Okay … when your art class is required to bring a big stick with them for the lesson you do have to wonder what the plan is …

Actually, it was fun. We taped our paintbrushes to the end of the stick and did both the sketching and the actual painting of the still life standing about a metre or so away from the canvas. Such a lack of precision and control and I loved it!

For so many parts of my day and my world I am a rule follower and very fond of being in control (or at least aiming to do so). So trying to paint a menorah and a bunch of flowers while clutching on to what is in effect a VERY long handled part brush was great fun and very liberating. Admittedly I did have an crisis early in the project whereby I misjudged the whole sketching in (so tricky to do using only a long-handled paintbrush) and managed to have 8 candle holders … luckily a little blue paint and a little more burnt sienna and voila back to 7!

I am not naturally drawn to painting still life style paintings but I do love doing them. If that makes sense? I would never choose a still life as a subject if I had my own way but the challenge of having to paint what is presented – the composition, the objects and the colour scheme – is such an excellent exercise – challenging and rewarding.