Still Life

These observational still life paintings are of the back corner next to the stove in my kitchen at home. The objects in these paintings, the cutting board, fruit bowl, utensils and oil bottle have all lived there since I was little. I didn't set up these still lives, but simply observed how they were on two seperate days, reflecting the slight changes of life from day to day.

These paintings were accomplished using a base layer of watercolor, without a sketch underneath first. Then, I used colored pencils and a white gel pen to create stronger shadows and brighter highlights, making the lines in the paintings really pop, as well as adding the texture of colored pencil on watercolor paper.

In these two pieces, I tried to focus on shadow more than getting the shapes of the objects completely spot on. I wanted to capture how the light played with colors on the cutting board, and I didn't focus as strongly on the lines created by the utensils in the jar.