Still Life: Books And Papers On A Desk by Catherine M. Wood

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It is always an amusement to see how the skilled artist picks everyday items and turns them in such a beauty with their skill that we can’t resist ourselves saying ‘that’s something unique’.

In this oil-on-canvas painting, there are just some old newspapers and books decked up so randomly, it almost looks like a garbage-pile at the first glance. But then as we look closely, we slowly realize the fact that it’s some extraordinary art-work achieved by a huge effort. The more you observe, the more you understand about every detail artist put into it to create the realistic aura.

Strokes of the brushes are used intelligently showing the perfect textures of objects.  Like, we can assume the cloth under the pile is made out of silk. And the light falling on the entire scene is coming from a half-opened door.

Hardly seen ship model and some heavy books in the backdrop say this desk is in a wealthy person’s house. The little wooden casket hiding under a folded newspaper and the white-golden pocket watch tells us the same.

The person who uses this table is a lazy or an unorganized person. Or he is using this desk as an extra space. Organizing things is a good habit but it’s not necessarily true for everyone. Here, I remember a line said by Albert Einstein – “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk is a sign?” His own desk was always stayed cluttered all the time and still he is the most genius person in recent times.

Well, Catherine was before Einstein, and maybe she meant other intentions behind illustrating the folded papers and old books. Least we can say is she tried to make a beautiful piece of art from so random and unattractive things that most artists wouldn’t even think about choosing them as a subject. Maybe that’s the courage you need to become a remarkable artist.