Chinese Tea

"Chinese Tea"
Oil on panel, 5 x 5 inches (12 x 12 cm)
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Somebody once said that an artist should only paint enough for the viewer to finish the job. While that in many ways does not agree with my own approach, it does point to something important; the sense of Mystery in art.

This world we live in wants us (or at least makes it very easy for us) to think in black and white, yes and no, left and right... maybe now more than ever. Fortunately, at the heart of it, life isn't really like that.

The Mysterious in art isn't just a matter of cloaking vaguely exotic objects in deep shadows and lost edges, though that's certainly what I'm playing with here. It's the suggestion that maybe things aren't entirely what they appear to be, that on some level we don't - and maybe can't - fully know the world around us. For me, the best paintings are signposts along that path.

I find it comforting and at the same time a little disconcerting to consider that there's much more to everything than what meets the eye.

Happy Thanksgiving

Norman Rockwell
"Freedom From Want"
Oil on canvas, 46 x 35 inches (116 x 90 cm)

I want to wish everybody here in the U.S., and anybody else who celebrates it, a very warm and happy Thanksgiving.

As the turkey roasts and loved ones gather, please take a moment to savor this absolutely iconic American masterpiece.

Knife, Lemon, Plate

"Knife, Lemon, Plate"
Oil on panel, 4 x 10 inches (10 x 25 cm)
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As I was cleaning up my studio from today's work, I got to thinking about the term "Still Life". It's kind of a funny, contradictory label that seems to imply both stasis and action, and has something of the flavor of a Koan (Koans are Zen teaching stories that contain a logical inconsistency meant to disorient the rational mind and lead the student to realize a deeper truth... so I'm told, anyway). The French term strikes me as even odder: "Nature Morte"; literally, "Dead Nature". Also a contradiction, since to me nature usually implies some sort of active, evolving force or process.

Any time we can't clearly and simply name something, chances are we don't fully grasp it. These odd labels we give to this particular type of painting makes me wonder if there isn't something inherently confusing about the genre... to the point that we struggle about what to call it.

In a way this makes sense to me. It's easy to "get" a portrait, because reacting to other human faces is a very basic part of our nature. Landscapes often resonate with emotional states we all clearly experience and identify with. It's a little harder to pinpoint how still life touches us: One could say that we're just painting piles of things; in what way is that possibly interesting? And yet... obviously it does work.

I'm not really sure where (if anywhere) I'm going with this thought; at the moment it's just one more idea rolling around in my head. It does suggest, though, one possible way of approaching still life: Although the objects we work with are in fact inanimate, they should be felt, sensed, and painted in such a way that we always imply their vital, living essence; movement in stillness... stillness in movement.

After all, any work of art is nothing more than a single frame pulled out of the entire movie.

Still Life with Antique Knife

"Still Life with Antique Knife"
Oil on panel, 8 x 8 inches (20 x 20 cm)
Available: Purchase Information

Last month I posted a few in-progress images of this painting. Now that it's finished, I can post a final image of it.

A lot - maybe even most - of my compositions are happy accidents. Though I usually start with one idea in mind, most often the process of arranging the objects takes on a life of it's own; new forms spontaneously suggest themselves, and before long the original idea is completely forgotten. This process of discovery and exploration can be the most enjoyable part of making paintings.

It's certainly the way this painting came about. By now I don't have the slightest recollection what my original idea was; but the moment I placed the knife on top of the ceramic vase and saw the amazing shadow it cast, I knew I had my composition. There was still a lot of tweaking to do, but from that point it was all working out details.

Still Life with Green Marble Egg

"Still Life with Green Marble Egg"
Oil on panel, 4.25 x 6 inches (10.5 x 15 cm)
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It's been a long time since I've offered any paintings at auction. I read the same news as everybody else, and the general state of the economy made me a little skittish this year, especially since my paintings currently take much longer to produce than back when I was actively following the painting-a-day practice. As a result, I've basically been building an inventory of new paintings and... waiting. Anyway, the recession being officially over (so the news says), the time feels right to start making some of these new pieces available.

I thought I'd start with this, which is something of a recent personal favorite. I can almost never resist the urge to paint objects through glass, and this lemon seen through an old spice bottle was no exception. The green marble egg was more difficult to place in the composition - maybe because it's actually an unusual object - but I'm glad I was able to include it.