Matisse in the Studio – exploring Still Life

For the rest of this term children have continued to be inspired by Matisse. They are working on a still life project.

Veena and I visited the lovely exhibition Matisse in the Studio (click the link to visit) at the Royal Academy showing how Matisse used his wonderful collection of objects in his paintings. It was wonderful to see the actual objects that inspired his paintings next to the paintings themselves. It gave an insight into how an artist works.

Veena taught the children how to set up a ‘Still Life’.  They experimented with natural and man made objects, fabrics and backdrops. 

Working in groups they made their own arrangements.

They made some drawings, Veena was extremely impressed with how the children concentrated for extended periods of time.

Veena found it interesting to see how different children prioritised different elements of the composition. Some focussed more on the patterns of the fabric than the objects themselves.

They began to use pastel to add colour.

And then explored paint as they developed their skills.

I’m looking forward to see how this project develops.