Life Drawing Lessons from Apples

11/4/19 Clara (20-min. pose)

As you know, I sketch a lot of simple still lives consisting of no more than one or two pieces of produce. These aren’t especially inspiring compositions or subject matter, but they give me practice in working on values in color and blending with colored pencils, and fruit is easily available in my home. The forms of apples and pears are so simple that they aren’t very challenging to draw, but anything three-dimensional is good practice in rendering form and interpreting light logic.

One day at a Gage life drawing session last spring, I suddenly made a new observation: In addition to the strong shadow under the breasts (which I always expect), I saw subtle arcs of light reflected from the model’s thigh or some other plane of lighted skin. I know it sounds like a sophomoric joke to compare breasts with apples, but I realized that the reflection was exactly the same as the reflected light I always see in my sketches of fruit that I place on white paper to help me see the shadow easily. I’ve been going to life drawing for years, yet this was the first time that reflection on the model consciously registered in my brain – and the light bulb turned on. All that fruit I’ve been sketching had taught me something – though it took a long time for the lesson to sink in.

Now I always look for that reflection as well as the shadow. It might take a while to learn, but once seen, a lesson cannot be unseen.

5/8/19 Shannon (20-min. pose)

4/29/19 (25-min. pose)

2/8/19 Lessons from apples and other handy produce.