[^ Still-life with Bowls and Citrus. charcoal. 10×14″. © Bullock Online 2013]
“Unity is necessary because without it our minds and eyes are worried by disorganized muddle. Some shape and pattern has to be imposed; things have to ‘hang together’. On the other hand without variety, our second need, our eyes quickly become bored and lose interest.”
– Bernard Dunstan, Composing Your Paintings (1971)
Still-lifes offer the great advantage of being able to compose a painting and work on it at one’s leisure under what is pretty much a perfectly controlled situation. The objects, the lighting, everything. Fruit and flowers wilt but can be replaced. Overall, it is pretty ideal.
Composition skills are especially important in still-life subjects, in my opinion. I went about composing this with two aims — to disrupt all these round shapes while keeping visual balance. Ellipses are something I am still struggling with a bit, evidently.
But it is fun and productive to grab a few things from around the apartment, and to put something together, and to get some pencils or brushes to see what comes of it.
Just have to get better at those ellipses.
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