FINA10035 Still Life: Nature Morte
The Complete Study & Assessment Guide · Semester 2 2026FINA10035 Overview
- University of Melbourne
- Semester 2 2026
- Online studio subject
- Level 1
- Folio and research assessment
Still Life: Nature Morte is a University of Melbourne studio subject that brings historical and contemporary still-life conventions into practical drawing and painting.
- Studio sequence Observe, test, document and revise
- Assessment focus Resolved work plus visible development
- Before submission Check the live Canvas task brief
How FINA10035 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Folio | 75% | Comprehensive set-project folio with resolved drawings and paintings, experimentation, related material and the visual diary; assessed at the end of semester |
| Research Project | 25% | The current subject guide and task page describe found and made elements, drawings, a resolved painting, research and documented process; another assessment page labels this Written Component: Essay, so confirm the live Canvas brief |
| Attendance and submission requirement · hurdle | Attend at least 75% of scheduled classes and submit all assessment elements to remain eligible for a pass |
The numeric assessment rows total 100%. Captured official pages conflict on the 25% task's form and timing. Use the current Canvas assignment title, instructions, required files and deadline shown to you.
Current FINA10035 dates
| Date | Item | Control |
|---|---|---|
| 4 November 2026, 11:59 pm | Folio | Published in the Semester 2 subject guide; confirm the live Canvas setting |
| 4 November 2026, 11:59 pm | Research Project | Published in the subject guide, while another page says Week 10; follow the live assignment |
Dates are as published in the Semester 2 2026 subject guide. Confirm exact deadlines and submission settings in the live LMS.
What FINA10035 covers
Follow the subject from historical still-life conventions through observation, tone, colour, transformed space, independent practice and assessment evidence.
Still-Life Histories and Conventions
Xenia, Bodegon, Vanitas, Memento Mori, Wunderkammer and Nature Morte as changing ways to organise objects, space, time and the viewer.Still-life traditions give ordinary objects different visual and cultural jobs. This chapter follows the lecture's route through Xenia, Bodegon, Vanitas, Memento Mori, Wunderkammer and Nature Morte, then turns those labels into ways of looking.
- Xenia and hospitality as a structure of offering and exchange
- Bodegon and the organisation of provisions, vessels and domestic space
- Vanitas as a contrast between material life and passing time
- Memento Mori as a direct visual address to mortality
- Wunderkammer as collection, classification, ownership and wonder
- Nature Morte and later still-life approaches to inanimate things
Observation, Composition and Neutral Tone
Viewpoint, thumbnails, negative space, value families, a mid-tone ground and the dark-to-light painting sequence.Observation becomes a painting through a sequence of decisions rather than through immediate detail.
- Stable viewpoint and observable changes in top planes and overlap
- Thumbnail comparison through crop, interval, movement and negative space
- Three broad value families before smaller transitions
- An even mid-tone ground that leaves room for darker passages
- Transparent dark block-in followed by middle tones, lights and highlights
- Distance checks, process photographs and action-based reflection
Vanitas, Colour Temperature and Painting
Warm and cool tonal scales, subtractive drawing, alla prima planning and the relation between value, temperature and meaning.Vanitas and Memento Mori provide the conceptual field for a technical study of tone and colour temperature. The course sequence uses a subtractive charcoal drawing, warm and cool tonal scales, a plan for value and colour placement, and an alla prima painting.
- Value as the light-dark structure of the painting
- Colour temperature as a relative warm-cool comparison
- Warm and cool grey scales built from a limited paint family
- Subtractive charcoal drawing as preparation for broad tonal thinking
- Alla prima planning through value, temperature and edge hierarchy
- Vanitas meaning constructed through a specific visible relation
Fragmentation, Space and Wunderkammer
Cropping, scale, overlap, collage, shallow perspective and the cabinet as a way to reorganise familiar things.Fragmentation and Wunderkammer both ask how separate things can be reorganised into a new pictorial field. This chapter treats crop, scale, orientation, overlap, interval and shallow perspective as deliberate spatial operations.
