Watch Jackie and Sherrie discuss one of the wonderful films in The Artists Guild Library. Tackling a still life isn’t as difficult as you think. The main featured image inspired this painting demonstration.

Learn about how the still life was set up, and why Sherrie set it up the way she did. She talks about what inspired her choose this image, how it became a little bit of a different idea and why she loved the challenge. Sherrie chose the emphasize the dark sake jar jug. Get a better understanding of those choices and the complexities of the colors and background to make it work. The idea is to keep it simple and then something like the flowers, can easily be part of the shapes, light and overall painting.

The demonstration is geared toward an emphasis on composition, Sherrie shows how to deal with an idea where a complex background commands attention. What inspired this idea was this Oriental rug with an ornate, colorful design. But in order to get the rug to stay behind the objects in the foreground, the main still life props needed to create strong and simple shapes of light and dark.

Tackling a Still Life Idea

This idea was one Sherrie originally came up with in her painting, Cameroon Rice Basket. For this demo,she borrowed this basic idea but changed it by substituting different objects to achieve the same effect. She painted it with the understanding that was gained since painting that first iconic idea.

If you’ve ever struggled with making a background go back and the foreground come forward, this is a must-see video. Become a member of The Artists Guild to watch this amazing demonstration. It was done in only two hours in front of a live audience in Santa Fe, New Mexico.