James Murch- Still Life - June 2008	James Murch - Still Life - July 2008	James Murch - Still Life - August 2008

An artist we featured in our Meet the Masters series – the Italian artist Georgio Morandi – painted the same few pieces of plain ceramic jugs and vases in his studio over and over during his career and they are some of the most sublime composition and color studies of 20th century art.

Back to the critique: In James’s three still life drawings his knowledge of the subject and the handling of materials, is progressively becoming surer in each attempt.

The June drawing has a wild and woolly feel but achieves good tonal contrast between extreme lights and darks. In a way it feels organic and expressive which I like. In terms of composition, you’ll notice how the two shells are both angled beside and in front of the bucket on either side to the same degree and covering the same amount of bucket which is not that visually interesting, composition-wise.

In the July 08 version the drawing has tightened up, has more control but the composition is off balance and over-weighted. The shell on the right has the uneasy feeling of something that’s about to fall off a shelf especially as one of its’ points is off of the pictorial surface. All three objects are portrayed more or less doing their own thing so to speak rather than corresponding with each other.

The apex of the spire of both shells, (the front point anatomically), are facing out either side of the pictorial surface as in the June 08 drawing while the base of the shells are back to back. It’s good to be aware that pointed objects such as these act like arrows, and we need to take care our subject matter is not directing the viewer out of the pictorial surface and away from your center of interest. You must contain the composition in harmony and balance within the dimensions you choose.

In the August attempt however, everything has come together. There is a quiet elegance to the piece; a sureness and professional finish with regard to the handling of the materials. The objects are drawn in proper perspective. Line and tone is much cleaner. There is a greater range of tone from darks to mid-tones to the lights. The negative spaces in and around the bucket and shells are more intricate and interesting.

A better sense of lighting the subject is now evident. The organic shapes of the shells are placed and lighted so that their outlines break up the large smooth shape of the bucket. Cast hard-edged shadows on the smooth featureless surface of the bucket are now creating more visual interest in terms of size and variety of tonal shapes. The shadows underneath and cast by the objects also serve to tie and weave all three objects together to form a more cohesive and harmonious pyramidal composition. They also serve to highlight the objects.

And lastly the shells are now placed in an interesting juxtaposition in front of the bucket and in relation to each other: One shell in frontal view and one in profile view; one just barely overlapping the bucket and one reaching slightly more than half way across the bucket creating interest and tension. Importantly, the apex of the profile shell is now pointing into the composition toward the bucket and other shell, and leads the eye into and around the subject matter and pictorial surface from left to right. The bigger shell’s apex point is looking directly at the viewer. Well done.