Very Still Lifes

 

"Sunflowers and Pumpkins" Oil 11x14 SOLD

 

When you think of "still life" what comes to mind? More than likely it's a basket of fruit or an

 arrangement of flowers (like in the 1st image).  I want to propose that a still life can be so much more.  It can be almost anything.  Here are some unarranged, "found" still life images from my day on the backroads of NE Colorado.  Gotta love the colors!  Love the overlapping and repeated lines and shapes! And love the composition.  What a marvel that they were "parked" so painstakingly and artistically?!*!?!   We're not done with images...stay tuned.

 

Any thoughts?

MY FIRST BLOG: Take Your Wife to Work Day

Yesterday was an unofficial “take your wife to work day.”  So I got up early and rode with Frank to Yuma, Colorado, a very small town in the middle of nowhere in the northeastern corner of the state.  I was forewarned that it was a desolate place and most likely I wouldn’t find anything worthy of taking pictures.  That just couldn’t be true, so I took my camera along anyway. 

We started early and drove east just as the sun was coming up.  The day was overcast so it made for an understated landscape with subtle colors.  There were no big surprises…no “rock your world” or “take your breath away” scenes.  As we listened to Allison Krause, I enjoyed the beauty of the serenity of a quiet early April morning.  Sometimes less can be more!  The rolling hills were mostly shades of gray with tinges of green.  There were occasional stands of gray and leafless cottonwood trees along the dried riverbeds and surrounding farmhouses.  Sagebrush and yucca plants added nuances of color to the vast open spaces of the eastern plains.  Often the miles of grazing land was dotted with black angus and longhorn cattle.  Barns and silos and occasional windmills and John Deere tractors made for splashes of brightness.  The roads were labeled CR followed by letters for east-west “county roads” and CR followed by numbers for north-south roads.  I couldn’t help but notice the funny bright yellow road signs that stated “No snowplowing 7pm – 5am.”   There was no lush green foliage, no water tumbling over rocks, actually no water at all, no purple mountain’s majesty.  But there was beauty just the same.  Beauty is everywhere if you have the mindset to find it.