A Kitchen-Table Still Life Checklist

A kitchen table is a complete studio. The checklist below is the difference between a pile of interesting things and a subject you can draw before the tea goes cold. You do not need rare objects. You need one light, a clear overlap, and the honesty to remove the spoon you are not going to finish.

Light from one side

Turn on one lamp, or sit so the window is to the left or the right, not straight behind the objects and not straight in your eyes. A second strong light cancels the shadows that explain the forms. If the room is generally bright, move the objects away from the rival source until you can point to a single shadow direction.

Look at the cast shadow on the table. It should be readable, not a puddle from three directions. Shadow Colour: Studio Temperature Mistakes can wait until paint is involved. For a drawing, a clear dark shape is enough.

Fewer things, overlapping

Three objects are plenty. A cup, a piece of fruit, a folded cloth. Let them overlap so they occupy one group rather than a row of portraits. Give one of them the larger scale. Scale: Letting One Element Clearly Lead applies to apples as much as to posters.

Move them before you draw, not after the outlines are wrong. Thumbnails: Planning a Painting in Small Boxes takes two minutes and saves the arrangement that looked good in the hand and dead on the page. Crop closer than you think. A field of empty table is not automatically space. Sometimes it is indecision.

Ellipses, then the big tones

Any round rim is an ellipse. Check the axes before you shade the cup into permanence. Drawing Ellipses on Cups, Plates and Wheels is the repair if the rim is a lemon. A still life with a bad ellipse looks wrong even when the shading is careful, because the object cannot sit.

Then reduce the light to three tones: the lit side, the middle, the dark. Squint until the pattern appears. Value First: Why a Grey Study Saves the Painting is the same gate. If you cannot see three shapes, the light is too flat or the objects are too similar in tone. Change the cloth, or move the lamp, before you hunt for detail.

A last look from the doorway

Stand up and look at both the table and the drawing. The large mass should agree. The shadow should leave the objects in the same direction. One edge, the rim or the fold, should be the sharp note. If everything is equally described, erase a little detail rather than adding more.

Clear the table when you stop, except for the note on the page: what the light was, and which object led. Tomorrow's setup can be different. Today's drawing should know what it was.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need expensive objects? No. Kitchen things have familiar ellipses and honest wear. A cracked bowl is a better teacher than a spotless ornament you are afraid to smudge.

What if I only have overhead light? Overhead light shortens shadows and hides the side plane. A cheap lamp to one side, or a window, will teach more. If you cannot change the light, choose objects with strong local contrast, a pale cup on a dark book.

How long should the sitting be? Long enough to place the large shapes and three tones. An hour is plenty for three objects. A second hour of texture is optional, and only if the first hour holds.