Fall still life, shop watercolor paintings
Posted on by Inesepaints

Fall still life: time just flew by

Still life has it all

Still life has been my most favorite subject ever since I can remember myself. I love setting up some fruit and arrange some leaves, flowers and jars, so that it looks exactly as I like. Still life allows capturing everything that is important in a painting: proportions, values, direction of light and shadows and contrast. Still life is essence of art.

Time constraints

Time is rushing us so badly that it sometimes feels I just wake up and go back to sleep. At least, I got this feeling recently. Along with doctor’s appointments, household stuff, daily meals, cleaning, laundry, classes, preparation of new images and painting steps, preparation of hand-out materials, advertising, social media posts, two huge medical writing jobs: that meant there was no time to paint. Although, my show is coming up and this is a gift season for which I should have been preparing. Well, I am trying to do my best.

I put up a few decorations yesterday, and I had to give a class later, and that was it. The day just disappeared again. Anyway, I’m posting a watercolor still life which was done about 3 weeks ago,

Daily duties and art

I hope my duties will somewhat balance out during the upcoming weeks and I can get to things which I really want to do: i simply would love to paint more. I love just setting up a still life, drawing and painting it.

Starting painting for a class is not quite the same: I have to take into account all distinctive levels of skill, and we often have absolute beginners, so that painting is just an illustration for what I am saying while teaching.

Showing is definitely better than only telling about it. It is very helpful also that I can see and correct things which are usually problematic for students: very little paint, too much water, completely dry brush, dirty brush, putting too much pressure on brush and similar basic issues  which frequently arise when starting to paint.

Common beginners’ mistakes

One thing which is always wrong when painting in any medium and using any subject is trying to paint with tiny bits of paint or not having paint on a brush. We have to be generous!

I think,  generous people also have much better results when creating art, they simply are not that much afraid of wasting anything. That certainly helps!

About this particular painting

I had started it while traveling to Latvia. I had two apples and some beautiful leaves. I created a composition which felt like I needed to add something more to it. Since I didn’t have pears and grapes, I simply drew them in. I just got the first layer, and didn’t get back to this painting until I arrived back in Canada. It looked quite terrible as first rough layers only.

Starting to paint first layer

So, Thought what can I do about this painting because it looked promising and I loved the composition. I added background, quite a few layers, but don’t have any pictures, and after a few layers of extra washes, it came to life and started looking great.

Apples and pears, still life

Autumn fruit still life, 16 x 12 in or 41 x 30.5 cm

Feel your subject

For me, painting a still life means to become my subject and to feel its energy. I feel like the apple in this still life, or like the pear, or even the leaf. I love soothing and warm colors. That is best achieved when using not a photo, but real things. I will also not stop painting until the still life feels right to me.

Painting takes time. You should be ready to spend on a painting at least a few hours here and there, so that disturbances, interruptions or other activities are not a problem. I just didn’t get this chance recently, but I’m looking hopefully to the future.

Fall still life

Closer look at the central part

Reasons to paint still life

I intend to draw and paint more still life paintings. Why? I cannot frequently get out into the nature, but things to use in a still life setting are always easily available. I believe drawing still life is as good practice as drawing faces or scenes with figures. The main thing is: we teach our eyes and brain to see and perceive.

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34 Replies to “Fall still life: time just flew by”

  1. I know the feeling Inese.. so good to catch a post from you.. Hope all is going better with you my friend.. And that is one beautiful painting..
    Sending thoughts your way and Yes I HAVE to make TIME for some painting, its been calling me now for weeks yet each day time seems to have me beat too..
    Love to you my friend take care of You..
    Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.. xxx Hugs Sue xx

    Reply

    1. Thanks Sue! Well, they put me back on antibiotics for 1 more month. It’s better, but not completely healed.
      It’s very sad that daily routines and different stuff take us away from what we love, could and should do! I know you’ll get something done.
      Class is starting soon, so I will return much later or tomorrow!

    3. I hope to get past this eventually, it would be so nice to go somewhere South and take a swim which I haven’t done for the last 3 years because of injuries.
      I hope I will sell more paintings. I just sold a few and realized I didn’t take any pictures of them.

    4. arrgh for not taking pictures of them.. I hope you soon get a warm holiday break away.. Its been 4 yrs since I last went abroad and we used to go somewhere every year.. Now I am exploring the British Isles more.. Scotland I love and went again in October.. Not warm.. but very beautiful.. 🙂

    5. It is so good to get away for a while, well, I’m not sure it will happen this year, but I certainly love that. Your pictures and notes are very interesting, any place we explore has so much more than meets the eye. Latvia was very cold, rainy and windy when I was there, but like I said before, my goal was to visit mom, and so I did because it was her 86th birthday.

