Here’s another finished painting exercise for the Evolve Artist course. This is Block 2, number 18. Now the drawings are more complex, I’m spreading them out over more than one session if I feel like it, so I’m getting slower and slower as this block goes on lol
Evolve Artist Block 2, #18 – Bowl and Food. Oil on canvas.
Choosing objects for my still life box has been a bit of a challenge in this block, especially as I’m always decluttering and don’t really have ornaments or lots of random things lying around. I had to buy some geometric shapes and a few other things to use. Each exercise is meant to be slightly more complex than the last, so we have to choose things are aren’t too simple or too difficult for the level, and also at this stage we can’t use anything that’s shiny, transparent, patterned or textured. I like animals, food and abstract shapes, so I’ve included them in my compositions. Of course setting up a good composition is another skill in itself, and I think that’s why my Block 1 paintings (which I painted from photos provided by Evolve) overall look a bit better than my Block 2s, which were painted from life. But it’s definitely more fun to paint my own ideas! 😀
For this exercise I used some more of the fake food I bought, along with a bowl that I think is really too reflective for this stage. I simplified the reflections, rather than trying to add every little detail, but despite that I think the bowl is the worst part of this painting (especially as I got one of the values wrong!). I took a couple of attempts with the drawing for the marrow; foreshortened objects still sometimes throw me off a bit.
This setup wasn’t my first choice for this exercise. I originally started drawing this weird cat money box that I have, which I thought would make a cute painting. But I quickly realised that trying to measure perfect proportions for every little detail of the face, stripes etc was going to take much more time than I wanted to spend. Our compositions and objects used are supposed to be a bit harder with each painting, but I think I overreached with the cat. So I went with this more boring food-based arrangement instead, which still felt more challenging than the last exercise. There are plenty of mistakes as usual, but overall I quite like it and am happy with my progress so far in this block.
See all my Evolve Artist paintings here.
