“The Artists Table”

February 15, 2019 4 Comments by cmartzloff Still Life

I’m in a mode of expansion and have been working on a few large still life oil paintings. This piece was created on a 30″ x 30″ canvas and inspired by my love for still life’s.

It was after completing my last series of paintings in the tradtion of “vanitas” that I decided to continue on with still life painting using objects I resonate with vs. selecting things based on their symbolic nature within the context of vanitas. To challenge myself though, I decided to try working in a larger scale and within a square format. Typically I work up to about 16″x 20″ with most pieces hovering in the 8″ x 10″ – 11″ x 14″ size. The choice to work at a scale well beyond 16″ x 20″ was spawned by a commission request that unfortunately did not come to fruition. However, the idea of working at the scale requested struck a chord within me.

This painting did begin on an 8″ x 10″ canvas. After I finished with it I thought it was a composition that would translate well larger and work in a square format. In preparation for the large work, I made a few adjustments to the arrangement, worked out the composition and began the process of painting. One interesting aspect of converting to this size was becoming aware of how the large scale seemed to put me “in” the painting. I needed to spend more time stepping back to gain perspective which in working on a small canvas isn’t always necessary. While this piece is a bit less “painterly” than the small one I think that’s something I can live with. The ratio of brush to canvas is not the same as in a small scale work, so while the texture is different, the brushwork in this painting is still very visible.