- Cropping as removal of context and creation of a new edge relation
- Scale change as a tool for hierarchy and bodily pressure
- Overlap as an explicit statement of front-to-back order
- Negative intervals as active parts of a fragmented composition
- Shallow perspective and consistent receding directions in a box
- Wunderkammer as a visual problem of collection and classification
Contemporary Skull and Independent Practice
Context, material, texture and visual hierarchy as tools for turning a familiar symbol into a specific contemporary proposition.A contemporary skull project succeeds when the familiar symbol answers a specific present question through context, material and paint handling.
- A present question that can become a visible relation
- Context changes through neighbouring objects, enclosure and scale
- Material transformation rather than automatic inherited symbolism
- Texture hierarchy through brush size, edge, opacity and layer thickness
- Reduction of redundant symbols that repeat the same idea
- Comparison of studies, trials and resolved interpretation
Visual Diary, Folio and Research Project
Process photographs, annotation, reflection, comparison, source transformation, submission checks and the evidence of development.The visual diary makes studio development visible and forms part of the final folio. This chapter organises notes, research, sketches, tests, process photographs, final images, annotation and reflection into an evidence chain that a marker can follow.
- Visual diary evidence from alternatives, tests, process and final work
- Reflection built from a specific choice and visible consequence
- Comparison with earlier work on a stable technical criterion
- Research translation from source device to independent visual decision
- Clear photography through even light, focus, plain background and low distortion
- Folio ordering, file checks, live brief verification and submission receipt
It is designed for students with little or no prior art-making experience, but the work is cumulative: observation, material testing, research, documentation and reflection all feed the final assessment.
The subject begins with Xenia and Bodegon, moves through Vanitas and Memento Mori, explores fragmentation and Wunderkammer, and finishes with contemporary interpretation and a self-directed project.
The practical method starts small. Students make tonal scales, studies and thumbnails before developing resolved drawings and paintings.
A fixed viewpoint, deliberate crop, negative shapes and broad value families establish the structure. Warm and cool scales then separate colour temperature from value, while later projects use collage, shallow perspective, changed context and texture to produce new relationships among familiar objects.
The visual diary records these decisions with tests, process photographs, notes and reflection.
Assessment is weighted toward a comprehensive folio, with a separate research component and an attendance hurdle.
The captured university pages agree on the weights but conflict on the research component's exact form and timing: one page describes a written essay, while the current subject guide and dedicated task page describe a studio research project. This guide preserves that conflict and directs students to the live Canvas assignment area for the operational brief.
Its main purpose is stable: help you connect a source convention to an independent visual decision, show the trials behind that decision and submit a coherent record of development.
Worked example · free
Repair a flat tonal arrangement
- 1Reduce the scene to broad value families and check whether the bottle, fruit cluster and cloth form one readable pattern.
- 1Shift one pear to clarify overlap and compare the negative space between the bottle and fruit with the outer margins.
- 1Group connected shadows where observation supports it so the objects share one light rather than wearing separate outlines.
- 1Reserve the deepest accent and sharpest edge for the focal passage, then photograph the revision beside the earlier state.
Key terms
- Still Life
- An image organised around inanimate objects whose arrangement, space, light and material treatment can carry observation, symbolism and conceptual inquiry.
- Xenia
- A hospitality tradition associated with offered food and exchange that provides one historical route into still-life imagery.
- Bodegon
- A Spanish still-life and domestic-scene tradition often associated with provisions, vessels and strongly organised interior or ledge spaces.
- Vanitas
- A convention that places material pleasure, knowledge or possession beside signs of passing time, loss and human finitude.
- Memento Mori
- A visual reminder of mortality that addresses the viewer's relation to time, death and the limits of worldly life.
- Wunderkammer
- A cabinet of curiosities that orders natural and made objects as a display of knowledge, ownership, classification and wonder.
- Negative Space
- The shaped interval around and between objects, used to test proportion, placement, rhythm and the pressure of a composition.
- Tonal Ground
- An even initial field of middle value that supports later transparent darks, middle passages, opaque lights and corrections.
- Colour Temperature
- The relative warm or cool character of a colour compared with its neighbours, considered separately from how light or dark it is.
- Alla Prima
- A direct painting approach in which wet passages are developed within a concentrated session while relationships remain open to adjustment.
- Visual Diary
- A working record of notes, studies, research, tests, process photographs, reflection and comparisons that makes creative development visible.
- Resolved Work
- An artwork brought to a deliberate level of technical and conceptual completion, supported by evidence of testing, selection and revision.
FINA10035 FAQ
How is the subject assessed?
The published structure is a comprehensive folio worth 75% and a research component worth 25%, plus an attendance and submission hurdle. The folio includes set projects, resolved work, experiments and the visual diary. Check the live Canvas area because captured pages conflict on the research component's exact format and timing.
What is the attendance hurdle?
The subject materials require attendance at a minimum of 75% of scheduled classes and submission of all assessment elements for pass eligibility. This is separate from the two weighted rows. If circumstances affect attendance, use the University's current adjustment process and keep the relevant official records.
What belongs in the visual diary?
Include glossary and class notes, source research, sketches, experiments, tests, process photographs, final-work photographs, annotation and reflection. The diary should show how decisions changed over time. Place alternatives and later states together so a reader can verify the development you describe.
What makes a strong folio?
A strong folio joins technical control to visible experimentation, reflection, research and overall development. Resolved images matter, but they should remain connected to studies, material trials and process evidence. Clear photographs and an ordered sequence help the marker judge the work rather than the document's formatting problems.
Is the research task an essay or a studio project?
The captured official pages conflict. One assessment page specifies a 1,000-word written component due in Week 10, while the current subject guide and dedicated page describe a research project with drawings, painting and documented process. Follow the current Canvas assignment title, required files and deadline visible to you.
How should I prepare before a painting session?
Fix the viewpoint, test several thumbnails, identify the broad value families and prepare the support and limited palette before detail begins. Decide which visual relation should carry the work. Keep the visual diary nearby so setup, tests and turning points are photographed and annotated while they are still clear.
Questions students ask in each FINA10035 chapter
- How do I identify a still-life convention?
- Begin with visible evidence: object choice, condition, placement, surrounding space, light and the viewer's implied position. Compare the relationships with the named conventions, then choose the strongest starting point. A skull or flower alone is not enough; explain what it does inside this particular image. Chapter 01 · Still-Life Histories and Conventions
- Why make several thumbnails before painting?
- Small thumbnails let you compare crop, overlap, negative space, movement and value hierarchy before the composition becomes expensive to change. Keep them simple enough that large relationships decide the selection. Choose one for a visible reason rather than treating the first arrangement as inevitable. Chapter 02 · Observation, Composition and Neutral Tone
- What is the difference between value and temperature?
- Value describes how light or dark a passage is. Temperature describes whether it appears relatively warm or cool beside another colour. Either variable can change without the other. Match values before comparing temperature when you want to understand which relation creates depth or separation. Chapter 03 · Vanitas, Colour Temperature and Painting
- Is cropping alone enough to transform a source?
- Not always. Cropping removes context, but a meaningful transformation may also change scale, orientation, repetition, adjacency or spatial function. Compare the source and fragment, then state what the new relation makes visible. The process matters because of its consequence, not because a crop occurred. Chapter 04 · Fragmentation, Space and Wunderkammer
- How do I make a skull project feel contemporary?
- Choose a present condition and make it visible through context, scale, enclosure, neighbouring objects or material treatment. A contemporary result does not require fashionable imagery. It requires a specific relation that changes how the inherited symbol works and can be identified without relying on the title alone. Chapter 05 · Contemporary Skull and Independent Practice
- What makes reflection specific enough?
- Name the action, locate the affected passage and describe the visible consequence. Compare with an earlier state or work, then set a practical next action. Replace general statements about difficulty or success with verbs such as cropped, grouped, softened, warmed, removed or repeated. Chapter 06 · Visual Diary, Folio and Research Project
How to prepare for the assessments
Treat each project as a repeatable evidence cycle. Before making, identify the historical or visual device you are testing and produce small alternatives for composition, value or material handling. During the session, photograph the setup, an intermediate state and the point where a major decision changes.
After making, compare the states using one stable criterion such as overlap, value grouping, edge hierarchy, colour temperature or documentation. Write one specific choice, its visible consequence and the next action. Keep the diary current rather than reconstructing it near submission. When reviewing the folio, check that every resolved work has a traceable path through research, drawings, tests and reflection.
Use the published rubric themes as evidence categories, but do not force every page into the same layout. Finally, verify task form, file requirements and deadlines in the live Canvas assignment area because the captured official pages disagree about the 25% component.
