I have officially completed the still life painting!
Here’s an review of the whole process:
My reflections on this process:
- Persistence is key! There were a few times where I wasn’t sure what I was doing but I found that the key to overcoming creative blocks or confusion was to choose just one small part to focus on.
- Sometimes it was best to take a break from a particularly challenging element and work on something else instead.
- No matter how messy things look at first, the beauty of paint is that you can always just paint over things if you don’t end up liking them.
- It is essential to have the background and base layers in good shape before you move on to the more detailed or complex parts in the foreground!
- If you are going to use fruits that will go rotten, don’t spread your painting out over a month and a half.
Things I would like to try in the future:
- Having a better understanding of where the light is coming from and making more realistic shadows and highlights
- I know I just said I wanted more realistic shadows, but I also want to experiment with more impressionistic or abstract works.
- Perhaps a more complex background
- Using gel medium to add texture