The Demise of Beauty

The Demise of Beauty

Oil on antique wood panel

45cm x 52cm

For a long time, we had two beautiful mature Calla Lilly plants growing in our garden and I would periodically cut some for the house.  I used to love how they always made any room look and feel both elegant and serene. But, as with all things that are living that have been cut from their life source, they soon wilted and became brown and brittle and would be put into the green waste recycling caddy.

This happened quite a few times before it dawned on me one day how beautiful they were in their throes of demise, that I felt inspired to make a painting of them.

Around that time, I had also acquired a job lot of antique wooden panels. Apparently, this one was from an old Italian sideboard that someone had brought to my husband's wood recycling business, so I decided that I would it as a substrate for this painting.

By way of informing the narrative of the subject matter, I was careful to retain the natural patina of the panel and make a feature of the deep scratches and scrapes that had built up over the many years of its existence as a piece of furniture in a domestic setting.