Morandi Still Life

Morandi deliberately selected everyday objects, limiting these to boxes, bottles, jars, which had labels removed if they had any, in order to depersonalise the objects, painting them with a flat matt color to eliminate any lettering or reflections. He arranged and re-arranged these objects and studied their form and shape,using earthy, neutral colour to depict these almost abstract objects. Each object within the painting is observed for a long period of time in order to capture its essence. Colour and tone are balanced to create a peaceful mood. Light plays an important part in Morandi’s work and can either be subtle and subdued or bright depending on what time of day it was painted or in whatever lighting conditions. Paint has been applied in flat, even strokes within the background and foreground yet with detail to describe individual objects.

Morandi inspired oil paintings. I was encouraged to study a still life set up and spend time mixing oil paing to create the colours which could be seen in the still life. Paper had been prepared with an acrylic paint base of either a warm brown or grey. Looking at a predominantly cold palette with an accent warm colour and vice versa. These were small, slightly bigger than A5 studies.

The base of this work is a collage inspired by a drawing of a hat. I mixed egg with paint to create egg tempura and covered the surface of the work, scrapping back into, layering and over-lapping colour. I focused in on particular sections of interest which could form little artworks in their own right or become further developed in another piece. The final study becomes  landscape in nature and demonstrates how experimenting with composition can alter a piece of artwork.