about what needs to happen from start to finish within a still life piece. We first need to establish 3D space in which our objects will exist. We need to render the shape and form of objects and the spatial relationships between each item. There is also the problem of depicting the right amount of light on objects and capturing the cast shadows. Let’s not forget the surface texture of things and, if we are painting, the color of objects and the reflections of colors in other objects. All of this is done on a flat white paper or blank canvas. So we are really “working out” all of our artistic abilities at the same time on one project. Just thinking about it is exhausting, but it’s oh so good for us artists!
Students heading into art schools must do several “workouts” in art class because still life drawing is an essential part of a portfolio for art colleges. It is the first and most fundamental type of artwork that colleges and universities look for in your portfolio. Some require at least four or five still life pieces! So my advice to art students is to do a few stretches, grab that pencil and start working out!
Jennifer Noel, Art Instructor
Art I, II, III/IV Honors, AP Studio Art