Corner Cupboard

Corner Cupboard   Watercolor   19 x 28

is the resulting work from a "market place challenge" offered up to artists in my class.  While it is always good to paint what you know, it is also good to stretch your boundaries, to be able to see beautiful patterns, shapes and values wherever you go.  As I have already done so very many produce stands,  I went on a photo reference adventure for this challenge  to the local antique mall.  While the dark stern nature of so many antique objects depresses me, I often take a trip there to look around, just because the sights are so very different and stimulating compared to the same-same-sameness and plastic overabundance found in big box stores.  The beauty of many of these older objects has stood the test of time...still functional, still simple, still lovely...with the additional qualities of patina and  imprints of past use.  And, for some reason unbeknownst to even me, I have always been attracted to enamelware, with its chippiness, and small bits of rust. A visual feast!

This work was actually fun to paint, as the cherished whites became the story, and my quick, imperfect strokes reinforced my notion of the subject.