stilllife tutorial

Medium: Colored Pencils - Prismacolor

Support: Ampersand pastel board - sand colored surface

Blending Stump (various sizes - from small to large)

Drafting Table / Easel: It's important to keep your work at an angle, this will help you keep your perspective.

Electric Pencil Sharpener: I always use Boston - Exacto (they last forever).

Patience and Time: Working in this medium you will absolutely need patience. Free time on the other hand is something that I strive for because it's often very hard to find.

I really haven't created very many still life paintings (unless you count the old art school days where I had to do a least two per week). They are something I've always enjoyed from other artist, particularly because if created properly, can really tell a story. Which is what I am trying to do with this painting. I chose to portray a violin and surrounding music themes because music is and has always been a big part of my life. I always try and portray subjects that mean something to me so that a part of myself is stamped on the final work. For those of you who don't know, I've been a practicing musician (guitar) for the past twenty eight years. The violin has always been one of my favorite instruments and believe it or not, I'm going to be taking lessons in the very near future (never to old to learn). I would love to play the violin on the same level that I play the guitar. Anyway...on to the tutorial

Like I've mentioned in my other tutorials, the outline is of utmost importance. I always start with a clean outline. Make sure to check ALL of your proportions in the your outline before you start to apply color. If your proprtions are off, then no matter how well you paint the image it will still not look quite right. So take extra time to check your proportions. In my other tutorials I was using an illustraion board as my support. In recent months I've been using board. The board that I use is called: Ampersand pastel board. This board was designed for pastels but works equally well with colored pencils. The only downfall to using colored pencils on this support is that the grainyness of the board tends to eat the pencils up alot quicker. With this being said, I still prefer to use this board rather than paper. One reason being is that when your work is complete, you can frame it without using a mat or glass (money saver) and if you like, when your work is complete, you can give it a few coats of varnish to give it a glossy oil painting look. The varnish will also seal your pigment and protect your painting. Colors blend beautifully on this support. The tooth in this support is massive. You will never wear it out. The grainyness of this support is due to the marble dust that is coated on top of the board (which is masonite).

Before I started this painting I had decided that I wanted to give this painting a warm antique feel that would be inviting to the viewer. Before you start any work it's always a good idea to decide what you want your painting to say and what emotion you want to be prelivent in your work. Color is an outstanding tool to use to envoke emotion in people. So keep that in mind when chosing your pallette.

The colors I chose for the background are: dark brown, kelp green, yellow ochre, light umber, 90% warm gray, terra cotta, and black. I only used black in the darkest areas making sure to mix other colors with it. Black by itself is flat and lifeless.

As you can see from the above image. I've work in all of my values from dark to light. Lay down your darkest areas first and then gradully work your way to your lightest color. In this case the lightest color is: yellow ochre. Once you've reached this point it's time to go back over the entire background again this time using more pressure. At this stage you are not burnishing yet, you are just filling the tooth a little more so as to make burnishing a little easier. Once this is complete, it is now time to put down your pencils and go and find your elbow grease because your going to need it, especially on this surface:) Burnish the area until you can hardly see the color of the board. After you've accomplished this and your arm isn't too sore:) it's time to take out your blending stumps. Blending stumps work really well on this surface. They do a great job of further blending your colors together. Make sure to use small circular motions with your stump when blending. It's actually a good idea to use small circular motions from the very beginning when burnishing. This technique helps your colors blend into one another much better than if you where to use a back and forth motion. So keep that in mind when burnishing and when blending with a stump.

The reason I say "semi complete" is because once you start your forground you almost always need to go back and make adjustments to the background so that the background and the foreground compliment one another. I will go back and add lighter areas to the background once the forground is close to half finished. I always start the background first. One reason being is it's seems to me to be the logical thing to do:) and second, it will help you adjust your foreground colors so that the entire image will gell together. In order for your work to have unity you must repeat your pallette over the entire painting. You'll notice futher down the page that I've used the same colors on the foreground that I used in the background. The reason the foreground "pops" from the background is becasue of the lighting.

As you can see there is quite a bit of detail in the foreground. I always try and keep the background simple and leave most of the detail for the foreground. This, along with lighting, will help your foreground "pop". The same seven colors that were used in the background are also being used in the foreground (unity). If you apply your colors correctly, you can acheive quite a lot with a limited pallette.

In this painting I'm trying to convey a sense of peace and tranquility for the viewer. As you can see I've titled some of the books: peace, serenity, book of dreams, and tranquilty. Even if the viewer doesn't absorb these works when looking at the painting consciencely, they will subconsciencely. Art to me is special because it is a great tool that can be used to help people lift their spirits. The greatest compliment I ever recieved was from a person who told me that when they looked at my work, a calmness overtook them and they were better able to handle life's challenges. That was a great thing to say. I'll never forget it.

Since the violin is obviously the center of attention. Special care must be taken in order for the violin to be the star of the painting. To help draw the violin even closer to the viewer I rendered it in a color that stands out as the warmest from the other colors (terra cotta). Also note the placement of the violin in the composition. It is in a third. Keeping your main focus in a third of the overall compostion will help lead the viewers eyes around the entire image so that the eye doesn't get stuck in one place. You'll notice in other areas I've placed terra cotta very subtlety. I did that to help the foreground unify with the main subject. You may notice that I've gone back to the bacground again and adjusted the values so as to help unify the background and the foreground. I've said it once and I'll keep saying it "Unification is the most imporatnt element of any painting".

As you can see I've finished the violin (well except for small adjustments I'll make to it as I go) To create the violin strings all that is needed is a white and yellow ochre pencil and a straight edge for those of you like me who can't draw a straight line:) I started with the yellow ochre pencil being careful not to press down to hard in the shadow areas and then went back over that with a white pencil being careful to emphasize the highlights. That's really all there is to it.

Once the paper scrolls are complete I will go back and add sheet music to their surface. Only one scroll will have a song title. That title will be the name of this painting. I think in doing this it helps to give the painting another level of personality.

I thought about putting candles in the candle stick holder but then decided it would have taken away from the violin and also take the composition to an unfriendly place.

After working on this for the past two months or so, it's finally finished:) I tried to make the lighting in this painting as dramatic as possible in order to give it more interest and to make the main elements as interesting as possible.

Well, this brings my third tutorial to a close. I sincerily hope that this tutorial helps you in creating your own still life paintings. If you have any questions please feel free to email my studio.

All the Best,

Scott