Matisse and mental health

Did you know that during his lifetime “…Andre Matisse witnessed some of humanity’s darkest moments: two worlds wars, the holocaust, and the dropping of the atomic bomb…Yet to look at his work, there is no hint of the momentous events of the time.” Still Life Paintings by Henri Matisse (artyfactory.com)

His work depicts the safe, familiar world he treasured, unaffected by the turbulent times going on outside his walls.

Matisse’s interiors and still lifes are bursting with colour and expression. He chose these colours to reflect the emotions he was feeling as he painted, and didn’t need his colours to be exact copies of real life. Here there is a huge sense of freedom, exploration and joy!

Reading this, made me think of all the negative news we wake up to every day as we are challenged with the isolation of another Covid lockdown. It’s becoming harder to keep telling yourself to stay positive and not feel overwhelmed.

But while our world at the moment, feels heavy and grim, if we turn inwards and focus on the beauty and ’colour’ inside our home/ our immediate surroundings – our mood can shift a little. And sometimes ‘á little’ is all we need to turn our day around.

This Matisse inspired artwork is really fun to create. It should take about an hour, you can use props from home – and you can play up whatever colours you like.

Inspired by Matisse, here we will practice:

• Bold and fierce brushstrokes
• Exaggerated bright colours
• Patterns

Let’s get started with our Matisse inspired still life!

(I’ll refer to the example I painted with my junior artist as a guide, but of course you can choose your own still life if you prefer.)

Materials: You’ll need

1. a4 or a3 paper– ideally above 180gsm weight to hold the paint.
2. 1 x medium round brush/ 1 x medium square brush, a plastic plate or take away lid for your palette and a cup for water.
3. Grab some gauge or acrylic paints (quick drying so great for this piece).
4. Choose 4-5 colours, we will repeat some colours to unify/link areas of the painting. Your colours should be bright like Matisse

TIP – if you have a beige in your chosen objects, consider swapping for a bright yellow. Think, where can you enhance your colour palette?

Set up:

1. Pick 2-3 small items from your home (a plant/ mug/ shell/ vase of flowers/ piece of fruit). Then pick one or two cloths with patterns (this can be a tea towel/ some wrapping paper/ piece of material – I used a pillowcase and a patterned placemat.)
2. Drape your cloth over something with some height to it so you create a covered ‘hump’ in your still life. The cloth will become part of the background – not laying flat on the table.
3. Group your items together in front of the ‘hump’ you’ve made.

Outline:

1. Sketch a simple outline of the objects with pencil or a watered-down light-coloured paint. This helps you get the sizing right before you start painting.
2. TIP: Fill your entire paper with your sketch, draw lines all the way to edges. Think big and bold.

Painting:

1. Block in your first colour (i used yellow). Apply paint straight on to the paper, don’t dilute with much water. You can add another tone if you wish – like orange to add some dimension – but today we want our colours to be bold and speak for themselves. It’s fun to distort the dimension. Add yellow to the pattern on the cloth and anywhere else you see it in your design. TIP: Leave the sketched outlines showing as this will create a pause between the other colours still to come.
2. Block in your next colour (i chose bright green).
3. Add your browns and black for the soil and the leopard coffee mug.
4. Block in your blue (this was used for the pool through the window and the dots on the cloth).
5. Add any final colours you need to make it pop (I added red to the placement pattern), and lastly brown for the window frame.
6. You can either leave the sketch outlines as is. Or paint over with a dark colour to make more defined.

That’s it! You’re done.

Stand back, and be proud of yourself for taking time to do some art today.

I hope you enjoyed this process and now have a cheery, bright Matisse inspired still life to admire.