Still Life

A tall ochre vessel holds the centre of the table, fruit resting to one side, a draped cloth falling toward us in muted earth tones.

There’s a settled quiet to everything on the table. The tall vase anchors the scene, and the rounded fruit leads out to the cloth that spills toward us. The surface holds these deep earth tones—umber and muted green meeting a dusty ochre—lifted only where light catches on glass or ceramic. The paint itself changes. It’s smoother in the shadows, but becomes thick and ridged on the skin of the fruit. Light falls from above, soft but certain, giving each thing its gentle shape. A patient silence sits over the table, the kind that lingers after the room has emptied.