Tuscan Olives Painting

For the last ten years I've painted food or the landscapes they come from. While not an environmental activist I want to paint the beauty of nature while we can still enjoy it and hopefully for centuries to come. The old masters enjoyed painting food as it was a sign of value and wealth among other things. I like to paint it for its gem-like beauty, so important today as agriculture is changing the food we eat. It is my hope that viewers can enjoy my paintings similarly. Oil and egg tempera are ancient mediums. I paint in both. Egg tempera carries with it the craft of an alchemist and contributes to feeling of painting with the old masters. Oil is more forgiving as a medium and better suited to a looser style as well as larger paintings. Painting in the representational style dispenses with the task of defining the subject as it is obvious, but it also allows a broader viewing audience to enjoy the art. I also enjoy finding the abstractions within my subject matter. Some of these end up in other works of art.