National Rose Month: Day 15

“Beauty is ever present like the light of sun – even in the most humble object, only it takes an artist’s vision to detect it, and an artist’s skill to reproduce it.”

—Emil Carlsen

Emil Carlsen is a favorite artist of mine to study. He was a still-life painter who first studied architecture in his homeland of Denmark and immigrated to the U.S. at age 19. Influenced by the master still-life painter Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Carlsen was a leading exponent of the Chardin revival in France.

I was inspired by his painting, The Golden Background, with a vertical composition of an Asian white and blue porcelain footed bowl with dark blue rim band, tall white ceramic vase with raised Asian decorative mark, blue ceramic ginger jar with white cherry blossom pattern on stand with black lid. The background helps to draw your eye to the blue ginger jar and has an airy antique quality to it.

Here is my interpretation of a golden background with my blue and white willow ware jar and some roses strewn on the tabletop.

The Golden Background
● Sold (14 x 11 inches, oil on panel)