Hat Stand with Shadows, 2024, oil on canvas, 45.75 x 61 cm
Sometimes when I walk about the house, my eye is attracted to something that might make a painting. The telling sign that a possible painting might result is that the idea stays in my mind for awhile. It gets to the point that only by painting the idea can my mind not carry it around any longer.
This painting came about in this way. The hat caught my eye one day, even though I had walked past it for years. But it was more than that. It was the shadows accompanying the hat that added something more than a still life object to be painted. I like the use of space as something to appreciate for itself as if its importance is equal to the objects in the picture.
The tricky thing was how much space and shadows could be pictured without losing the presence of the objects. So I did a quick sketch to give me an idea of what size canvas I should choose. It wasn't an exact measurement but rather it was choosing a canvas that was reasonably close to the biro sketch.
It's also interesting to me that I sometimes revisit ideas that I painted decades before. In the painting below, the shoes and space have the same composition where space has its own importance.
Untitled #7, 1997, oil on canvas, 76 x 91 cm
