After making my first Still Life oil painting, I was excited to try yet another one. As I discussed earlier in a blog, still life can be made interesting in a number of ways. Let’s unfold what all I did to make yet another still life in oil paints look interesting.
Choose your still life subject:
First I had to decide the main subject/s of the still life. As I was in my hometown Aligarh at the time, I had lots of options to choose from as my mother has collected lots of interesting objects over the years.
After considering many options, I decided to use a vintage vase with pink and red flowers as the main subject. This vase was studded with beautiful colorful stones and some intricate work. I took it as a challenge to replicate it as realistically as possible.
Plan an interesting still life composition:
As the idea was to make the still life realistic and interesting, I did the following things deliberately:
- I replicated the vase and the flowers realistically.
- Rather than keeping all the flowers in the vase, I dropped down few flowers down to make the painting more intriguing.
- Rather than giving the traditional wall/drapery background to the still life, I decided to use my blocks signature style in the background.
- As the foreground had curves, I introduced blocks with curves in the background so that it could sync with the foreground.
Make a still life using oil painting techniques that apply:
Next I started coloring. I placed the objects of study in a spacious and convenient room. Idea was that I didn’t want the objects to get disturbed and I can pick up from where I left in my next sitting.
First, colors were blocked in and the background and foreground were worked upon till they felt refined. I have to say that the vase took most sittings and I enjoyed replicating the vase most. Scratching technique was used to replicate the intricate work of the vase.
You can also notice that all the colors used in the background are similar to the ones used in the main subject. This was also done deliberately to get more unity and synchronization in the painting.
You can notice that some portions of the still life used alla prima and some used layering technique. Additionally, I also used scratching technique on the vase. Idea is to study your subject well and decide which techniques will serve your subject well. You can also play with techniques if the answer is not obvious initially.
Painting can be humorous at times:
One funny incident happened when I was painting this still life. As I told, I had deliberately kept some flowers down in the set up. My father was passing through the room where this still life was set up. As he was not wearing his spects, he confused one of the flower kept down as a candy wrapper. He took it and threw it away.
Later, when I came back for another sitting, I counted to realize that one of the flower sketched on the canvas was missing from the actual setup. I inquired and we all laughed at what happened. I made the necessary adjustments later on.
Give finishing details to your still life oil painting:
Observe your subjects more closely and keep refining your art. You will know when its time to stop if you are clear about what you want. If you are not an intuitive person, step back regularly to look at your painting from a distance. This will help you gain a wider perspective on your painting.
As this painting reached its finishing stages, it looked more refined and classy. The flowers looked fresh, the vase looked elegant and the background was captivating. It’s a painting that could make any place more beautiful instantly.
P.S. This painting is now sold but you can still view it in gallery or ask for a similar artwork by contacting me.
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