Still-life with Pineapple - Painting by Sarah Myers

Still-life with Pineapple, Sarah Myers

In this large still-life are combined a handsome pineapple, an exuberant vase of red clay, a pair of early oranges from our own orange tree, and two solemn red pears. Shape echoes shape and colours mirror colours in smaller and larger forms. The spheres of the oranges imitate the rotund base of the pottery; the outline of the more prominent pear reflects the upright body of the pineapple, though its colour – apart from the brown tones that describe its softer, natural substance - is very similar to the earthenware pot.

This painting is in acrylics. The vase is a rendering of a hand-built ceramic by my sister Amy Myers.

Still-life with Pineapple, Sarah Myers.  Detail.

Still-life with Pineapple, detail.

Still-life with Pineapple, Sarah Myers
Detail

Still-life with Sculpture and Pot of Flowers - Photography by Sarah Myers

Photographic Still-life with Sculpture and Pot of Flowers, Sarah Myers
Ceramic Pottery by Amy Myers
Sculpture by Sarah Myers

A small post – a photographic still-life with a sculpture in terracotta, a pot filled with garden flowers, and a few books on an antique gilded table. The ceramic pot is hand-built by my sister Amy Myers, and is in the same red earthenware as my figure of a woman with windblown cloak.

Still-life with Sculpture and Lemons - Painting by Sarah Myers

Still-life with Sculpture and Lemons

     This still-life is a painting of one of my sculptures in red clay (terracotta) and a bowl of the same material, made by my sister Amy Myers – the vessel contains a heap of fresh lemons from our lemon tree. The intense orange surrounding these objects was a real backdrop of painted canvas. The fiery colour of summer light is held by the fire-baked clay and the glowing yellow fruit, the strong hues are at once sober and happy...  

Still-life with Sculpture and Lemons, Sarah Myers
Detail, bowl of lemons

Still-life with Sculpture and Lemons, Sarah Myers
Detail of sculpture

Bright Afternoon Bouquet - Photography by Sarah Myers

Brilliant Flowers
Photography by Sarah Myers

A small cluster of flowers becomes a flaming torch of joyful colour in the afternoon sunlight.  The simple vase with a brown-black "volcanic" glaze was made by my sister Amy Myers.  It holds a cluster of ruby-red, orange, and orange-yellow nasturtiums, a bunch of scarlet pelargoniums (geraniums) and three cheerful tetraneuris daisies.  These - the yellow daisies at the top - came from Amy's desert garden, while the other blooms are from my pots of flowers in the patio.

Cluster of Flowers
Photography, Sarah Myers

Nasturtium Detail
Photography, Sarah Myers

Bright Bouquet in Afternoon Light
Photography, Sarah Myers

Large Still-Life with Pumello - Painting by Sarah Myers

Still-life with Pumello, Sarah Myers

In this very large still-life are two warm red, earthenware vessels, hand-built by my sister, Amy Myers; around and inside the clay pots are fruit, dark grapes and an enormous, yellow-green pumello. The colour of the pumello is, as depicted in the picture, a bracing chartreuse; it is a plump fruit, ancestor of the grapefruit, with thicker rind and blander taste. It is slightly flattened, and for the painting's composition I actually propped it upright on the single grape you see under it to the right. The rest of the grape cluster, climbing from the earthenware bowl, fills the space left between bowl and the tall red pot. The artwork is acrylic on canvas.

Still-Life with Pumello, Sarah Myers
Detail

Detail

Still-Life with Pumello, Sarah Myers
Detail of grapes

Bright Flowers Light a Dim Day - Photography by Sarah Myers

Bright Bouquet, Sarah Myers
Photography

     On an overcast day, these bright colours came inside - simply a yellow rose, a dark red rose, cherry-coloured geraniums, some orange lantana. In a graceful vessel by my sister Amy Myers, they bring a vivid fistful of beauty to the room, like the music of trumpets and violins on an empty, still noon.

Flowers on a Dim Day, Sarah Myers
Photography

Visitors to the Garden - Photography by Sarah Myers

Bees on Silver and Gold, Sarah Myers
Digital Photography

   Diligent bees with gold bands and filmy wings, humming in and out of the flowers - the ferocious-looking but most welcome guardian of the garden, a giant bronze dragonfly - the tiny silver glint of a blue-gray butterfly, with a curled tongue still tasting sweetness - all these small visitors have been spotted among the flowers, taking as their own world the beauty and brightness of the garden. I captured these images in my sister's garden in the desert, whose progress you can read about here; the pictures are from late summer, early autumn days when the air was full of busy creatures, full of this smaller world which we gladly welcome as our own.  

