Kitchen Table Fruit & Wine Still Life

Here's a recent still life drawing I created in my kitchen. Often the kitchen table is full of fruit and other kitchen stuff, so I grab my chair and look for a composition that I like and I start drawing. I might move a couple items but not too much because I want that random everyday living or everyday kitchen table feeling.

I have fun creating these drawings, they are challenging because there are so many shapes and the drawing page gets full. Hopefully my drawing can communicate clearly what I see.

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Sweeney Todd and Still Life Drawing

Not too long ago, I was hooked on listening to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince while I created my still life drawings. Now while I draw, I’m hooked on listening to the Sweeney Todd movie sound track, The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street. This movie is directed by Tim Burton, with actors Johnny Depp, and Helena Bonham Carter. I’ve seen this movie, it’s intense! But the soundtrack I find pleasant to listen to and has a good tempo for me to create art.

So I listened to Sweeney Todd sound track while I created this piece. The scene is from my mom’s kitchen. Most of the objects were already there, I added a few items and took some things out to simplify it. What caught my attention in this scene was the tile, I like the effect tile gives my drawings, and I also like how these objects are together but don’t relate.

But the main reason I sat down to draw this scene is that it tells a story, there is a lot going on. The toys, tomatoes, cleanser, windowsill, faucet and tile gives us clues and a feeling of what day to day living is like in this environment.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE, GRAPHITE ON PAPER 14" x 17"

Kitchen Countertop Still Life Drawing

This is one of my favorite still life drawings. I've been wanting to post this one for a while. I like it when I create these types of drawings, they are really busy and fill the page.

Now, I believe there is a very important part to these types of drawings that brings everything together and helps make it successful and that is in drawing the tile pattern.

I discovered the beauty of tiled kitchen countertops when I lived in an old house in El Monte California. That's were I first started drawing kitchen scenes and where, for the first time, I sketched in the tile in my drawing and made an amazing discovery! The tile pattern visually added an amazing feeling to my drawing: it filled the page, it added a better scene of perspective, it placed the still life items on a solid foundation, and most importantly, it added a stronger three dimensional feeling.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE, GRAPHITE ON PAPER 14" x 17"

Drawing Still Lifes in the Winter Season

I've been drawing a lot of still lifes. I could easily post 2 drawings a day, 7 days a week for this whole month with just still life drawings of fruit and kitchen scenes. One main reason I'm motivated to draw a lot is the weather. I'm in Toledo Ohio and the weather out is bitter cold with snow so not much to do outdoors for me but work inside on drawings during the day when I'm not working on illustrations. I am grateful for the weather, it's making me produce a lot of work and I notice my drawings skills are improving.

Well, just got done shoveling snow, and more snow is expected for this evening so I'm going to sit down and draw a still life.

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