How to paint a still life with flowers and fruits

Greetings to all my dear friends! 

Today we are going to paint a funny picture – the merry company on the windowsill. The main characters are a few pots with the fragrant bloomy plants and several juicy ripe pears are catching a few rays together with them. Each of the heroes of our composition has its own character and distinctive features. At the same time the pears and the flowers in the pots get along well with each other, have their own places under the sun and harmonically complement each other.

So it is quite easy and very interesting to paint this positive picture.

Let`s start our still life art lesson:

I intentionally did not completed the video titles with the list of the paints you would need during our art lesson because here everything is quite clear and understandable:

• a few shades of blue, violet, white, brown, green and yellow medium;
• also you will need the decorative acrylic paints: bronze and;
• the synthetic brushes of the small size, a palette knife
• a notched trowel
• a small roller
• Moisture the canvas with the water well.

Here is the free painting lesson video explaining how to paint a still life:

The first stage of our acrylic art lesson:
Apply the background paint on the central part of the canvas.  Do it with the dense paint using a palette knife. I have chosen the light beige shade for the background. This color can be made by mixing the White, the brown and a little yellow or you can simply buy the paint of the necessary color, for example the «wheaten» color of the Idea paints will be good.

Apply the background paint in the centre leaving the edges of the canvas untouched and resembling the frame.

After the paint has been evenly applied, take a notched trowel and press it against the wet layer from up to down. Make the unhurried and wavy movements. You should press down the paint with the teeth of a trowel creating the beautiful and unobtrusive texture for the background where we are going to work further and to paint the main heroes.

Until the paint is wet, you can model it and make corrections if necessary. If you do not like the texture you have created, you can remake it. In this case you should sprinkle the background with water from the airbrush and smooth over the «pattern» with a big brush or a palette knife.

Let`s come over to the next stage of our acrylic art lesson online. When the central part of the background with the texture is ready, start working on the decorative frame located directly on the canvas. Take a big palette knife and apply the big and very pastous brushstrokes to the different sides similar to those you have done with the trowel. Create a kind of friability and roughness.

In order to create the volume relief «frame», you can use the texture pastes which you can find in every art shop. I have used the mix of dense acrylic Titanium White and a little bronze. Thus I have got almost the same as the texture paste.

Let the background paint dry up.
And now we are coming to the next stage of our art painting lesson. Let`s start working on the picture with the blooming herbs and pears.

I am left-handed, that is why I start painting from right to left. The right-handed people should first paint the objects located on the left and gradually move to those which are on the right side.

Begin your work with the old iron pot. Cover its surface with the glossy paint: the bronze – at the bottom and the blue – on the top. Probably, this pot used to serve as the big tin cup for its master in the kitchen.
So now we will help to decorate the kitchenware with the blooming houseplant and the bright blue color.
Everything is very easy in the acrylic painting. You should move gradually from one object to another, from one color to another, from one detail to another.

I think is not necessary to describe in details how to paint the pots with flowers or the pears.
In short: first, apply the background and then outline the shaded part of the object adding the White to the background paint. In order to create the smooth transitions from one color to another, try not to be slow. You should work until the paint is wet or not let it dry up beforehand moistening the canvas and the palette with water.

Mark the patterns and the bright flecks when the paint has slightly dried up.
If one of the brush stroke happens to be failed or too clear, you can immediately remove it with a clean brush dipped into the water or wipe with a clean cloth.

Here is the next stage of our drawing art lesson. You should start painting the herbs in the pots with the brushstrokes of the darker shades and finish with the brightest and lightest shades of green mixed with the white and the yellow.

Paint the lavender flowers and the flowers in the pot on the left with the different shades of blue, light blue, violet and white.

Deliberately scatter the pears between the pots. Each of the pears is turned to the audience and to its «friends» somehow in its own way. Give the different shades to the pears: add more green to the first one, more yellow or ochre to the second one or add a slight blush to the third one and so on.

Add the shadows to the background with very rare brown paint. Finalize the shape of the windowsill with the mix of white and a bit of brown.
Highlight the key moments and draw the fleck and the shadows on all the heroes.

At the last stage of our fine art lesson you should improve the color of our «decorative frame» on the canvas. Make the brushstrokes with the bronze and the gold over the applied texture following its shape as if you are giving shadows to this relief frame.

After you have outlined the «shadows», make the light mix of white, gold and water of the consistency of the very liquid sour cream. You can mix the rare paints on the palette or in the special container which usually comes with a roller. Certainly, you can mix the paints in your own ways and find the shade which you think to be more suitable. The main thing is that the paint should be semitransparent and not too dense. Then dip the roller into this mix and carefully cover the «frame» with the paint making the light movements.

That is all. Our unusual still life is ready. And our still life art lesson is over.

I wish you good luck and new success in your creative work!