Studio Reflections by Susan Paterson

Antique silver, especially with ornate decoration, fascinates me and I've been collecting and painting it for several years. I love the other world silver creates in it's reflections. You're not just painting the object, but the world around and in front of it. It tells a more complete story about the space.  I often use almost monochromatic colours, prefering to concentrate on the subtlties, the warms and cools and tiny shifts in colour. I contrasted the darker, harder edged silver with the softness and off white tones of the lace and tablecloth. I set up my still life in a box beside a window in my studio and working from life, started with a detailed drawing transferred to the panel, then the underpainting and then several layers of colour.