How to Set the Mood for a Still Life Painting
The process for setting a mood for a still-life painting is mostly one of making choices. Every choice you make when you paint, from the time you spend setting up your subject to the time you spend painting, will establish an atmosphere or mood that the viewer will internalize when seeing your art. To set a specific mood for your still-life paintings, you need to make every decision deliberately, carefully and with the mood of your painting in mind.
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Instructions
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Set up your subject in a place where you can easily see it. The subject will go a long way toward establishing a mood or atmosphere for your painting. By choosing objects that are beautiful and brightly colored -- objects such as flowers, balls of yarn and toys -- you establish a light-hearted atmosphere. By choosing objects of intellectual importance such as books, maps, writing utensils and manuscripts, you establish a mood of serious thought and introspection. All objects have a specific meaning and connotation that they will bring to the painting. If you're having a hard time choosing the mood of your painting, ask yourself where it will be hanging, and contemplate your current mood.
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Choose your lighting with care. A painting with deep shadows will have more mystery than a painting that has been flooded with light or has multiple light sources.
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Choose your palette. Cool colors such as blue and purple can create a feeling of peace, calm and depression. Colors such as red, orange and yellow create feelings of excitement, passion and over-stimulation.
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Paint in a mode that is appropriate to the mood. If you want to establish a feeling of meticulous and careful planning (appropriate for an academic and or intellectual still-life painting), use small brushes and careful strokes. If you want a mood of expression and creativity, your brush strokes may be quick, highly textural and impulsively applied.
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References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages /Polka Dot/Getty Images
