This is the 1st vignette I have made this way, extensively painting all the parts to create a unified visual experience, a combination sculpture/painting,. I have purposely used tromploi, the effect of creating tricks to the eye in a painting. The steam rises from inside the coffee cup and then falls onto the painted background of clouds. Also, the dragonfly in the corner is an attempt at tromploi. The whole painting is a kind of tromploi. If you look at the frog a certain way, it looks as if it were a painting, not a sculpture. If you look at the cup a certain way, it looks like it is painted. But it is a sculpture. The spoon on the table might be a sculpture, like the cup, but it's painted. And so on.
This is a personal piece, admittedly. My wife passed away from breast cancer 15 years ago, now. I made this painted sculpture vignette on her birthday, January 11th. She loved coffee. So, the piece is warm and thought filled.
What is the saying? Creativity is often born of pain. Picasso thought this. I will tell another story. Did you know that when Picasso was a boy, his sister was terribly ill, and he prayed for her to get well. He offered as a sacrifice what he loved best: painting. If seh lived, he would stop painting. Sadly, she died. Picasso's prayer did not save her, and he went on to become...Picasso. Sadly, Picasso became an atheist after that. A cautionary tale, I think. Beware of making deals with God. You know?
Also, Picasso's father died after that, all of a sudden, after the death of his sister. So I am sure he wasn't too happy about that, either. Picasso's father, a painter of pictures, mainly pictures of pidgeons, was much the reason Picasso became an artist.
Pain can give birth to beauty. But this we know. In fact, is not the physical act of giving birth painful? Anyway, the thing is to focus on the beauty, not the pain. That's how I look at it.
Height: 18" Width: 16" Depth: 8"
Oil paint on panel and shaped and brazed copper. Made by hand, by me, Beau Smith. January 2024. (This is an original work that I spent many, many hours on. Even so, currently I have priced it modestly.)
Signed and dated.
Shipping is included in the price.
