A Snifter Full of Peppermint…(Video)
Still life study of brandy snifter with peppermint sprigs with tiny print of one of my old drawings. Digital painting in Procreate. Sheeba Maya ©2024.
Digital Still Life Studies
This has been my focus for the past week or so. Still a lot of set up to do and things to move into the studio. Unpacking, cleaning, setting up, and recovering from the exhaustion swallowed up a lot of time. Months.
But things are comfy enough now to get back into creative work. I may not have have all my stuff at hand…but i can work digitally to keep my hand moving.
Motivation & Purpose
I remember this feeling when I first moved to NY. I lost nearly everything that mattered/I worked hard for. But I still had my computer and tablet and the motivation to learn how to use it to draw and paint.
I’ve come a long way since then. Looking around my new apartment, I feel really grateful to be here. I feel peace when I notice these little beautiful moments around the place. I kept feeling the urge to take pics of these things and just paint them…
So that’s what I did. I got out of my head…knocked of the rust…put action behind a simple idea…just to see what it would feel like….just to get myself over the hump of confronting the blank canvas and get back into the rhythm of creating.
observations & Meaning
I noticed I really enjoy when the sunlight was dazzling on the dishes around the kitchen. The track lighting is so pretty too. Classy. It makes the mood feel so relaxed and all the dishes and food just look ….elevated. At least prettier than how things looked and felt living at grandmas house.
I love making arrangements of my grandmothers beautiful things tho. I cleaned everything to a sparkle. I place them with intention and my own aesthetic in mind…just so… so they will catch the light.
I also love gardening. I’m so eager to get something in dirt and watch it grow. I put some grocery store peppermint in water to see if it would propagate so i can plant it later. I love the bits of green in this very white room. Gives it so much life. A dash of color but still neutral.
The woman with winged headdress on the post card is a print of a drawing i did in 2016ish. Slowly putting up my own artwork to make the space mine….l u x u r y after living in my grandmothers decor (which hadn’t changed much since c. 1987.)
So the thought of a still life with transparent objects and slice-of-life moments seemed like a good skills challenge. Approachable enough.
Lessons Learned
I learn a lot from these kind of texture studies. They feel low pressure but the results can be rich. Painting the caustics from the light traveling thru the water and glowing across other surfaces was exciting to watch unfold. Figuring out how to keep the water crystal clear, in a clear glass against a white wall and a white counter was very satisfying. I really enjoyed redrawing old work too. This really made it more than just an object against the wall. It was art of art. There’s a story in the objects and how their placed. I think i changed the portrait to look more like me than the original drawing. I love how she *peek-a-boo*’s at you from behind the leaf.
Final Thoughts
This exercise was rewarding. I’m officially back in a groove. Nothing feels quite like being in a zone. It’s a natural high.
This exercise also amplified my gratitude for having made progress in so many places. Sometimes the never ending, ever evolving to-do list will trick me into thinking I’m behind. But this was something that really made me connect with the pleasure in being present.
