^ [Heirloom Tomatoes. watercolor on Arches 140 lb cold pressed paper. 7 x 10". October 2011.]
^ [Red Cup, Gourd & Seed Pod. watercolor on T.H. Saunders 90 lb cold press paper. 5 x 7". October 2011.]
"By expressing himself through the image of inanimate things, the painter shows his art in all its power. For unless he deliberately charges these things with a symbolic meaning, still life provides no food for the spirit of anecdote. Nor is the painter himself helped out by the associations of ideas which are born of movement - in landscape they spring from the very image of a tree or a cloud - and which propose to the mind a semblance of action."
- Charles Sterling, Still Life Painting: From Antiquity to the Present Time (rev. ed., 1959)
I have had an easier time of it lately with painting and my efforts to tell what I see with a brush in my hand. For me, painting is both recording and interpreting, and it is always interesting to me how these seemingly contradictory approaches combine. I spent a number of hours painting the heirloom tomatoes (shown above), with a gradated saturation of high-keyed color and a birds-eye view which is unusual for me. The second painting, with the cup, was executed quickly and I was pleased with the effect of the contrast between this cheap red plastic cup alongside these natural, organic shapes. I am more comfortable working quickly than I used to be and am more confident putting down a color and leaving it undisturbed. Both methods - gradated washes and the immediate application of one color - are both important techniques that I've been trying to master. I'm slowly getting there.
