On the Shelf

Of all the subjects I've done in watercolor, still life is the least common. Over the years most of my watercolors have been plein air sketching outdoors, with a sprinkling of interiors done when weather wasn't hospitable for outdoor work.But this subject--three figurines of mine that I see every day--has been on my mind for a while. 

"On the Shelf," wc on paper

The three figures are quite diverse. There is a netsuke figure, a reproduction of a famous buddha figure, and a reproduction of a gargoyle from Notre Dame. Netsuke are very small, an art form that evolved from a more utilitarian purpose into exquisite works. The buddha is a copy of the Kamakura daibutusu--an enormous bronze statute of Amitabha, a prominent buddha of East Asia. The statue is hollow, nearly 45 feet tall, built about 1252.