In many of these paintings I explored the visual concept of weightlessness which started two years ago in my studio work. I’m interested in conveying a duality of an object feeling solid yet light resisting a sense of gravity in the image. 

 

The floating still life paintings are as fun to arrange as they are to paint. I consider each relationship of flat geometric shapes made by the layered paper in an abstract color-field painting way. Maybe that’s from years of enjoying how bay figurative painters divide the picture plane? Mostly I’m thinking about the proportions of each color. Do I like how skinny the blue shape is next to the green one? Or are these two red shapes too similar in color? An arrangement of paper shapes has a mysterious quality that activates my imagination similar to when I’m looking up at clouds. Eventually I begin to see things like a cigarette, walls, a sock, or a mini window open to a pastoral landscape just from a few geometric shapes of paper. Though I’m also curious what the viewer might see in those paper shapes.

 

The lighting of the still life adds another layer of mystery for me that grants the painting a sense of movement and action. This occurs by introducing the cast shadow from the object which I’ve raised on random studio fodder. The lemon, or similar organic subject, becomes disconnected from its ground shadows and enters a liminal state of flying or falling. 

 

These paintings are adjacent to my plein air paintings because they’re about close observations and the passing of time, but they’re not really about place. Maybe they’re about creating a place for objects to depart or fall into?

 

I currently understand this series as unique portraits of one of a kind ephemeral objects that I get to share some time with. I find a lot of beauty in bringing my attention to the present characteristics of an organic subject. Each pepper, melon, peach, citrus, etc will ultimately change, wrinkle, fade, and deteriorate in its own beautiful time. Just like us. Its fun to counter that heavy notion using bright and saturated colors. 

 

Many of the objects I paint in my studio currently are foods that my wife and I bought or hand picked and eventually ate together. Food is particularly enjoyable for me to paint because of the textures, flavors, and aromas their images evoke in us. I’m thankful for each of the foods that nourished my creative process, my body, and the viewers’ imaginations who see these paintings.

 

I hope that whether or not you see these same ideas in the paintings as I do, that you’ll give each one a chance to move you or bring you closer to the nuances in your own surroundings.