found pot

 

 

found pot (oil on board 30cm x 30cm)

 

 

This is an old aliminium container that I found in ruined borie (stone hut) in the countryside near my studio.

work in progress...

painting wall

The last week or so I have started a series of paintings of single found objects - mostly vessels of one sort or another that I have found in the ruins that dot the landscape around here.  For me, still life painting is a way of slowing things down, and slowing the viewer down.  Contemplating abandoned objects introduces an element of randomness, and is way of avoiding prettiness and sentimentality (I hope!).  Happy Christmas!

beech wood shadows

Shadow Woods II (oil on canvas 100cm x 65cm) David Atkinson

The weather has been cold, so I have been working exclusively in the studio, developing some paintings that I started in the summer (see the August entry below).  The subject, ostensibly,  are the beautiful and complex shadows falling on the forest floor.  I have used the sensation of those shadows as a starting point and built up layers of paint reflecting the depth and complexity of the shadows themselves.  Once in the studio, I have freed myself from the 'real' colours and developed a new set of colour relationships (which is fun to do).

Shadow Woods II (detail) David Atkinson