The Return of Still Life
This painting is inspired by Sadie Valeri's use of wax paper in her still lifes. In this case, I used the green florist paper that the rose came in. The challenge with still life is to produce something that resembles what we actually see. Many people are unable to simply be in the moment and see what is actually there. We "know" that the edge of an object is hard and we paint that exact and strong edge, but the truth is, we actually only see a hard edge when we directly look at a very small portion of reality that is before us. Edges attract attention. We flit from edge to edge and as we flit, each edge comes into exact focus. If you want to see what I mean, it is easy enough and you may simply say, "Duh!", but it bears examining. Find an object within a few feet (2-5 ft.) and stare at a hard edge. Make it a boundary edge that defines the break between the object and the space behind it. Keeping your focus on that edge, notice how blurry the background is--