I've spent all day in the studio today working on a new still life. I decided to photograph the various key stages to share on the blog. They illustrate some aspects of the process, but on reflection they don't really do justice to the physical reality of executing such a painting and the decisions that are made in the moment as one pushes and works the paint 'wet in wet'.
The painting eventually took six hours to complete. I had a crisis at the end and spent the last hour completing re-painting the flowers to simplify them and emphasise their shape rather than their detail and 'open up' the painting to make it look more spontaneous.
And here is the finished piece. I'll call it 'White Daffodils in Red Round Vase' for now. It's oil on canvas, 100 x 100cms.
It's strange after years of painting to be depicting such traditional subjects as flowers in vases. I don't care much about whether it is seen as traditional or possibly a safe subject. One just do what feels right at the time. What else can you do? The motivation has come from all the flowers that have existed, and continue to exist in my life, since my brother's death. They remain a focus for contemplation when dealing with difficult and complex feelings, much like the act of painting them. It will have been a year later on this month.
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