Rebecca Wagstaff

I have become a still life painter-a painter of objects I consider to be beautiful. I'm not exactly sure how this happened, as I love many painting genres, but I think it has to do with ease with which objects can become symbols. Fruits, flowers, and found objects often have an elegance, grace, fullness or "juiciness" of their own-which makes them very "paintable" but in addition, for me they come to represent ideas, principles, incidents and stories. And while I can't usually interpret a painting of mine element by element, there is a meaning which springs form a combination of my experience, knowledge, reading, and what I have recently been thinking about. I often title my paintings to give a hint to the thought behind the piece. Also, I use geometric elements, such as an arch to suggest an underlying plan or orderliness. The technique of glazing or layering transparent oil paints contributes much to the final look of the painting.