Still Life Gallery
Still life has always been an essential way for an artist to connect and interpret surroundings. Using metaphor and symbolism these works, evoke nostalgia, a mournful longing for days past and a reminder of the brevity of life.
“Time. Place. Memory.”
Shop Still Life Prints
Ultra high-resolution giclee print.
This is my oil painting version of “The Seven Junipers “ by Wen Zhengming, an ink drawing on paper from 1532 (Honolulu Museum of Art).
The resilient Juniper represents how life gives us many challenges, we change direction and keep growing, never giving up.
Many of these great Ming Dynasty scrolls are lost. I thought it was an interesting parallel comparison to that of Michelangelo in Italy. He would go on to paint the “Last Judgement “ a year after. A dichotomy; two amazing artists and teachers in two different worlds.
Ultra high-resolution giclee print.
I am not a Portrait painter. I spent a summer studying how to paint portraits. Copying the masters is the best way to learn. A tribute to Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, I used thick impasto layers and my fingers in attempt to create the flesh and wrinkles of one of his many self portraits. I am absolutely humbled by his talent. Unfortunately Rembrandt’s life ended in total disparity. Never forgotten.
Ultra high-resolution giclee print.
This still life is from a collection of items found in my studio: Candles, a skull, a book titled “Eminent Painters (1902) by Elbert Hubbard, A Bible, a pot I made with Japanese Lantern blooms in it, an antique tipped dessert tray and instead of a wine bottle I used a pill bottle to push it into the 21st century. The fruit is a metaphor for vanity and a reminder of “memento mori”. The objects are all placed on a map of Venice, Italy, my favorite place on Earth.
