This post has many pictures, make sure to check them out. I decided to devote a special article to my still life paintings since it has been an important genre for me for many decades.. In languages which I speak fluently (native Latvian, German, English and Russian), still life is called as follows:
Still life: English
Stilleben: German
Hатюрморт: Russian
Klusā daba: Latvian
Nature morte: French
Naturaleza muerta: Spanish
Natura morta: Italian
Wikipedia gives a brief historic overview of still life as a genre, and I don’t think I need to repeat it.
Etymology and direct meaning
Translating literally, still life means dead nature in French, Italian and Spanish and Italian and Spanish have presumably borrowed it from French. The direct meaning of English still life is “life which is not moving and making no sound”; not moving and silent life – in German. Russian uses a loanword from French; hence French was spoken in all higher educated circles in Russia for quite a while until the Socialist revolution in 1918. Still life in Latvian means “silent nature” referring to rather making no sound than not moving. I find this very amazing. I do stick in my still life paintings with “nature that isn’t moving, but is visibly alive”.
My still life
As a native Latvian, I have formed my understanding of still life based on classic Latvian art. I especially adored Latvian art which was created between 18th and 19th century and around the beginning of 20th century. Latvians used to go to France and Italy to study art, therefore, the influence is undeniable. The part I never liked and to which I developed internal opposition was the use of mainly cold raw umber and rather muddy earth and dirty blue color in still life art between the WWII and 60-s of the previous century. However, they worked well in combination with grey color since grey has many thousands of shades. When I was younger, I couldn’t stand such color combinations.
The beginning of my personal style
I initially was somewhat really naturalistic. I could sit for hours in the garden or in my room and draw leaves, plants and flowers between age 10 and 16. I drew also people and faces of my sister and other relatives, but for still life, I didn’t have to ask anybody to sit and stay there for a few hours. Back in 60s and 70s of 20th century while Latvia was still in the Soviet Union, I could mostly use what I got from our garden. Vegetables and fruit lasted longer than flowers, so, I developed a special love to them. I used just pencil and watercolor on a bad quality paper. I didn’t have lots of art supplies, often not even eraser. That taught me drawing so that I wouldn’t need eraser. I didn’t have obviously camera and printer, and nobody knew anything about the internet yet.
The subject of still life
I have most often certain requirements when setting up a still life. I use something man-made, such as bowl, cup, jar or mug, box, books or similar items. I implement some flower or leaves, or the entire plant whenever I have it, and that establishes the living part of my still life. I also love adding either fruit or vegetables since they are always available. I sometimes cleaned out the fridge, and my husband used to joke that we didn’t eat for the entire month while I painted my still life. Big is definitely more impactful, and I go with full sheet watercolor paper (22 x 30 inches or 56 x 76 cm) when I have a good quality paper. The same about acrylic painting of still life. The small size is about 16 x 20 inches or 41 x 51 cm with just a very few exceptions that are even smaller. Painting big size art is much easier for me and I always prefer that assuming I have enough time and appropriate art supplies.
A very attractive genre
Over years, I have painted numerous still life paintings. Many have been sold as prints. I cannot include all still life paintings, but just a few in one post. These paintings are recently finalized, but started even 10 years ago. The “Spring tulips and cup” painting was done like that. Pictures I was taking years ago, do not look that good any longer, but I cannot get better ones from framed art which is under glass. For these paintings, I had only my sketch or drawing for reference.
I could finish this painting because I had created a value drawing in the same size what painting is: 20 x 24 inches or 51 x 61 cm, therefore, I had reference
It is usually difficult to get true pictures of paintings and how the viewer sees my paintings, depends on their device. I certainly tried. I have 4 monitors at 2 computers, and every image looks very different on each one of them. These paintings are available as art prints also. Thanks for reading!
More about my still life art, click on image for article:
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