Still-Life with Water-pots - Painting by Sarah Myers

Still-Life with Two Water-pots, Sarah Myers
Acrylic on canvas

      My newest painting is a still-life with two water-pots - one holding small date-palm fronds – and between them a cluster of rich red grapes. The larger of the two vessels is a majolica piece decorated in happy, bright patterns; the smaller, with its dignified stance and deep terracotta colour, is pottery created by my sister Amy. Overhead, the sharp, fragile leaves of the palm reach out to embrace the whole – the two jars, a white wall, and the fruit tumbling forward toward us.  

Still-Life with Two Water-pots, detail.  Sarah Myers

Still-Life with Two Water-pots.  Detail of smaller vessel.

Still-Life with Two Water-pots.  Detail.

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

Abundance - Sculpture by Sarah Myers

Abundance, Sarah Myers
Sculpture in terracotta

    Leaning lightly forward, she wraps her arms around her cornucopia brimful with fruits of harvest. A late summer wind stirs in her hair and in the bowing grain.
    This sculpture was created very quickly and spontaneously from my favourite earthenware clay, a terracotta whose formula was originated by my sister and which I make from the dry minerals. The warmth of the clay's tone matches the tumbling fruits and gentle, reaching arms of the figure.

Abundance, Sarah Myers
Sculpture from slightly above

Abundance, Sarah Myers

Abundance, Detail
Sarah Myers

Abundance, sculpture in terracotta.
Side

Abundance, detail.
Sarah Myers

Abundance, Sarah Myers
Sculpture

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

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

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

Basket Bearer, Sculpture by Sarah Myers

Basket Bearer, Sarah Myers
Stoneware

Sculpture, imaginary portrait, and vessel all in one, the Basket Bearer's tranquil quiet is changeless. With fruit in the basket-bowl balanced atop her head, she figures as a centerpiece expressing abundance and natural riches.

Basket Bearer in profile
Sarah Myers

Basket Bearer, detail

Basket Bearer, Sarah Myers

Frontal view

In profile

Basket Bearer
Sculpture in stoneware, Sarah Myers

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

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.

Grapes and Red Pears, Photography by Sarah Myers

Grapes and Red Pears
Photography by Sarah Myers

Mannerist Tangelo, Still-life Photography by Sarah Myers

The plump fruit, with its rich colour; the granite, curved iron, and strong sunlight.

Fruit Still-Life

California Fruit     S. Myers, Photograph 2013

  This and the previous post are still-lifes created with an earthenware pot I built years ago and some produce from my new locale.  The brilliance of the color matched the simplicity of the shapes, everything forming a harmony very far from the flying ice and deep-frozen gray fields I associate with January.

Orange and Green, Still-Life Photograph

Orange and Green     S. Myers, Photograph 2013

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