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Still life was considered the least of the classical academic painting genres, behind landscape, genre painting and portrait painting, with history painting considered most important. My own painting has focused on three of those genres, still life, landscape, and portrait. Landscape painting done on site, called painting en plein air, requires a focused burst of effort and concentration before the light changes, the weather conditions change, or other unanticipated interruptions occur.  Portrait painting, if painting from a live sitter, involves pressure to get as much done as possible in a reasonable amount of time with little or no margin for error in capturing likeness and conveying character.  I enjoy both genres, but the effort required to stay “in the zone”, to concentrate on what is important and ignore the distractions, can be mentally exhausting.  With still life painting a lot of the time pressure and distraction is eliminated, and I find it peaceful and meditative. I can take my time, change the props or the arrangement, control the light, do as many studies as I want, and have fun, which is the best state of mind to be in when painting.  

The studies in this post are for a still life idea based on “earthen vessels”, a metaphor used many times in the bible. 

Initially, I placed three props on my shadow box and did a fast painting to get an idea of what kind of palette I would use.  The palette is dominated by earth colors like Transparent Red Iron Oxide, Venetian Red, Raw Sienna, Yellow Ochre; they resonate with the theme.  The full palette is Ivory Black, Cobalt Blue, Chromium Oxide Green, Transparent Red Iron Oxide, Venetian Red, Cadmium Red Light, Raw Sienna, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Yellow Light, Naples Yellow, and Titanium White. 

I arranged the still life to move from left to right, out of shadows.  The hammer emerges out of the shadows on the left.  I placed it so it added a vertical element as well as more psychological tension.  I drew a sketch in charcoal.

 I did not have a prepared canvas the same format as my sketch.  My 12x16 canvas panel was a little narrower vertically and wider horizontally so I could not place the hammer as I intended for this version.  The head of the hammer would have been almost touching the bottom edge of the canvas. I made several attempts to fit the hammer in vertically and had to wipe back the canvas each time.  Finally, I just lay the hammer flat.

I have a personal aversion to trace/transferring an enlarged drawing to a larger canvas.  I would do it if the situation absolutely required it but in general, I feel I should always be exercising and improving powers of observation and ability to compose.  This is vital if you paint en plein air when you do not have time to fuss around with that kind of thing and it speeds things up and loosens your painting regardless of genre.  When you are painting something for fun, why not exercise and improve your skills while you are at it?  Laying the hammer on its side helped the 12x16 composition but, I think the hammer works better placed vertically, as in the charcoal sketch, so the final painting will have to be done on a 16x20 or 14x18 (or I go with a non-standard size).  I'll eliminate the mug in the shadows too.  The handle of the hammer is enough.

My other current project, aside from prepping for my next workshop, is a larger, more formal portrait, but I hope to work on the final version of this still life soon.