Cold winter weather is the ideal time for still life work in my studio. Sure, I love to travel and to paint on location. But sometimes, as Dorothy would say, "There's no place like home." This month, I decided to use some very ordinary--even ugly!--things from my daily life, and try to make a beautiful painting of them. As I was taking down the greenery that I had used for Christmas decoration in my house, I was fascinated by the dead magnolia leaves. Yes, dead leaves. They had such a marvelous curviness, and the browned backs of the leaves made a great contrast with the fronts. I guess it takes a girl from the South to love magnolia leaves like this!
I grabbed an orange from the kitchen, and voila! I had a simple, and in my opinion beautiful, still life composition. Even the photo (sorry it's blurry) was pleasing. You can see my drawing above. I gave my brush free rein to explore the shapes of the leaves and the dance they seemed to do. The finished painting is below.
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| "January" 9 x 12, oil on linen (c) Lesley Powell 2015 |
In reflecting on this painting, I was reminded of Frank Hobbs' comment that "Your life's work lies in the courtyard just outside your house." Indeed, that is exactly where I found these leaves. I will share a quotation from Henry James that Hobbs mentioned in his interview. Great words to live by.
Take what there is,
and use it,
without waiting forever in vain
for the preconceived...
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