Throwback Thursday #4 - Some still life... (2002)

It's been a long time since I sat down to work on a still life of any sort, and to be honest, I'd forgotten that I'd done any until I came across some old studies while tidying my studio space a few weeks ago.

I thought I'd share a couple of examples with you for my Throwback Thursday posts. At first glance I was surprised at how good they were , as I don't really remember myself as being that good at doing still life studies (I just don't have the patience lol)...

Bottles and wool, pencil sketch, 2002

This one is from a beginner's art class that I joined at St Helens College. I really like the effect of the reflections of the glass bottles. If you look carefully I have managed to capture the students in the class room, all sitting around the bottles attempting to draw them.

There are of course lots of things wrong with the drawing that I can see now, including the awful texture on the wool (I think i was running out of time by this stage, having spent most of my time on the bottles). My symmetry on one of the bottles looks quite off too but overall I'm quite chuffed with this early effort.

Still life with carnations, acrylic on canvas paper, 2002

This study was done in acrylics on canvas paper - something I'm very used to working on now but wasn't back then, so I was struck by my handling of the paint here. It's surprisingly good considering my lack of work in acrylic or on canvas back then.

Looking at these two studies has encouraged me to have another go at still life. I'm thinking I might set up a little vignette in the coming weeks and have another go - probably in acrylic again, or maybe a digital work to begin with...

Watch this space for a still life update...