Beauty of a still life

The last few months I focused on painting still lifes. For me, the beauty of a still life is about telling something unique to the viewer with your handwriting as a painter. Someone who dedicated his life as an artist to still lifes with a dreamlike quality, is Italian painter Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964). If you want to feel totally ‘zen’, watch a few Morandi paintings.

Picking the right subject

I find it difficult to pick the right subject for a still life. The subject should give me a special challenge when I’m painting it. Below, you’ll find three still lifes I painted recently (oil on canvas). The shoe was special because of the leather, a natural material which creates interesting colors and forms an organic shape; the bird was special because of its softness and its tragicness; the bottles were special because of their reflections and the different colors of liquid they contained.