I've always loved still lifes. Plenty of people find them boring, but I think their rich symbolism of life and death is fascinating. This still life was referenced from an arrangement of fake flowers, which perhaps defeats the point, but I wanted to mimic some of my favorite real still lifes by adding living bugs to the cut and slowly "dying" flowers.
I lavished the flowers and vases with detail, but left the surface they sit on blank to break the margins of the dark background, which I also left undetailed to emphasize the focal point of the piece.
Graphite; 14" x 20.25" on 18" x 24" paper
