I used to hate painting still lifes! My favorite type of work was figures but as an artist, there are many technical lessons you can learn from a still life. I used to interview my classmates and ask them what they enjoyed about painting them in hopes that I could adopt their ideas and change my outlook on painting them. After several years it must have worked because now I enjoy painting them. I set up the objects in a light box that I constructed and over the years I gathered many interesting cuts of cloth that I thought had interesting patterns on them. In preparing a still life, the most important part is the setup. I will often take several days to find the right combination of objects, color patterns, lighting, and overall composition. Not only is this good practice for other applications in painting such as portraiture or larger multi-figurative works, but it also ensures a beautiful and unique still life painting. If you have any still life ideas or perhaps something sentimental you want painted in a particular mood, I would love to work with you to help you create a special painting that you will always have and can hand down to your family.