Pastel Still Life Fruit Salad

Submitted by: Eldon Davis, former Art Teacher at Earnscliffe Sr. PS, Bramalea, Ontario, Canada (Eldon Davis, the author of this lesson, died in November of 2008 at the age of 59.)
Grades: 6 and up

 

Materials:

• APPLES, ORANGES, PEARS, OTHER FRUITS

• 12 x 18 (30 x 46 cm) CARTRIDGE PAPER (Cartridge paper or drawing cartridge, are terms used by countries in the UK and Australia for very heavy drawing paper. It is usually available in 90 gsm and 125 gsm. Heavy quality Drawing Paper - Bristol Board or any similar paper is a good substitute. Stonehenge also comes in similar weights to cartridge paper.)

• Drawing Pencils

• Pastels

Procedure:

This is a popular lesson with most students because they may eat while creating a still life fruit salad drawing. Students start by bringing apples, oranges, pears etc. to class. Show sample art of Paul Cezanne's fruit paintings. There are several Paul Cezanne paintings on IAD including Fruit and Jug on a Table, Still Life with Apples and Fruit Bowl, and Still Life with Basket of Apples.

 

Click on the image for full size

Using 12 X 18 (30 x 46 cm) cartridge paper, they 1st draw in pencil a whole fruit as a centre of interest. The class cuts their whole fruit into halves and share these. A student drawing a whole apple then may use a half orange to draw, overlapping some of the whole apple previously placed on the page.

 

When everyone has completed their half drawings, the fruit is then cut into quarters. Mix and share these quarter pieces to continue developing the still life drawing by overlapping each new fruit section. The whole apple, half orange art piece then may include quarters of pears, oranges or even other types of apples. I encourage students to include a minimum of 4 shapes in the finished piece. Colour the final product using Pastels to match as closely to the real fruit's colour as possible.

 

Cutting across the apples (star), oranges, grapefruits, lemons (wheel) when cut gives very interesting internal shapes to be drawn. Great results are achieved for fantastic realistic drawings. A super confidence building lesson.