SUNDAY WORKSHOP September 20th 2026. Still-Life - drawing and dismantling a still-life. Being influenced by Picasso and Shirley Trevena
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The Picasso drawing on the left shows a simple still life but you can begin to see that there was more going on then a simple still life and he is including some of it into his drawing. It gave him a way of dismantling his image and creating movement in the composition.
In the past we’ve talked about extending edges through a drawing, finding a reason for an edge (maybe a window or door, or something on the opposite table) and extending that edge in an enigmatic way through the composition. It doesn’t mean you find the whole window, door etc., you pick up a useful edge from it for the purposes of your composition.
In the right-hand drawing, Shirley Trevena has used pencil and colour pencil – she too is a master of picking up enigmatic edges and extending them through her composition. You can see how she has amalgamated both still-life and background without ‘finishing off’ either.
Below, in Shirley Trevena's watercolour, look for the enigmatic edge travelling through the teacup and the fruit in the bowl and then on up through the vase behind - a beautiful painting!
You’ll need drawing things including pencils, colour pencils, watercolours and good cartridge paper plus a still-life. You’re going to make several working drawings for a finished painting in the next session – an intense project to include pencil drawing and mixed media drawing ready for creating the painting in a subsequent session.
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