The lockdowns were something of a turning point for my art practice, although it was hard to see that clearly at the time. All exhibitions, art groups, travel to paint destinations and so on, suddenly stopped.
I did these still life paintings while sitting outdoors so that the bottles, fruit, dishes were getting natural light. I thought it would be good practice to observe the changes in light for when I returned to landscape painting.
I found working up close to the objects an interesting change to the wide open views of landscape painting. The interaction of light and colour was much more immediate.
Painting my still life works I came up against the boundaries of my colour knowledge, and the works sent me back to study colour theory.
I painted a lot of still life works by the time the lockdowns finished. Some of them were shown at my solo show Glimpse held at Gaffa Gallery, Sydney in 2022.
I have not painted a still life since as they reminded me too much of covid times, but looking at them now I am tempted to try again. It was fun trying to paint the sunlight going through a green glass bottle.
Kate Smith Artist 