Still Life & Objects

Rêverie Rustique was one of my first explorations into still life — an exercise in atmosphere and tonal restraint. The piece depicts a humble arrangement of tomatoes, garlic, and a darkened pitcher resting upon white cloth, rendered with soft, diffuse light. Though the composition draws from classical painting traditions, it also hints at something quieter and more introspective — a meditation on presence and memory within the ordinary.

Pear Study was created as an early exploration of still-life composition and controlled lighting. The subject is modest — a single pear resting against darkness — yet the painting uses this simplicity to study tone, surface, and the quiet emotional charge of observation.

Deprivation continues my exploration of isolation and aftermath within the Desolation cycle. A single rose stands against a fractured skyline, stripped of its vitality but not its form. The composition plays with the language of survival — how beauty lingers even when its environment no longer sustains it.

Decay continues my ongoing exploration of vanitas and impermanence, but in a quieter, more personal register. The work depicts a modest arrangement of dying flowers, melted candles, and scattered fragments — familiar objects arranged with ritual care. The composition embraces stillness, yet every surface seems touched by time: wax softened by heat, petals crisping at the edges, cloth folding under its own weight.

Vaditas draws from the tradition of seventeenth-century vanitas painting, revisiting its symbolic language through a modern lens. The composition follows the structure of a devotional still life — a skull, an extinguished candle, a glass vessel, an hourglass — each object chosen for its quiet insistence on impermanence. Yet rather than moral instruction, the painting offers contemplation: a study in the delicate balance between decay and beauty.

This piece was created as a still life study, focusing on the quiet discipline of observation. The avocado’s form — smooth, organic, and divided — offers a simple but rewarding structure to explore light and texture. The work captures the intersection between realism and painterly looseness, translating a familiar object into a study of tone and material.