Spanish Baroque artist causes Still Life to stir
FLASHBACK: London, October 2021. So much sightseeing to do; so little time; tube lines; routemasters and art memoires.
For over a decade, since I won First Prize in the Derwent Best of British Competition 2012, celebrating her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee year and supported by TALP, I have lived in awe of the great masters of Still Life. Humbled that my quintessentially British coloured pencil drawing could be chosen among all other entrants, it has been a struggle to create some unique image of equal value.
So recently when sifting through hundreds of photographs taken during our family visit to London, I stumbled across what I would describe as cultural art references. One particular still life stood out for me. Pardon the pun, I was immediately “drawn” to it and the suspense it conjured in inspirational value. I had a remaining A3 size Stonehenge paper in black 250gsm left over. Who might know the subject matter though?
As I started to recreate this oil-painted masterpiece in coloured pencil, my work-in-progress would have easily given the game away, had it not been for my husband, Michael’s suggestion to show the progressive stages of my drawing practice in monochrome.
On 6 August 2023, my social media step-by-step presence appeared in Colored Pencil Artist League on Facebook. Being monochrome in appearance, I had doubts that the image would be rejected by a group monitor, but surprisingly it received 9 thumbs up emojis which in this day and age is credible from fellow online CP artists. Then 5 days ago, in the same online forum, I shared the monochrome work-in-progress alongside the final coloured pencil version.
Instilling the Stillness. Derwent Chromaflow pencils and Derwent Burnisher on A3 black Stonehenge. CP image complete. How does it look folks?
Feedback from peer CP artists has been notable, however, I then received a personal message from Indiana-based visual artist and author, Vera Curnow, who is the Founder of the Colored Pencil Society of America. WOW!
To all my fellow observational CP artists, this blog comes by way of an apology. “Instilling the Stillness” is my attempt to get back on the muse saddle and renew my confidence in practising a still life image set-up, albeit from my own digital image. I’d like to thank this late Baroque oil painter from Seville, and acknowledge, all rights reserved to his family’s Estate, in giving me the courage and inspiration to study and recreate his classic work of art in an alternative medium.
Described recently by painter and sculpture, Judy Cotton as a “master of darkness and quiet sensuality”, Still Life with Lemons in a Wicker Basket by Juan de Zurbarán can be seen in Room 30 at the National Gallery, London.
How does it look folks?
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