Yucca and Milkweed in January

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This still life blends technically accurate realism with a twist.  I place still life objects on a mirror, then put the mirror outdoors. Playful and puzzling, it is realism, influenced by modernism.

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This painting was inspired by a snowshoeing adventure at  Bear Creek Lake State Park, where wildlife find solace, and mountain bikers and horseback riders trade the city for the open meadows. My heritage includes silversmiths and I have been intrigued by the refracted reflections of silver all my life. Here, it reflects the landscape around it and the mirror turns the cottonwoods upside down. I took several high resolution photos of this space while snowshoeing in January. I carried a large mirror and a silver vase as I hiked and gathered the yucca and milkweed seedpods, both native to Colorado. Completed in the studio, this painting took more than 80 hours from composition to final details.