still life

It’s Spring. It’s warmer and brighter outside, yet for the past couple of months, I’ve spent hours and days in a small, artificially lit corner in my studio. I’ve been focused on drawing, painting, and photographing still life.

What began as preparation for upcoming summer workshops and projects has grown into something else, though I’m not quite sure what it is. So luckily that’s not what this post is about. This post is about my neighbor, age 6, who from time to time joins me in my studio to draw and paint and glue stuff together. A few days ago Katy came over to draw and paint her own still life.

After considering lots of objects, she chose to begin with an apple.

From there she began to invent…a table, a bowl, and a background with a window.

Straight away she wanted to move to the still life that I had set up for myself.

She began by drawing a window in the background.

Then came the honeystick and the two bottles. So much time passed. She painted slowly, really watching the paint move around on the paper.

While she painted, I drew a small portrait of her. I asked if she wanted me to paint it, or if she wanted to take it home to paint.

It wasn’t really a question.

Color by color, stroke by stroke, she turned the portrait into a self portrait.