Still Life

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‘Avocado’ II – 25cm x 30cm – oil on board

Daffodils, cut flowers - 30cm x 25cm

‘Daffodils, cut flowers’ – oil on canvas board – 30cm x 25cm

Daffodils in earthenware pot - 30cm x 25cm

‘Daffodils in earthenware pot’ – 30cm x 25cm – oil on canvas board

Tangerines - 24cm x 30cm

Tangerines – 24cm x 30cm – oil on canvas

Avocado l - 25cm x 30cm

‘Avocado’ I – 25cm x 30cm – oil on board

Pomegranite - 40cm x 40cm

‘Pomegranate’ – 40cm x 40cm – oil on board

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‘Fruitknife’ – 18cm x 24cm – oil on canvas

The cut - 40cm x 40cm

‘The cut’ – 40cm x 40cm – oil on canvas

A squeeze of lemon - 30cm x 30cm

‘A squeeze of lemon’ – 30cm x 30cm – oil on canvas

Old fruit - 25cm x 25cm

‘Old fruit’    oil on canvas – 25cm x 25cm

Wildflowers I - oil on canvas - 25cm x 25cm

Wildflowers I  oil on canvas – 25cm x 25cm

These flowers have been picked in the middle of the day and painted immediately, to try to transmit that crisp freshness which they exude. The light streams through the window, creating a contrast between the light and dark areas of the painting, bringing everything into sharper focus.

Wildflowers II  oil on canvas – 25cm x 25cm

These flowers were picked in the middle of the day, and this work was painted in the evening. They take on a different life, somewhat brooding, still beautiful, with the shadows softening their colours.

The bee   oil on canvas – 20cm x 20cm

I found the bee, dead, in the room and next to the window, I felt the sadness of the scene, and thought it worthy of a painting. The bee is set against an angular, white background, out of context to it’s usual surroundings, it looks a little like a specimen, trapped, it’s potential cut short.

‘The Fly and the Orange’  oil on canvas – 20cm x 20cm

‘Still Life’ as a discipline – life is never still, it moves on determinedly all the time, from life to death, death being an element in the passage of time. A moment can be captured in a photograph or a painting, however, that object itself can wither and degrade. The orange here is rotting and it attracts a fly. The colours and textures are beautiful in their own way. The painting informs us of the passage of time, the fly is captured in a brief moment of stillness, however, it’s presence invokes an imminent feeling of movement.

‘Forbidden Fruit’  oil on canvas – 30cm x 30cm

There is a dead wasp in the painting, immediately in front of a rather acidic-looking grapefruit. The wasp as uninvited guest has been dealt a severe blow. The message  – don’t eat the forbidden fruit.

Bird in a cage - 100cm x 100cm. Drawing - graphite on canvas

Bird in a cage – graphite on canvas – 100cm x 100cm

This drawing aims to look at the movements of one bird in a cage. The darker drawing shows where the bird spends most of it’s time, stationary, waiting, looking here, looking there, the pencil lines growing darker as the outline is drawn over and over. There is a sudden burst of movement which is caught with a sketch, and then the bird stops again, the pencil defines as the watching begins, this time from the bottom of the cage.

Original artwork £995

Dinner on the table I   oil on canvas – 30cm x 30cm 

Many of us feel uncomfortable when we confront the sources of some of our food. Perhaps we have constructed a sanitary vision within society – where cows don’t shit. The ‘in-between’ from the field to the chiller section is some hazy, undefinable thing which we don’t think about and therefore does not exist. Using ANIMAL and MEAT as an example, it raises the point that; now that much of society is so far removed from the environment and mechanics thereof, it makes it harder to care about it, to care for it. We can’t see it from our office block, we don’t think about it, therefore it does not exist. The background is a slightly unreal colour in comparison to the carcass and table, designed to be a little unsettling to the viewer, yet not unnattractive

Dinner on the table IV   oil on canvas – 31cm x 31cm

This painting seems to lie aside from Dinner on the table II, the muted colours of the background complement the cuts on the table . The image, now faceless, formless – is safe – the chopped pieces are not animal, but meat –  we can relax.

“Waiting room” 62cm x 62cm – oil on canvas

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