Foreground, Middleground & Background Drawing

Draw a vase shape in the center of your paper.

Use a ruler to draw your horizon line behind the vase. In this case, the horizon line will represent the edge of the table on which the vase is sitting. By drawing this line, you have now created two different areas of perspective on your page. The vase is no longer sitting on a blank sheet but is now on a table surface with an area behind the table.

Add foreground objects to your painting, such as strawberries and apple in front of the vase.  To make these shapes appear as they are in front of the vase, you will need to erase the parts of the vase that are now covered by the fruit. You have now created three different perspective areas. The fruit is in front of the vase and is the foreground. The vase is now in the middle ground. The area behind the edge of the table is now the background.

Make your middleground more complete by adding flowers to your vase.

Make your background more complete by adding a window with scenery on the “wall” behind the table.

Use your Watercolor Paint Palette and paint your still life scene. Remember that you can add additional decorative elements to your scene, such as a design on your vase or table cloth. You can also leave some areas without color, such as the window frame, which now appears as the white color of the paper. Allow paint to dry before showing off your work on foreground, middleground and background to a friend!