Creating a still life composition is a great challenge for any artist. A way to make this challenge a true test of your skills is to work from your imagination. For the painting above all we had in the classroom to work from was a horizon line and a chopping board.The class were then asked to think about appropriate items to draw that they would see in a kitchen. This proved to be a very interesting test of scaling, visual memory, design skills and individual ideas. Once each drawing was completed we had a critique session, discussing the items chosen and any adjustments that would be advisable to consider. 

This was a session in two mixed medium drawing class so the decision each learner then made was what medium to use. Some learners made this into a graphite drawing but most learners, in both classes, used colour in one form or another.  

My approach was: start with a line drawing, do not add any shadows or light source with graphite, but do this with the colour. I used soluble pens as well as watercolour pencils. I then added paint to my mixed media drawing.