Friday, July 18, 2014

White Vase - Still life

Painting still life is a restful and cathartic experience for me.  I've been distracted from the easel lately by many things.  Home improvement projects have demanded a lot of time and mental energy for planning and negotiating...but so far have gone well, thankfully.  And the office is busier than it has been in a long time as we finally begin to recover from the long recession / depression.  These are all good things, but they demand mental energy that might otherwise be channeled into the studio.

At these times when creative energy is at a low and the urge to paint is almost nonexistent, still life comes to the rescue.   In this case, I found some fake - yes, not real - 'flowers', a vase, and a brass bowl.  With a few apples and an orange, I was ready to go and painting in minutes.  I didn't worry about 'symbolism' or complexity....I just wanted to paint and forget other demands for awhile.

White Vase    Oil on stretched canvas   16 x 20

The very light area at the right is a light reflection ....that area is actually very dark.  


My Art Site: Bruce Hancock Fine Art

2 comments :

  1. Nice still life.
    I like the two apples in the center.
    Great design on the small flowers surrounding the white ones. I'd forget the fake comment they have a very living presence.
    Neil
    Oh, and congradulations on your Best of Show award

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  2. Hi Niel...thanks for stopping by and commenting again! Yes, the 'fake' comment is really not relevant in these still life paintings. I learned still life primarily from Dan Edmondson who teaches that the objects in the still life are guides to color and shape and composition....not something to be slavishly copied. The 'fake' flowers gave me suggestions for color and placement and I was on my own after that. Now if I could only remember that when painting non-still life subjects!

    And thank you too for the congrats on Campaspe. It was a surprise ending to a fun experiment.

    Are you painting?
    Bruce

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