Monday, October 31, 2011

Vanitas With Vaporizer large original mixed media painting


Vanitas With Vaporizer by Polly Jones






Hello and Happy Halloween to you!  I think this ones done.  It pretty much wore me out.  30" by 40" used to not seem so large until I got on this spate of small paintings.  I plan on putting it in the annual Center for Contemporary Art fundraiser auction that will open on November 7th. 

Here's a pretty interesting link to the term Vanitas in Wickepedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanitas

I like this theme because it conveniently combines my love for still life subject matter with a desire to keep in mind the fleeting quality of life.  The blue sage flower shows a transition of bloom down the stem, from fresh to old and withered. I believe the good here on earth is just a pale hint of what's to come in the next life.  So in keeping with this I have used some of my vintage papers from The Golden Encyclopedia that include an Egyptian mummy and also a (kind of cartoon like) chart of how to butcher a pig.  I used the old green vaporizer tub to paint because of how it looks and also because I love the idea of ephemeral vapor.  I've heard that the use in Ecclesiastes of the word "vanity" can be interpreted as "breath."

SOLD

3 comments:

kara rane said...

Polly~ very lovely work.
beautiful spiritually*

Polly Jones said...

Thank you so much Kara, I was feeling like maybe I had over-shared a bit. I never know how much to go into about my motives etc.

Sheriart said...

This is so fun and full of life. I love all the detail too.