Mixed Media Still Life

At the point in the year transitional primary students had already dabbled in a variety of medias/materials such as drawing, painting, and clay.  For this unit, we decided to use more than one type of art material in our work, which we learned was called MIXED MEDIA.  We started off by taking a close look at still life's from french artists Paul Cezanne and Henri Matisse.  We compared his paintings and discussed that they were similar because they both featured fruit, some sort of bowl or basket, and were arranged on a table.  When asked why different artists were using similar imagery in their work, students quickly discerned that these were objects readily available to artists at that time and most likely found in their home.   We discovered a STILL LIFE is when an artist creates a artwork of objects that do not move or are not alive (inanimate).  Then, we brainstormed what could be considered part of a still life and what would NOT be included in a still life. We came to the conclusion that if it could walk off the table, it would not be in a still life.

Still Life's from the Masters

Still Life with Basket of Apples, Paul Cezanne, 1890-1894

Still Life with Apples, Paul Cezanne, 1890

Still Life Compote with Apples and Oranges, Henri Matisse, 1889

Before we started on our own still life's, we reviewed the difference between drawing from IMAGINATION (drawing from your brain) with drawing from OBSERVATION (drawing what you see in front of you).  We even had time to create a still life from imagination to get warmed up.  For this project, students were going to be sharpening their observational skills and increasing the scale their work. Our young artists started with 18" X 24" paper and ZOOMED IN to the fruit on their table, first painting the shapes in black.  Next, students adding in a HORIZON LINE to make sure the fruit did not appear to be floating and added in any shadows they saw.  

After the paint dried, we were able to bring in our color mixing skills from earlier in the year by only having the primary colors at our disposal.  Finally, for the last class we brought in the mixed media aspect by adding in oil pastels.  At this point, students were able to enhance their painting with the cray-pas and add in details such a table cloth pattern (that was from imagination) or areas of  light hitting the fruit.  Some artists even added in a window and curtains (it was very hard for them to fight the urge of not have a sun in the corner of these paintings). 

Student Examples