Charcoal Still Life

This still life studies the composition and emphasizes the light and dark values. To create this piece, I took what I saw from a colorful still life and accurately converted it into a monochromatic value drawing. Charcoal is one of my favorite mediums to use, so I really enjoyed this process. The area of the still life I chose to focus on was this lovely plant, kettle, and pasta ladle. I paid close attention to the values of the vase and its fluted sides, as well as the pasta ladle’s curving prongs. The process of this piece included redrawing the forms of the objects several times in order to get them as accurate as what I was observing in real life. Both subtractive and additive marks were made; I used a kneaded eraser as much as I did a charcoal stick in order to add dimension. The most difficult part to execute was the fabric. Its wrinkles, folds, and movements were challenging to capture in a static end product. The kettle is one of my favorite areas because of its implied curvature solely from value.