green plastic jug

found plastic jug (oil on wood 30cm x 30cm)

Another in series of found objects - mostly vessels of some sort.  This one is off center, broken, and turning away slightly.  I think that this makes it feel less static.  I am trying to not get too tied down to topographical truth, but still enjoying looking at what is there.  There is a comfort and a pleasure in just gazing at something.

found blue pot

found blue pot (oil on wood 30cm x 30cm) David Atkinson

Here is another painting of a found object - I found this in the ruins at the bottom of the village of Gordes.  Although I am trying to avoid things that are too pretty, it so happens that this particular pot is finished in beautiful blue enamel!  Still lives offer a good opportunity to explore ideas about composition - you can crop the image (in your mind, or on paper), move things around, make things up.  The setting here, such as it is, is partly made up to suit what I wanted to achieve.  The composition is deliberately central to emphasize the feeling of stillness.