Photo Album: MAPS Program "Setting Up Exciting Still Lifes"

Donna Aldridge has become well known over the years for her exciting and varied set ups for both models and still lifes. Here she presents a program to fellow members of the MidAmerica Pastel Society on how she goes about planning a new set up for both her own use and/or for the artists working in her classes or workshops. Several tables across the front of the room were filled with scores of fabrics, pots, urns, boxes, bowls, dishes, fruits, and so on. Donna demonstrated to the group various ways she organizes still lifes based on color schemes, subject matter, mood, repeating shapes or other inspirations. Three still lifes are visible above, the first, "Odilon Holding Court" in which a crisp beige silk fabric with pin stripes of blue-green and occasional thin stripes of red was the inspiration around which this set up was developed. The next, "Time in Purple, Red and Gold" was organized around the patterned silk scarf flowing out of the ochre vessel. The last, "Lemons on Gray" was started with a desire to do a gray-based painting after a number of very richly-colored pieces. The lemons seemed a perfect foil for the several gray items which include a raku pot, an old silver railroad coffee pot, a favorite gray silk scarf with cream patterns and a warm gray scarf that is rather sheer. See close-ups of these pastel paintings in the Gallery Section. Digital Photo by John Mutrux, Mutrux & Associates Photography www.mutrux.com

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