Portraits and Still Life /an uncommon view

Classical portraits are usually full face or side view, perhaps with a little Rembrandt lighting if we look at a three fourth's view with shading.  Typical still life's are flowers or fruits or game set in a stilted formal fashion.  But I think we can think of them both differently.  Each tells us something about the subject we are contemplating, each gives us information that helps us form an opinion and draws us in to want to know more.  I think of them as time capsules, a bit of history and culture snatched in a moments time:stolen away for the future to time travel backwards.  If quantum physics is correct and we experience time horizontally and not  in a linear fashion, then we are in the future and past at the same time. 

Here are a few portraits and still life's that tells us a story or give us information leaving work for our imaginations to do.  In art I never like to over define anything for my viewers...art should leave a sense of mystery, an intriguing of the mind, and a tug at the soul.  We should all be able to bring a sense of ourselves to the art work without the artist telling us his view to overtly.  And so these pieces I have presented below offer a twist of classical formats for you perusal. 

Portrait of My Nephew

Thanksgiving

Photo portrait by Elizabeth Gordon

Shutters and Shadows/ Portrait of a Southern Lady

Charleston, South Carolina             Elizabeth Gordon

Still life Green screen and Red Barn Window

Old Leicester Road  Leicester, North Carolina              by Elizabeth Gordon

Fall leaves with Crane

Asheville, North Carolina        by Elizabeth Gordon

Boo, Mountain Dog in Repose  

          Blossom Ridge, Leiscester, North Carolina     Photo by Elizabeth A. Suggs

Still Life with Napkins and Apples

Still Life 

This Photo was one of many I was taking around the mountain studio and I had not thought about it turning out particularly well until I was reviewing the photo's on my computer.  There is no enhancing of color, that is the way it looks.  Sometimes by accident you just get a great shot.  I love the richness of color. 

 It made me think about great still life artists of the past.  One I have always loved is Cezanne.  When I was in high school he was the very first artist I choose to study when we were ask to do a still life by our art teacher.  

And then there was Van Gogh's Sunflowers, again I was captivated. The term still life comes from the Dutch Stilleven meaning bits of fruit or flowers.  I also ran across a surprising piece when researching this for the post.  It is a still life done by Carivaggio in 1595.  I had never seen a still life of his before, only his paintings of people with the drama of pain and struggle. This was such a different look from him.  

So on one day for an artist's date as Julia Cameron calls it take out your sketch book or your camera and look for still life shots! Have fun, you just don't know what will turn up.  If you want to share your results here with us at Rabbit's Moon studio we would be honored.

photo by Elizabeth Gordon                                            Asheville Studio

Cezzane                               from google image

Van Gogh Sunflowers               from google image

Monet           Still lire with Melon   from google image

Carivaggio       1595          from google image

Luis Melendez, Still Life with Fruit, Jug and Bread

Matisse, Still Life with Vegetables

How an Artist sees can be as different as there are stars in the night. To value how an artists creates and to share his vision takes into a world that is full of discovery. We learn to envision something differently, perhaps in way we might never think of. I can remember seeing Georgia O'Keefe's painting of a New Mexico Mountain range with a river snaking through, as if for the first time when I stood at her studio at Ghost Ranch. I had viewed the picture before, but until I saw what she saw it was like an aha moment: what had seemed abstract before became real. I was absolutely amazed.

New Work from Glass Class

My first memory of glass as art, other than church windows, was Marc Chagall and his stained glass windows. On a trip to Israel I was mesmerized with the dream like images with light pouring through. This is new work by other classmates from my most recent weekly class. The first picture is one of pendants being made using diachronic class. Yo may recall some of my earlier work in diachronic...each artist has their own approach and style this is using a black glass background.


The picute showing the tray with multiple projects is interesting because it shows a range of student work. One with a triangular shape, one using grit, and two using slump molds to make plates or dishes. The large yellow plate with the still life of wine and fruit is striking. Controlling glass as it melts is not an easy matter, but as you can see my classmate was very successful. The photo on the upper right shows a mold use to form four separate squares the same size and design. If you are working in glass fusion, there are a variety of techniques to use.