How to Set the Mood for a Still Life Painting
- 1). 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.
- 2). 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.
- 3). 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.
- 4). 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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