Still Life in Oil

Simplification of form and colour is the fundamental starting point of any good painting.This is a video about creating a still life painting in oil paint. It is aimed at novice painters, or anybody that wants to review the basics.

The focus is on how to start a painting with the basic relationship of shape, light and shadow. Details and elaborate colours are always left for the end of the painting. 

Here are a few video stills that mark the important stages of the process.

Drawing

The drawing is done with a fine round brush and oil paint that is thinned with mineral spirits. This makes it easy to wipe away mistakes or change the drawing. 

Block-in

The still life elements are initially blocked in as simple geometric shapes. Directional lines are used to gauge the proportions of the vase and the angles of the pears.

Drawing

After blocking in the shapes in the desired proportions, the drawing is refined into more realistic forms.

Colour

This is the colour block-in stage. Much like the drawing, colours are initially blocked in using a simple value structure for light and shadow. It is important to take the time to ensure that there is sufficient contrast between light and shadow because this structure will determine the intermediate values that will be used in the later stages of detailing.

Colour block-in

The initial focus when moving to add colour is the light shadow structure. Simplify colour mixing to two tones for each area of the canvas.

Finished painting

Compare with the image on the left. The colour structure is refined by adding intermediate values and refining the shapes.