2016
Still Life -
Polka Dots and Moonbeams

Egg/oil tempera 
on paper
38 x 28 cm
Private collection

My daughter Cara (also a painter)
has often urged me to find more
interesting titles for my paintings.
Maybe the title of this Still Life was
somewhat in response to that.

It’s actually a throwback to the title
of a song from 1940 which you
may know. I play it sometimes due
to my interest in jazz. The connection
started through the subject matter
which includes a paper napkin with a
polka dot pattern. The pattern is
also echoed in the perforations in
some of the utensils. However, the
‘Moonbeams’ is more of an imaginative
or perhaps metaphorical expression
through the crescent shape of reflected
light on one of the utensils, the
stripes on the tablecloth or even the
light that illuminates the space in which
they are observed.