The author analyzes the genre of still-life painting, relying on more than fifty years of his own artistic experience and more than thirty years of pedagogical practice in the field of art education. He distinguishes the following types of still life: decorative, trompe l’oeil, thematic, allegorical, ornamental, coloristic, depicting light, en plein air, occasional, without objects and training. The article deals with ways of creating artistic images and composition issues, as well as certain spatial and chiaroscuro features, color grouping, and creation of a harmonious ensemble of objects and entourage. It offers a number of creative and original exercises, which allow to study up on landscape painting, while working on still life, and master the principles of en plein air painting in the studio.

The painting technique of Rembrandt, one of the greatest artists in world history, is of particular interest. Without knowing its features it is impossible to understand pictorial effects created by him. The article attempts to interpret results of research on a number of works by Rembrandt and presence of colorless and colored (blue and yellow) glass in composition of paints. The photographs of pigments made of color and colorless glass, rock crystal and lapis lazuli were taken at 20- and 50-fold magnification that allows a clearer understanding of their optical, coloristic and textural functions in a paint layer. The authors describe a technique of adding chalk to oil paints. It is directly related to the method of impasto painting developed and widely employed by Rembrandt in the late period of his life. Using a limited palette of colors with excellent optical properties, Rembrandt achieved unique color and chiaroscuro effects.

The article addresses the issues of teaching landscape composition and perception of depth with the use of coherent principles in the field of linear and aerial perspective. The author reveals key elements concerning arrangement of foreground, middle ground and background, location of horizon line (lines), the rendering of relative size in reference to landscape elements located in different planes of picture space, as well as the ways to create depth of space when depicting the land or the sky. The relation between the coloristic interpretation of the landscape and aerial perspective, combination of warm and cold colors, and the distribution of contrasts in landscape are also discussed. The author describes various principles applied to solving complex problems of composition and producing a masterful image of a panoramic landscape, and also introduces consecutive stages in creating training sketches of panoramic landscapes.

Techniques for teaching composition of ornament at the Academy of Watercolor and Fine Arts are developed on the basis of Sergey Andriaka’s methodology and consist of a number of original exercises, for example, staging a still-life as a trompe-l'oeil watercolor ribbon ornament. We employ the best methodical approaches of the classical school of fine arts, first of all, of the School of Baron von Stieglitz and the Imperial Stroganov School, for example, we use life studies as a basis for ribbon ornaments. The work on the composition of ornaments is accompanied by a multifaceted theoretical training, the study of ornamental styles of different eras and peoples. Ornamental sketches by the students of the Academy are further used by them for mastering various techniques of decorative and applied arts (mosaic, stained glass, painted ceramics and porcelain, jewelry), as well as book illustration, icon and monumental painting.

The article presents the results of author’s research on academic school of drawing in the eighteenth - nineteenth centuries. She used combined approach which encompassed investigating catalogues of art materials and optical instruments, textbooks on drawing and painting from the eighteenth - early twentieth century, images of painters’ ateliers and academy classes, as well as documents concerning the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg etc. The author formed a collection of drawing materials and optical instruments for drawing which were effectively studied for practical use. As a result, the researcher was able to reconstruct a number of elements which were integral part of the methodology and the system of training in an academic school of art in the eighteenth - nineteenth centuries, i. e. the technique and technology of drawing, the methods of positioning of lights and reflections on a model, the use of the Claude glass, architectural drawing models and mannequins, methods of teaching drawing from memory and imagination etc. The author concludes that the academies of art in the eighteenth - nineteenth centuries applied multifaceted approach to teaching theory of drawing, which considerably improved the quality of training. Contemporary institutions of Academic Art do not offer such courses which has a negative impact on education.

The objective of the article is to compile a detailed manual for making cartoon of Tiffany stained glass with the best choice of materials, tools and equipment. It describes stages of preparatory work for producing Tiffany stained glass and the sequence of actions, reveals step-by-step technique of making a sketch and cartoon, lists necessary materials and justifies their choice. The author discusses possible errors and problems, and suggests his solutions. He defines main terms related to Tiffany stained glass technique presented here in a clear and detailed manner. This gives the ability to competently deal with stained glass cartoon and to successfully move through all the stages of its making. The description of materials and processes will be useful not only to professional artists, but also to any person who even has never worked with stained glass. The procedures characterized in the article are applicable in other artistic areas.

The article reveals certain aspects of the interaction of a teacher and his pupil within the traditional Japanese artistic environment. It clarifies the tasks of an artist-teacher who thinks traditionally and whose principal methods of teaching are his own example and slow, gradual education.