Still Life with Ellipses

A still life set-up like this, that features vessels, inevitably brings up the challenge of ellipses.

Aside from the actual drawing of ellipses, there is the issue of seeing them correctly in the first place.

First of all, be aware of eye level. In this vase (below) it should be clear that every horizontal line is in fact part of an ellipse except when it is exactly at eye-level.

And the further away from eye-level they are (above or below), the fatter these ellipses will be …until they are almost circular.

Above eye-level, the ellipses are part-hidden – but you shouldn’t ignore them!

So here’s what Esther and Rod made of the vase on a wheel: