Still Life, Portrait, The Blogger

This is another in the series of still lives I’ve begun taking of Maria at a different kind of work than we usually see, but one central to her work. Her concentration is impressive, and the scene does evoke the old portrait painters. I like that effect. I will try for more of these stilllifes; they say a lot.

12 Comments

this is a lovely portrait and I DO agree with what Kathleen said a few days ago….VERY reminiscent of Vermeer……and one of the best ones!
Susan M

Looks like a Vermeer!❤️! Lovely.

That’s not a still life–a still life is always an arrangement of objects. It’s a portrait.

Jon Katz says:

February 27, 2024 at 10:42 AM

Donald, this is a still life as I, my artist wife, and friends know it. Here’s the Wikipedia definition of a still life; it happens to be mine also;

“A still life is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural or human-made. Wikipedia”

This is, to me, a consciously inanimate subject, not a person or animal in motion.
It is, in fact, just like many still-life portraits and photos. Secondly, I decide what to call my art, not you or any other stranger on Facebook or the Internet. I know the correctors love to correct people on social media, but I don’t need or care for it or seek it’s wrong way too often. Maria taught art for some years; she likes the photo and what I call it. Please don’t do it again, thanks.

I put much thought into this photo, and, like what I labeled it, it reflected my thinking and vision, not yours. I can always tell a social media corrector because they have nothing to say about the photo it self. Art, for me, is about something other than official terminology or the one way of doing things. It’s about experimentation and feeling. Nothing is always. I don’t see that in your message.

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