Adventures in Painting: Adventures in Still Life

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Adventures in Still Life

Still life painting is an adventure, too. Even though it's indoors, and I can control the light, visit the bathroom and refrigerator whenever I like, and don't have to deal with bugs, sun, rain and wind, it's still an adventure, and a challenge. For me, the challenge is to arrange meaningful objects in an interesting way, and to paint them in an interesting way. I am trying to integrate some of the technique I am developing in the landscape to my still life work - the feeling of immediacy and the dynamic handling of paint. So here are some still life paintings, oldest to newest.

"Mr. Peanut Cup", oil on canvas, 12"x14", 1978, SOLD. Done during art school, my first forays into still life. I fell in love with thrift store objects. I try not to go into thrift stores or antique shops, because I always have to buy something to paint. I recently bought a bunch of Mr. Peanut cups on eBay, so they'll be showing up in future still lifes, I'm sure.

"Egg and Glass", oil on canvas, 8"x8", 1983, SOLD

"Coffee and Doughnuts", 11"x14", oil pastel on paper, 1999

"Hot Sauce", oil on canvas, 20"x26", 2000

"Green Bowl", oil on canvas, 24"x30", 2000

"B", oil on canvas, 24"x24", 2001

"Oranges", oil on linen, 12"x14", 2003

"Peppers", oil on linen, 12"x12", 2003

"Red Perch", oil on linen, 12"x14", 2003

"Thai Peppers", oil on linen, 10"x12", 2003

"Sweets", oil on linen, 10"x10", 2006

"Peonies and Roses", oil on linen, 14"x12", 2006

"Hydrangea", oil on linen, 18"x14", 2007

"Linda's Plant", oil on canvas, 36"x36", 2007

"Rhododendron", oil on canvas, 24"x18", 2007

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Why Plein-Air painting?

There is a lot to deal with when I paint outdoors. The light constantly changes, as clouds cover the sun or the sun moves across the sky. The wind blows my easel over, the sun burns, the insects bite, the tide rises and falls, the boats come and go, my brushes fall in the water. It's cold, it's hot, it's raining, it's foggy, it's CHANGING. But for the past eight years, I have continued to use landscape as my primary subject. It is the hardest and most rewarding, the most exhausting and the most exhilarating, the scariest and the most fun. Taking into account and reacting to the changing light and conditions makes each painting a fresh and spontaneous event.

I cannot arrange the landscape as I can a still life. I can't control the light or the weather. So what I focus on is the challenge and joy of translating the three-dimensional world onto the two-dimensional picture plane. I choose the little corner of the world to depict. I interpret light falling on objects through the abstract medium of paint. I figure out how to mix that color. I work with the language of brush stroke. I try to hold on to whatever first attracted me to that subject, or I change the painting as I go because something more compelling comes up. I try to show what it felt like to be in that spot for a time and paint that picture.

Working to get a clear statement out of all the "noise" and distraction that is landscape painting is like training yourself to speak clearly by talking with a mouth full of rocks. Clarity of vision is my goal, and trying to get there is never boring. I generally don't work from photographs, because then I would miss all the fun!

Adventures in Painting

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Adventures in Still Life

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