The Difference Between Landscapes and Still Lifes

It looks a bit like a dinosaur came along and
threw up in the middle of this scene.

Showing more simplification.

With a still life it’s important to include what’s there. I’ve composed it and lit it to my satisfaction and the objects need to look like what they are (since my style is realistic art). However with a landscape, drawing what’s really there is disastrous. Here are examples of what I mean. Trees in a landscape are full of complexity. Each trunk has multiple branches and each branch has multiple leaves. Drawing that causes the artwork to look busy and confused as in the first sample. The second sample shows some simplification of the tree on the left. It actually looks more real than the more complex one towards the right. The third example is the most successful because I’ve simplified it to the essence of the tree’s architecture, using shapes of light and dark. 

Finally, something
with a certain elegance.

The difference then between a still life and a landscape is clear. One can be representative of what’s there and the other, due to shifting light and shadow as well as complexity of form, must be simplified to be successful. Then the beauty that is inherent in a scenic view can come through in its depiction.

Note: these three drawings were done with Cretacolor fine art leads. I don't have a relationship with that company. I just like these leads when I sketch in the field or in the studio.

Using Copper Reflections in a Still Life

Copper is a great element to add to still life pastels. Depending on lighting, how tarnished it is, or whether it picks up reflections from other objects, copper can assume many different co Copper is a great element to add to still life pastels. Depending on lighting, how tarnished it is, or whether it picks up reflections from other objects, copper can assume many different colors. I like the color red and I can always find a way to work some red into a copper still life pastel. Being metallic it usually has a vivid highlight picked up from the lighting. I can use that as an anchor to build the design of a pastel painting around. People invariably love bright reflections on a metal surface. It’s attractive to the eye and it gives the viewer a place to start, before looking at the rest of the painting. In other words copper in a stil life makes a great center of interest. Here’s an example of one of the many still life efforts I’ve done involving copper. It’s available for sale and the contact information to learn more is pmcreedon@optonline.net or visit my website: pecreedon.com

Camelias by Paul Creedon

When Editing Photos for Reference...

I’m not too finicky about the color however, and I don’t lose sleep over whether the printout is terribly good. It’s just a jumping off point. If the reference is too good, it can actually limit my options.

Some might say that perfectionism is a virtue, but in my case I think it is anything but. The need to have everything as good as it can possibly be starts to feel like a curse after a while. It makes me contend with guilt issues if I don’t put in every blade of grass and every leaf and every bump on every tree trunk.

Yet if I have learned anything about making a good piece of art, it is the absolute need to leave a lot of things out. Even better, learning to leave the right things out.

Perfectionism pushes me unwillingly toward a sort of hyper realism, but experience and knowledge pull me back toward the abstract, used as a method to correct the tendency to put too much in. After all, to abstract something from a whole is to take it out of that whole.