    6. What a beautiful age… 🙂 And I am pleased you got to visit your Mom.. She must have been thrilled to see you..
      Sending much love your way.. And I hope your healing continues to progress xxx

    7. Big age, and it’s good when one has no health problems. Mom was very happy, and leaving was extremely tough.
      I have huge problems with doctors, it’s impossible to get an appointment when I need it, so the wound keeps falling back and returning to previous stages. The health care is just so bad, everything very slow, no communication; and I’m wondering how is everyone in 21st century, but Canadian healthcare still in the 70th of the last century? Because that’s how it feels like. Major problems with getting prescriptions, major problems with getting to a specialist, and, meanwhile, there is no real improvement of the condition. Better, worse, better, worse, that’s how it goes.

    8. I can see why many travel to the UK and why often our NHS is bursting at the seams.. I honestly can say its far in advance of what I hear from you and others who live in the USA… I am very thankful of it being here when and if we need it..
      It saved my husbands life in 09 without their quick response to his condition and internal bleed, he would not be here today.. xxx

    9. Good you were acting rapidly because fast response is all we need quite often.
      I’m in Canada, I think our health care is even worse than the USA. I got in this trouble because I thought, I’d be ok, but I should have gone to Latvia. The health care system is so slow, and it is sort of “let’s wait and see how bad it can become” treatment. I was in shock when the appointments were scheduled like once in 6 weeks, once in 7 weeks. What happens in between? Everything. It just goes from quite good to very bad and then returns to acceptable which can turn into totally unacceptable condition. That’s why everything takes years. I don’t remember if you read on my other blog about my extremely bad experience, but I just read it one more time, and here I am: half a year later still struggling with the same issue. Just because I was unable to see a doctor when I needed and during the month which was spent waiting, the wound became bad again. It starts to seem endless and such treatment feels useless. https://inesepogalifeschool.com/2016/07/18/the-inappreciative-patient-and-my-lost-summer-pleasures/

    11. I really appreciate that because you are one of these not that many people who READ articles.
      I sometimes think: so much time and efforts go into creation of many posts, and only a few bloggers actually read them.
      Students quite often ask questions which are all answered in this blog: how to mix color, how to apply it, how to get started and what to expect. It is even hilarious how inattentive people can be. It worries me that many are just good with asking questions and not thinking AT ALL.

    12. Yes I am afraid it is the way of the world today Inese.. No one listens but to themselves.. which means that only a few of those who follow us actually read.. Many follow just so you will follow them back and then when you comment can just click the like and not even bother to respond…
      I have just been in the process of clearing out a section like that. 🙂 .. I know I often miss a few posts of many whom I follow because I follow a lot.. but I do try to respond to those I see.. Sending much love xxx

    13. I completely agree. I’ve noticed especially recently, there are quite a lot of followers who did not follow up on nothing in the future. You are right, maybe I will need to also review after a while all this stuff. We can see implications of listening to nobody else, but oneself everywhere: total lack of tolerance, disrespect to other opinions and, finally, ignorance. It’s also like this: if I like something, I cannot stand anybody who doesn’t like the same thing that I do. Meaning, everything must be one way. I am embarrassed when I see that on news, for example, CNN news. Such a lack of objectivity.
      I am also trying to respond and to like back and all of this, but it feels some people want to take advantage even of that. Nothing is perfect, but thanks to nice people like you and lots of other bloggers in our circles, blogging is a great thing to do.

    14. Yes there are Many Great friends here on WP.. but you are right, I see how self centeredness is rife within our world right now.. Caring for nothing other than themselves as greed is the prime instigator .. I feel we are on the Cusp of change though where by a real wake up call is going to shake people up to what is the real values in life.. xxx Love and Hugs xxx

    17. Well, it’s a lot of work, not too much pleasure, unfortunately. I don’t get to paint at all which is the only thing I would love to do. Still class tonight, tomorrow night and a few next week. Setting up and working on my show on Dec 16, 17 and 18. So on, attaching lights, using hammer and drill. I was also cutting spruce branches, getting some soil for arrangements when there will be time to do them. I’m usually very happy when preparations are over.

    1. Thanks Diane! Very busy, I was totally exhausted for 2 weeks while doing my medical writing, there was no time even to eat because I had very many pages to type. That’s done now, and, hopefully, I won’t need the second surgery, it’s hard to say at the moment, but I’m really really hoping that won’t be necessary. Strength is back and some energy, too, so, things are much better now.

  6. Pingback: Drawing and painting improve mental health and cognitive abilities

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