Go To Work On An Egg!

Liz Balkwill challenges you to think conceptually in still life

- Liz Balkwill

THE BENEFITS

For this challenge, especially in these difficult times, I wanted to find a subject that was readily accessible to all of us: eggs.

During this task you will learn selection, cropping with a viewfinder, preliminary sketches to aid composition, controlling edges, building form through values, and the order of work to completion.

THE PROCESS

From hope, purity and fertility, to the broken dreams of a cracked shell, there is a lot of meaning to be found in a humble egg.

For this challenge, choose a concept and apply it to a simple subject, taking into account the symbolism or some of the great adjectives around eggs: cracked, smashed, fractured, scrambled and so on. Consider giving your piece a title before you begin that will keep your initial idea to the fore.

In my demo, I decided to paint a solitary complete egg, alongside a cracked shell and a raw double yolk. I added further colours and textures with the inclusion of the egg box (purple, a complimentary to the yellow yolks) and a patterned plate (blue, a near complimentary to the orange-ish eggshell).

1 Select a view