My still life drawing

I have decided to go back to school to further my education. Tried to register for photography course but unfortunate Sutton Coldfield College does not conduct this course. So been advised to take Foundation Arts and Design.  As I have not taken any art course before so I am confused  and blurred for the first 3 weeks then from then on I started to understand and picking up as I go along with the courses.


The courses are intense  and every 6 weeks we have 6 different topics such as contexture  art, drawing. fine art, photography, textile and photoshop. I enjoyed and love all the subjects as we are been teach at the foundation level.  I love my drawing as from I can't draw to I can to draw.

Today, we are been told to drawing still life by using Artist David Tress method of drawing.  By using different media to make into a artwork. David's painting is landscape but he used different media  in his work.

The above painting is David Tress painting. Today the media for still life were leaf, hand made mushroom and shell which is opened in the middle.

I used a A1 white drawing paper then glued it with different types of papers  such as black and white tissue papers, brown wrapping paper, tracing paper, black drawing paper, plain brown paper.   Some portion of the paper covered with one layer or more layers of different papers while other is just plain without any layer.

I used the willow charcoal to draw the outline of the still life then used the charcoal to paint on it. But unfortunately the charcoal and pastels which I used to paint on the image look very flat and uninteresting.  So I concentrate painting on the tissue paper which represent my leaf with acrylic paints.

I applied 1st layer of  orange acrylic paint on it first then added another layer of dark brown on it and highlight with white acrylic paint.

This portion is make out of 2 layer of tissue papers. I change the brown/red mushroom by adding another layer of white tissue paper on it. Paint with brown acrylic paint and red then white as highlight. It does look better and not so flat.  As for the shell I change the pastel color with acrylic paints then darken with black to give the depth.

Finally, I used the charcoal to shaded the background and use tissue to drip with water and go over the charcoal.  As for the table, I used the white chalk to go over the charcoal  and the negative spaces.  The mushroom needed  to darken with brown a bit but unfortunately our half day lesson is over and the paint is still too wet to add another layer on top of it.

I am quite happy with this drawing as it create different depth with the layers with different texture. It give this painting a  3-D effect.  Also my friend, Mandy, she is painting the same media as mine but her painting/drawing is totally different from mine.

 Mandy's drawing from the same still life display.

I love and enjoy this drawing lesson as every student produce different image from the same still life. It is quite fun and interesting as when we finished our works and look at each other paintings. We gain a lot from our tutor and our  drawing sessions.

Photos Supplied : by Catherine Suen
Date: 11.11.13
Drawing: Still Life