Still Life: A Literary Experience

There is something about still life that is fascinating--if done right. It should have all the standard pictorial elements: composition, interesting color usage, brush technique, etc. But, what interests me most about a still life is the almost intangible story/mystery of that combination of elements. If done well, it seems that a faint quantum trace of the humanity it represents remains. We want to know more. Our eyes search the surface for meaning and find small almost abstract moments of paint scumbled or washed or scraped where a small composition within the larger presents its own mystery. It is like a novel that bears rereading and yields anew with each visit.




To the left is an example of a painting that invites us to dawdle, to get lost in reflections, to wonder about relationships between objects. It is also a painting that lets me get lost in meditation as I paint. There is a certain point I reach where I am no longer painting the label--bell, brush, book, bottle-- but where I paint the thusness of the moment.

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