Still Life Con Brio
20 x 24 Oil on Linen
Still Life Con Brio didn't come to me in a flash
of inspiration. It began with my gallerist suggesting I do a painting demonstration
at her gallery. It was to be done in the Christmas season so the idea of having
red and green dominate the color scheme was a given. The music of the piece
began to come to me. I like to think of the time spent conceiving a painting as
its opening movement. The thoughts for this piece developed at a good pace, not
too slowly, not too fast, an andante perhaps. The second movement, the
demonstration itself, was an adagio con anima. I began by slowly expressing my
thoughts and philosophy of painting. Slowly but with life, with feeling. That
movement had a long cadenza of course so I could show off my technical skills
(you can watch a short video of this movement on Vimeo). I came back each of
the next two afternoons to work on the painting while chatting with a friend
who watched as I worked. Now I was free to paint at my own pace, allegro con
brio. The paint came flying off the brush at a lively pace, expressing the
objects in the painting with vigor and vitality. Portraits of each object in
the painting began to emerge, then each took its place, harmonizing with the
others to create a gorgeous ensemble. The colors were bold and beautiful and the brushwork virtuosic. I was at my easel and nothing else in the world
mattered.....
