Still Life oil Painting with Kim Shannon
Saturday morning and I find myself zipping along the highway headed to Huskisson to partake in some long awaited intensive still life painting. I have booked myself into two blissful days of painting with the incredibly talented and humble artist Kim Shannon.
Early morning Huskisson is fresh with the smell of the ocean and a warm sea breeze, a pleasant relief after the past week of soaring temperatures. When I arrive at the venue the breeze has dropped. A reminder that another warm one has only just begun.
As we make multiple trips to and from our cars to unload the tools of the trade ,the anticipation of an exciting day of losing ourselves in the realms of creativity surpasses any other thoughts. A scattering of multicoloured drop sheets, vessels of all shapes and sizes overflowing with assortments of brushes , boxes and trolleys are scattered around the room. Stacks of blank canvases are primed ready for our artistic interpretations .
Our tables are set up and we each spread our materials according to our own idiosyncratic habits. Being an excessive organizer, I was quite satisfied with my neat and orderly work space. Bunches of lillypillys, proteas, and paper daisies, jugs, bottles, shells, cups, vases and all manner of possible subjects for our still life arrangements litter the space around our tables. Hurrying to set up so that we can squeeze in our much needed fuel for the day, coffee, we chat and make introductions.
Kim began the day focusing on Tone and Composition. Tone being the use of lights and darks and composition is how we place shapes within the picture plane for those not sure of the terminology. Much discussion, looking at other still life artists and some valuable trade secrets which were freely shared has us trying to control our eagerness to begin.
With some expert advice and great tips when working with charcoal, Kim set us cracking drawing on paper with charcoal, paper stumps and erasers working from dark to light. We repetitively simplified our composition and set limitations of the elements to more easily create balance and harmony. So much concentration that we were surprised when Alison suggested a lunch break.
In the afternoon we began using oil paint and Kim generously revealed strategies for developing our compositional still life studies and different ways to approach tone. We initially painted monochromatically (one colour in a range of tones) working from dark to light ,then progressed into a limited palette (just a few colours) working wet into wet. If you have tried oil painting you will be aware that this technique can easily result in MUD.
But we were all rather pleased with the day’s achievements and I found the process that we worked through extremely helpful .It seemed logical, simple and provided an abundance of strategies for developing a well composed, unified painting. The end of the day clocked round in no time at all without a thought for the heat or tiredness.
Day 2 we changed direction into a high key tonal painting (the lighter end of the spectrum), with a limited palette, limited shapes and limited tones. This simplicity created very subtle shifts in tonal relationships and the emphasis was analyzing how tones sat beside each other. A further development saw us work with more colour and a still life subject of our own choosing .We had been painting all shapes and sizes of various vessels up until this stage. The more adventurous moved onto new subject matter, but I just added some fruit for colour.
Kim structured the workshop expertly knowing how to guide us to focus on one to two elements. This is a great way to work so as to understand why we make the choices that we do, and how each of these elements affect the overall composition and end result of a painting.
As we were finishing up and cleaning up the mess that started out so organized, Kim began to unpack a huge assortment of her own exquisite still life examples . She spread them out on the table and allowed us to salivate over these luscious paintings. It was a wonderful example and a delightful opportunity to witness the potential possibilities of all she had taught us over the weekend.
I would highly recommend these art workshops for a fresh perspective on your own practice. The experience has certainly stimulated me to begin painting again.
Thank you Kim and Alison for a most enlightening, warm and friendly weekend of sharing art.
http://www.artworkshopsatjervisbay.com/