Pears, Figs, Saffron & Butterfly
16”x20” - Acrylics on canvas - 2025
Art to Hearts Projects – 101 Art Book : Food Edition (Selected work)
This painting extends the still life into a small communal arrangement. The fruits rest closely together, and each pear—through its shape, tilt, and hue—suggests its own temperament. It’s composed in a way that makes the grouping feel subtly conversational, allowing the spacing and overlaps to create an emotional rhythm. Shadow acts as the linking element here, moving between the forms and softening their edges so they feel nestled within their environment rather than staged.
After several works on cold-press paper, I shifted to canvas for this piece. The composition was sparked by a still-life photograph I came across on Instagram: an atmospheric image created by @jamiebeck.co for @ffern.co’s Autumn ’24 perfume collection. The soft lighting, rich textures, and contrasting colours stayed with me long after I saw it. I kept thinking about the arrangement, the ingredients, and the quiet storytelling held within the objects, and it felt like a natural direction for my ongoing ‘Pears’ series.