Still Life: still popular today thro’ artists such as Christine Derrick

What is still life?

A still life is a work of original art showing commonplace objects which may be either natural (food, flowers, plants, rocks, or shells) or man-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes, and so on). It was particularly popular in the 17th century. Still life paintings give the artist more leeway in the arrangement of design elements within a composition than do paintings of other types of subjects such as landscape or portraiture.

Some contemporary still life break the two-dimensional barrier and employs three-dimensional mixed media, and uses found objects, photography, computer graphics, as well as video and sound.

Still life is still popular today and many contemporary artists are producing beautiful original art such as Christine Derrick. Below elegant poppy by Christine Derrick

Original Still Life Paintings by Christine Derrick

Christine Derrick has been producing original art for many years, beginning with local landscapes and later exploring the possibilities of other subject-matter; eventually tackling floral themes for the first time in the late 1990′s.

Setting out as a tentative beginner in the mid-70′s with oils – later on including pastels and then acrylics just a few years ago – she has been concentrating particularly on floral pictures and related themes since 1999. Her original art has moved through several stages of development: from small, realistic studies suited to local exhibitions, to larger experimental paintings on canvas.
Popular approaches have also included a single flower portrayed on a large canvas, creating a kind of floral icon.Christine Derrick still enjoys landscapes, but the mainstays of her production throughout a year are flowers and related topics. She chooses oils for smooth, flowing styles of work; and acrylics for bold colouring, especially when metallics and texture are explored.