Guardian of the Desert Garden, Sarah Myers
Digital Photography

Silver on Rose, Sarah Myers
Digital Photography

Still-Life with Two Oranges, Painting by Sarah Myers

Still-Life with Two Oranges, Sarah Myers

    Central to this painting are two vessels in warm white stoneware, whose long, handsome lines contrast with the abrupt brightness of the oranges.  The pitcher and handled cup are a muted, gentle tone but hard in their surfaces, where the fruit with its brash colour and simple spheres make a much more yielding substance.

The ceramics were created by Amy Myers. The still-life is acrylic on canvas.

Still-Life with Two Oranges, detail
Sarah Myers

Still-Life, detail
Sarah Myers

Simple Roses and Sky - Photography by Sarah Myers

Simple Rose, Arch and Sky
Sarah Myers, Photography

Returning from a walk in my sister's rose garden, the radiance of these roses against the sky persuaded me to create a post dedicated to their grace. They are simple, open blooms because of the warmth and light, the late summer brightness you see surrounding them.

Roses in a Warm Breeze.
Sarah Myers, Photography

Flatbread in an Earthenware Dish - Photograph, Sarah Myers

Flatbread in an Earthenware Dish
Photography by Sarah Myers

Flatbread stacked in an earthenware bowl sits beside a melon, pomegranate, and garlic on the granite in our kitchen. The deep, sculptured dish is my creation from many years ago - it has a wreath of fruit and flowers twisted around the rim. The delicious loaves are baked by Amy Myers.

Still-Life with Red Pitcher - Sarah Myers

Still-Life with Red Pitcher, Sarah Myers
Acryllic on Canvas

Detail, Still-Life with Red Pitcher

The central form in this still-life is a pitcher, or Oinochoe, in warm red earthenware, created by Amy Myers.  A pomegranate and lemons roll among folds of linen.

Pomegranate from Still-Life with Red Pitcher

In the Rose Garden

Lucious Roses
Photography, Sarah Myers

On a walk in the desert rose garden tended by Amy Myers I found this exquisite cluster.

Square of Roses
Photograph, Sarah Myers

The Birthday Bouquet Flies

The Birthday Bouquet Flies

With blooms of roses and myrtle from her garden, my sister created this bouquet for my birthday.  In my favorite picture above, an ethereal crystal vase filled with flowers flies through the air.

Roses in a Crystal Vase

Morning Cherries, Photography by Sarah Myers

Morning Cherries
Photography by Sarah Myers

A bowl of deep red, juicy fruit and their crowd of little stems, just waiting...  And the cheerful orange of lantana.  The bowl and the pot are handthrown ceramics by Amy Myers, see her creations here.

Wine-Coloured Chrysanthemums

Chrysanthemums, Desert Branches in a Pitcher
Photography by Sarah Myers

Great, glowing burgundy chrysanthemums, placed in a graceful pitcher - a form inspired by an ancient Greek shape, the oinochoe, and created by Amy Myers.  Photography by Sarah Myers.

Wine-coloured Chrysanthemums
Photography, Sarah Myers

Living with Art - Two Sculptures in Interiors

Sculpture and Yellow Roses in a Nicho
Sculpture is "Woman with a Mirror" by Sarah Myers

   Two photographs, both with gold tones; my sculptures sited in interiors.  In the first, roses, orange blossoms, and jewelry surround "Woman with a Mirror".  The second photo shows "Bull's Head" on an antique gold table, with Amy Myers' "Exuberance", a still-life of yellow Inca lilies, above the table on the wall.

"Head of a Bull", Sarah Myers -
Painting is "Exuberance" still-life, Amy Myers

Still-Life and Amy Myers Rustic Collection

Still-Life with Grapes and White Bowl, S. Myers   Photograph 2012

White Pot, Rustic Collection
Amy Myers
Stoneware, Tin-White Glaze

     
   Earlier this year I was privileged to take photos for Amy Myers' "Rustic Collection", a series of hand-thrown ceramics inspired by the Middle Ages -  by its rustic daily ware, produced at the same time the great French cathedrals were being built, and full of the same astonishing combination of sunlight, quiet, and overwhelming nervous energy. 

White Bowl, Rustic Collection
Amy Myers
Stoneware, Tin-White Glaze

    Amy Myers has conveyed this emotion into her collection, which are her own forms and conception but also her own materials: glaze, clay, and combinations.  I endeavored to capture their quality in my photography.  Beside the set of pictures I took for her site, I also created a still-life with the bowl from the series.  I feel it to be a sober, handsome composition, suggesting simplicity rather than over-abundance; the quiet gravity of the pottery has created its own core balance.

White Pitcher, Rustic Collection
Amy Myers
Stoneware, Tin-White Glaze