The art of blending

by Tissa Hewavitarane

When faced with a group of objects for a still life painting, it's easy to choose and arrange them in a haphazard manner. The problem is we tend to choose objects that take our fancy, without stopping to think whether the objects will work together as a group in terms of size, shape and colour.

Many beginners seem to dislike the idea of overlapping objects. Everything looks steady and serious. Another common mistake in the design of a still life is to leave too much space around the group. It is important to compose a still life so that each individual element contributes to the total design.

When you have a group of objects in different sizes, shape and colour, it is vital that they relate to one another and that the spaces between the objects also make interesting shapes.

There is harmony and rhythm in the objects

Make a careful study of the arrangement of the objects before starting to paint to see how the overall shape of the group will look on paper. Look for points where objects can overlap, because this ties the objects and creates an interesting shape relationship. Try to repeat the shapes and colours within the group, because this sets up visual rhythms which the viewer will respond to.

Repeating shapes and forms can also unite and integrate the objects in your still life and prevent them from appearing too scattered. But beware of making these repetitions too regular, as this can lead to monotony.

Introduce subtle variations of size, shapes or tone to add spice to the design. Observe the still life painting shown here. There is harmony and rhythm in the objects. Everything in the group is organised well so as to carry the eye of the viewer on a 'visual' tour of the painting. Every object in the group shares a common theme.

They are all kitchen objects. The colours too are nicely arranged and tied together, with variations on the blue, orange theme repeated throughout creating a lively yet harmonious colour scheme.

The colour, brightness, and light of the texture can all be varied but essentially the process of valuation and modelling of the shapes is always the same. The valuation of the oranges is done with progressive tones of the same colour always conserving the same highlight as a reference for the volume.

To do the valuation around the shadows, luminous green and some orange are mixed. Still life is traditionally the pictorial genre that generates most interest. It can be practised from the moment you start with watercolours.