📖 The Quote
‘We only see what we look at. To look is an act of choice.’ - John Berger, Ways of Seeing
✏️ The Sketches
Find three objects at home and arrange a Still Life composition.
Sketch 1: One-Liner
Draw the composition in one single line stroke. This is known as a one-line drawing. Try not to lift the pencil at all.
This is a good exercise to train hand-eye coordination.
Sketch 2: Patterns
Draw the composition as you see it but only hatching the shadows. Use vertical, horizontal, and crossed lines. You can practice drawing lines with our very first Sketch Club assignment :)
This will help you focus your attention on the light and the volume.
Sketch 3: The Cubist
Sketch one of the objects in plan, the other in elevation, and the other in isometric perspective, while keeping the same compositional arrangement.
This exercise will free you up from the rigidness of perspective. It will help you look harder.
Sketch 4: Upside-Down
Mess it up! Keep a similar composition but rotate and flip the objects. Free sketch here! Or try again any of the previous techniques.
This exercise will free you up a little bit more from the subject you already know.
* If you’d like to try Sketch 4 in advanced mode, flip the objects only in your mind, and not in reality, keeping the normal composition. This will improve your visualisation skills.
💡 Some Thoughts
Why are Still Lifes1 so popular among artists?
Still Lifes are compositions of everyday inanimate objects that surround us. Artists assemble them together so they can practice their craft, whether drawing or painting. I believe they are popular because 1, the subject does not move (still) - so the artist can take as long as they need to practice, and 2, they are familiar, everyday objects - the subject is known (life).
Still Life compositions are great for practicing different sketching techniques and styles.
You can tell an artist’s style by just looking at their Still Life drawings, paintings, or photographs. The sketch exercises above are just a few suggestions for constraining your practice, but you could also design your own rules to practice drawing, even introducing colour. Or you could also practice copying other artists’ styles on your Still Lifes to learn from them.
Find your personal ‘Still Lifes’ and draw them over and over again.
If you are a designer, these could also be buildings you like - although the scale will obviously not allow you to re-arrange any composition! The point of the Still Life is to practice with a known subject. Over, and over again.
🖼 The Artist
I got introduced to Giorgio Morandi’s work by reading John Berger’s ‘The Red Tenda of Bologna’:
He [Morandi] could have been an architect too, wouldn’t you say?
Yes, an architect.
Or a tailor!
Yes, a tailor. Did you like the city?
It’s red, I’ve never seen a red like Bologna’s. Ah! If we knew the secret of that red… It’s a city to return to, la proxima volta.
Morandi’s Still Lifes are subtle compositions of colour, sometimes not following an accurate perspective and using different planes of representation, sometimes getting closer to abstraction. He also produced patterned drawings, like the exercise we did above.
I personally love all of them.
💫✏️
Happy sketching!
Ana
Have you tried this week’s sketch? It would be great to hear about it! Please, leave a comment and share your thoughts down below :)
For those of you who also love languages, I find it fascinating that in Spanish, ‘Still Life’ compositions are known as ‘Naturaleza Muerta’, which literally means ‘Dead Nature’ in English.
I love the phrase "Naturaleza Muerta" too. I love even more that Frida Kahlo called her still lifes "Naturaleza Viva" -- Living Nature -- as a challenge to our ideas of living and dead nature!