Still lifes are a foundation to many other disciplines of art. But to truly understand and embrace the lasting beauty of the stillness of life is the bedrock for this most important module. Jessica takes you through a very simple approach in this first lesson with a simple arrangement of a couple pears and grapes. The emphasis of this first study is to open our understanding to working from life within our visual constraints. Plein air studies allows us a massive amount of freedom to choose and variables to rearrange, but still lifes require of us a more dedicated effort in capturing the truth of the peaceful beauty before us.

In this video, Jessica takes the still life journey up a bit. It is not enough to copy the scene, but to render what moves us about the visual statement before us. While Jessica is demonstrating how to compose the elements on a canvas, discussing balance and compositional concepts, she narrates to the viewer the importance of painting light and creating a sense of movement in the painting. Brushwork, edges and background air are other elements discussed.

Special effects are something that keep painting a still life fun and engaging to the viewer. In this video, Jessica demonstrates how to add steam to a cup of coffee, the shimmer on a copper pot and the slick wet feeling on a raw egg. 

The last two videos in this still life module demonstrate working on a still life to a more complete finish. Again, playing with the idea of painting special effects, Jessica works out the play of light on glass and opalescence. This lesson number four begins with the foundation and the blocking in of the values and essence of the image. 

In this last lesson, Jessica demonstrates finishing a high key still life, putting the finishing touches on the opalescent objects and creating a scintillating feeling to what would otherwise be flat colorless areas.