When many of us think of the term ‘still life painting’, what usually comes to mind is a traditional, incredibly realistic painting, which of course is a very generic image. Still life art is not restricted to the oil medium, in fact, still life art has been created with many different artistic media; even Oldenburg’s large post-modern food sculptures can be considered to be forms of still life art.
You could be forgiven for thinking that still life paintings are simplistic, as they are basically paintings of inanimate objects; however, these paintings vary substantially in subject matter, colour, techniques and style. Although there are many forms of still life paintings we’re going to compare oil still life paintings and watercolour paintings to see their aesthetic differences.
Oil
After Carl Schuch – An Arrangement With Apples
Oil paintings have such a refined quality; they have a depth that cannot be achieved with any other art medium. The process of oil painting is a lengthy one; first the artist begins with a base coat, adding abstract shapes of the chosen subject matter, then more and more detail is added. Oil paintings are often dark with a glossy finish, for example the painting above, and despite the stillness and fixed qualities of still life, this helps to add an essence of drama to the painting.
Light is hugely important to the still life painting – the contrast between light and shadow is what gives the painted image its’ depth and 3 dimensional qualities. This is much easier to achieve with oil paintings, simply due to the qualities of oil paint itself.
Watercolour
William Henry Hunt – A Cut Melon
Watercolour is a much more fluid medium; you will usually find that still life watercolour paintings are much lighter than their oil counterparts. However, like oil paintings watercolours are built up with layers and finer details are added towards the end of the painting. Often watercolours have a sketchier aesthetic, as this medium is much quicker to dry than oil. It’s a great medium to use in order to map up a composition of a larger painting.
If we compare the above watercolour painting (A Cut Melon by William Henry Hunt) with the oil we discussed earlier, we instantly see differences, the primary being that the oil painting makes the subject matter appear to be much more realistic and 3 dimensional. Whereas the watercolour features much brighter shades, the strokes are looser and more expressive with more illustrational qualities.
Value & Worth
Generally in the world of art investment, oil paintings are usually worth much more than their watercolour comparison – but why? Well, it comes down to the material worth; oils are usually created on canvas whereas watercolours appear on paper. It could also be down to the fact that the old masters created work with oils, therefore it is a more high class medium, whereas watercolours were more associated with Victorian ladies, some even consider watercolours to be a ‘drawing’ medium rather than a painting medium. Watercolours were usually created in order to plan a grand oil painting, so are often more ‘sketchy’ and unrefined; however, the power and uniqueness of the aesthetics of watercolour paintings cannot be disputed.
What is interesting about these two mediums is that they can show the same or similar subject matters in a completely different way with different qualities and techniques. Still life as an art genre is certainly broad and can be explored with a variety of mediums, each presenting the viewer with a wide spectrum of aesthetic qualities.
