A feast for the eyes ! Wondrous colours as usual and what a refined taste ! I like the bit of humble leave "resting like a loving pet" between the so "caring" apricots! Touching still life which for instance I never find in Chardin.
I adore peaches but I have thing about the "fuzz." I'm the only one in my family that has to peel them. But I can look at them forever, as in this utterly gorgeous painting. Now Alain, you're going to make me go back to one of my favorite painters, Chardin (after Julian, naturellement), just to check and see if he has any "nuzzling" leaves, nestling, lovingly, near his peaches....See what you do to us? We not only admire, study, compare, and are enriched, Julian et Alain by the former's paintings and the latter's comments. Thank you both.
Jol, this painting reminds me of Chardin, with humanness here in addition. The self portraits of Julian confirm that. But what amazes me is each brushstroke looks also clever. Everything seems spontaneous but almost nothing is randomly made. How striking it is to spot so many technical links between Julian and... Frans Hals (in particular how the latter painted faces), even more than for instance with Cezanne, Velasquez, Fragonard or Soutine!
Alain, I used to appreciate the Flemish, Dutch, even French still lives, but A.J.(apres Julian) I find them crowded. I saw a Chardin exhibit a few years ago, and began to understand what "economy" was. That's also why I love Morandi. Julian, your paintings are sparse, and consequently much more intense than the vast accumulation of fruits, vegetables, etc. that one finds in the Flemish masters. One appreciates your intensity, the sparseness of your work. One seems to "enter" into their reality.Even your gorgeous and incredibly large still lives displayed on the QM2 never give one the feeling of being crowded. Merci.
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