Polished my sugar bowl the other day so I thought I had better use it before it tarnishes again. I like the way the shadows hold the composition together.
I am building up my painting stash to sell at the Cherokee Art Fair this Spring. I also wanted to practice on my silverware skills. I am liking my looser style.
I got a bit carried away today with everything being even. It is so hard to change what you have always done! Making things even, making them match, making things line up... everything tidy!
My dog hates it! I am learning to relax.
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It is so rainy and overcast today that I had a hard time taking the photo. Serving pieces are the subjects today just in case it wasn't obvious. To give you a scale the cake server on the upper left is 10.5" long with the serving part being 5" long. On this painting it all looks small. Well, the little fork for olives or pickles is small but long. So far in this series I have polished 43 pieces of flatware... I think I am over with this series. Will see how I feel tomorrow.
In my studio I have two large north facing windows and while I use a bright light on my still life I usually get some reflection of the cool light in my shiny objects which gives me the excuse to put in some cool blue specks. I felt like I was part of Downton Abby today polishing all this silver.
These are the items that I have that give me questions. Some I know like the gravy ladle and the cake server, the butter knife, but what the heck is the item on the lower left? it is a kind of shallow spoon server but what for? One of my students said it was to serve condiments of sort. This was laid out on a white tablecloth and as I painted I noticed a bit of pink in the white.
A friend of my suggested I paint a pile of silverware. I started with a hand full of about 12 and it was a mess and, to me, not very interesting so I tried 5, which is a good number. Threw them many times and pulled on the fabric and finally came up with this composition.
I started this series of small (6” x 6”, 6” x 8”, 5” x 7”) paintings in May 2009 as a daily practice and discipline in order to liberate my work by painting from life in a restricted amount of time. In carefully considering placement, shape and color, I strive to find the essence and beauty of common objects in a fast-paced world that is dominated by electronic gadgets and digital images. It is my hope that people will stop, look and see the dignity and soul of things that are often taken for granted.
Composition and lighting are key elements in the creative design process, allowing me to create a lively and often humorous narrative.