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A very dear and long-time friend purchased this painting last week and because this painting is personally meaningful for me and because I am so happy that she is the new owner, I thought I would share a little about it.  In the past few years I've devoted much of my painting time to the challenging task of painting landscapes directly from life in the open air (plein air), with all it's changing conditions and logistical challenges.  Still life painting is a very different kind of thing.  With a controlled indoor environment, unchanging light, the power to move, add or subtract subject matter and little or no time pressure, creative avenues open up that are not just visual.   I've always loved a good story.  Sometimes while assembling and arranging elements of a still life and coming up with a visual concept, a story begins to suggest itself.  No longer am I just dealing with a pear, a candlestick and a knife but with props and characters (warning: this is what happens to you if you stare at fruit).  That's what happened with this painting.  For fun I placed one of the pears on top of the candle stick.   I wondered, "Why would someone put a pear on top of a candle stick?  Maybe the pear put itself there.  Maybe it's proud...or powerful....".  And so it the musings went. 

Not long before I had read the short legend of the Sword of Damocles to my two youngest kids, with its warning about envying those in positions of power, those who seem to have everything.  When I stuck the knife in the cutting board to see if it would give me the vertical element I needed, in a flash the knife became the sword, the pear on the pedestal became Dionysius the king.  The other props and compositional choices are a meditation on power and leadership and it's burdens and pitfalls.  In case you are not familiar with this story, a link to a very short re-telling by James Baldwin is here.  

I'm so happy that my friend will have this painting and for people like her who can see so much more than a pear, a candlestick and a knife.  Thank you.

The Sword of Damocles was chosen for the Ben Franklin Crafts Create Award in the Academy Art Museum of Easton's annual Members Exhibit in 2013.

This past weekend (May 16-18) I participated in Oxford"s 30th Annual Fine Arts @ Oxford Exhibit & Sale.  I've been a part of plein air events where most of the time is spent painting and then there is a wet painting exhibit and sale that lasts a few hours but I have never participated in an art fair, which is little like an opening that lasts for days. It turned out to be a very enjoyable event that was extremely well run, well attended and full of friendly organizers, volunteers, patrons and fellow artists....and pretty good sales to top it off. 

Above is a photo (kindly provided by Donna Dudley) of the large central gallery.  I'm up on the stage there in the middle. Below are a few of the paintings that found great new owners.

Robert Morris Inn

Gnosis

Thank you Diane Dubois Mullaly for referring me to Cindy Reed and thank you Cindy for allowing me to join in.