Mill Park Heights Primary School

Still Life

How To:

Cirriculum Focus:

To develop an awareness of what types of objects could be used to create a still life composition and how these are positioned.

Outcome Statement:

To be able to produce a series if images using different mediums. To manipulate the art elements of line, shape, colour, tone and texture within their drawings.

Materials required:

Black lead pencils, sharpener, eraser, coloured artist chalk, white cartridge paper (A5, A4), black A3 paper and a series of objects (flowers, fruit, bottles)

This series of lessons was designed to assist students with their drawing skills as well as help them with developing their still life pictures.

• Students looked at a number of still life pictures drawn or painted by adult artists.
• They discussed the choices of objects used and how the artist arranged these within their compositions.
• The students used black lead pencils to draw their initial objects.
• We started with different types of fruit-apple, pear, orange, lemon and grape shapes were drawn.
• Outlines of the fruit were filled in with tonal and textural pencil effects.
• After the fruit shapes, we used different shaped bottles and finally flowers.
• Once students were satisfied with their efforts, we began to reproduce the same images in coloured, artist chalk.
• Different effects were created when the students were able to blend the coloured chalks to create tonal colours.
• At this stage, the students had only drawn single images.
• To create composition they would need to learn about positioning their objects.
• Students started to create different combinations of objects to be drawn. They grouped bottles and fruit together or bottles and flowers together, or one group, set up a bowl with fruit.
• Looking at their compositions, the students had to determine which object to draw first.
• Spatial awareness was emerging. They decided it was best to start at the front and work to the back so that all objects would fit.
• They returned to black lead pencils and A4 paper to develop their still life pictures.
• Students had been working on white paper up until this stage.
• To add an extra challenge, black A3 paper was provided for their final effort.
• Students used artist chalk and had to enlarge their pictures.
• They explored different ways of applying the artist chalk while developing tonal and textural effects.

Copyright 2004 Zart Art & Zart Education Service