Painting a Still Life

 A composition is the way an artist arranges the lines and shapes in his artwork. These lines and shapes form pictures or designs.   An artist can arrange his compositions to show portraits, landscapes and still life pictures. A still life is a work of art that shows a group of objects placed together that are not alive. The objects in the still life form the subject. The subject of a painting fills the positive space.  The rest of the picture is the background. This forms the negative space.

This year the 4th - 6th graders created their own still life paintings.  First they chose the objects that they wanted and set them up to be photographed.  Using the photographs, each student created a drawing that later became a water color of his or her still life.  When they were done painting, each student chose a partner to compare and contrast their still life with.  In their journals they wrote about these comparisons and reflected upon their own work as well.

Here is a link to a short video of these young artists at work.   https://youtu.be/8nAgktJtdR4
Enjoy the show!