Can anyone give me advice on still life painting?

I have been asked to do a painting of a drink can but I have lot of problems with dimensions in still life painting.with landscape painting


and portraits I am o.k.but painting a can without background is not that easy.Can anyone give me advice on still life painting?
Still life ought to be easier than portraiture. Landscape takes the prize because there is so much room for unnoticeable inaccuracy.





Square up your lines. Make sure edges are parallel to the edge of the canvas. Any orbs, spheres, balls, circles should have symmetrical arcs.....loosen up and make sure the curves are smooth.





Why would this be without a background? Everything has a background. You have to have a background, middle ground and foreground.





The background can be pitch dark, bright white and any degree of light in between. It is still a background whether it has any patterns or objects in it.





When you paint the background make sure you include some color of your objects. The area where the background touches the still life subject should be softened. If it is a lemon there should be lemon color blended into the immediate area in the background around the edges of the lemon. This makes the lemon appear to glow in the light.





A good book to pick up that will help is by Gregg Kreutz called Problem Solving for Oil Painters. It is not just about common mistakes in the process it is giving tips on what to do to create interesting paintings.





http://www.amazon.com/Problem-Solving-Oi鈥?/a>





Speaking of glowing objects and this book, look at this book's cover on this link. Click on the cover to see an enlarged image. There are 6 peaches in a bowel. Notice the edges of the peaches on their upper left side. Do you see how they appear to glow a warm light onto the area immediately in the background?Can anyone give me advice on still life painting?
don't forget to bring in some shadows. Shadows always seem to bring out the reality in a still life. And as they always say, the under drawing is the peice of work that is irreplaceable. So do a strong underdrawing. And measure your perimeters.