‘Making Still-Life Alive’ - a five-week course with Rachel Mercer
In this 5-week course, we will look at different approaches to drawing still-life inspired by some great artists of the 20th century.
Participants can expect focused practise in sustained observational drawing and to learn techniques to improve fluency and accuracy. This is balanced with an approach that encourages playfulness and exploration. Each week there will be a new still-life set up, using some of the beautiful objects housed at Green & Stone.
In the first session we will look at the drawing of Alberto Giacometti, focusing on line and developing hand-eye coordination and speed. In the second week we make drawings inspired by Georgio Morandi's attention to shape, space and tone. In week 3 we will consider form and composition inspired by Cezanne's infamous still lives. Weeks 4 and 5 will be dedicated to using colour (coloured pencils and ink) drawing inspiration from Venessa Bell and George Braque. By the end of the course participants will be able to consider scale and composition and will have refined not just their observational skills but their picture-making to create that still-lives with rhythm and volume.
Suitable for all levels, beginners welcome. Materials necessary for the course are provided by Green and Stone. On weeks 4 and 5 participants are encouraged to bring whatever colour materials they like (watercolour sets, soft pastels, oil pastels)
This is designed as a course that develops techniques over 5 weeks.
About Rachel Mercer
Born in Cambridgeshire, Mercer studied at Cardiff School of Art and Design graduating in 2012 before being awarded the postgraduate programme at The Royal Drawing School. Since 2014 she has been a painter working in London. She has exhibited in the UK and China.
At the centre of her approach is an interest in human interaction and the importance of the observed world. There is a sense of movement, fluidity, and haptic beauty in the way the figures in her work move and dissolve across the canvas. At times the subject fades into the sensuality of the medium simultaneously creating a sense of disappearance and presence.