Still life Drawing Number Four – a Lemon

This will be the last drawing of this particular lemon. It’s been interesting to do four of the same subject. Although all four drawings are necessarily similar, each one captures a different moment in the life of this lemon, and has a slightly different character.

For this drawing, I placed the lemon in a shadow box I rigged up out of an old cardboard box, sitting on the floor. Shadow boxes do control the light nicely, and help to clarify the tones by cutting down on the amount of reflected light in the shadow areas. When I have the time, I’ll put up some pics of the box and how I’m using it. It’s basically a simple cardboard box about two feet high, wide and deep, with a bottom, back and one side.

It’s struck me that, apart from tone, I’m also dealing with composition a lot in these drawings. I’ve heard it said that it’s difficult to create interesting compositions with three or less objects. I disagree. I think nice compositions can be created with a single object, like this. The angle of the lemon, where it’s placed in the picture plane, the folds of the cloth and the pattern of the shadows have made this simple drawing quite a complex composition with plenty of dynamic.

I like the yin/yang effect of the darks and lights. It would make a nice small painting I think.

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