Just another...ooh Shiny....Still Life

Good Wednesday everyone! Hope you all are ready for art post 2 of 3 because it is here! Today's art post is another Drawing 2 assignment. We had to pick a portion of an already set up still life and render it in colored pencil or chalk pastel. Once again, I picked colored pencil. This piece had to be completed on colored paper, I picked black. Are you thinking...boring? Wondering what the awesome "college-level" catch is? Well, the still life was made completely out of shiny objects. I suppose that could be considered a tad bit difficult.

I enjoy painting and drawing shiny objects...to me they are easy. Draw the shape. Find the lightest lights. Find the darkest darks. Fill. Ok, ok, so it isn't really that simple, but pretty close. Anyhoo, here is the angle I was working from:

I picked this spot because of the colors, the red object's "roundness" and the Christmas balls. They are always a lot of fun.

Working from the actual still life and my photo references I started my project, carefully drawing it with pencil and then painting it in. I then mapped out where all of the lightest lights were. See...the objects are already looking shiny!

Notice the lighting change? Well, I actually completed the painting in a hotel in Kauffman, Texas. My family and I went to the Canton Trade Days the weekend before the project was due, so it got to tag along. I loved making the red object! The colors and the curves were all really intriguing.

One of the most frustrating parts about shiny objects is that it is difficult to make metallic objects. You don't want to use a metallic colored pencil because it will look extremely out of place with all of your other colors, so you just have to start in one place, make the marks you see and step back and hope that everything came together. See the reflection of the red thing in the silver vase?

For some reason I did not take a picture of the final piece, but I will upload it when I get it back from my professor. As you go about your day find something shiny and study it. Find the lights and the darks, it is kind of neat when you realize that they are all just shapes inside a big shape. Have a great day, and remember...it's the random reasons.