Still life with mushrooms Print

Acrylic painting on handmade paper treated with collage and material impastos. I was surprised by this painting because I did not expect to succeed in this challenge. I have fond memories of several stays in Italy, especially in Umbria, where they know so much about "funghi e tartufi" a reason why I can remember these delicacies. Although, I would never have proposed to paint a still life with mushrooms. This painting is based on a striped background structure or tablecloth that I like so much. However, the framing of this image is not suggested to me by the usual paintings but rather by gastronomic presentations. An elevated viewpoint on a table, although not very static, as the different perspectives of the dishes evoke the movement of the observer. On the other hand, a very personal ingredient of this painting is its painted wall aspect. I have been searching for years for these different evocative effects of walls, with their burden of history and stories. After the empathy of the materials, there is the predilection to the enjoyment of certain pigments. Thus my taste for iron oxide red, or English red, or rust colour, or so many other names. An originally natural pigment, earth, appears in the most primitive wall paintings. Combined with black and white, these three pigments alone provide a reduced palette but one of enormous possibilities and strength. For an artist, these enquiries are like a return to a beloved resting place to revitalise himself. What a surprise with mushrooms!