As Jean-Lluc Picard famously said, "I've become aware that there are fewer days ahead than there are behind" which is where I (sadly) am after taking early retirement and launching a second, creative and photographic career that has been nipped in the bud by C-19. I've always been interested in old Dutch genre paintings and having seen some of them in the Rijksmuseum I am amazed at the tangibility of the artefacts in these paintings. Many of these works reflect the vanitas tradition of cut flowers that reflect the short blooming of our lives on this sphere, and the use of other devices to highlight the passage of time, or rather, time past and lost to us. Covid-19, where we have all lost people ahead of their time also weighs heavy on my mind.
From this place or mood - I have explored the vanitas tradition and set myself the target of only using natural light from a north-facing window to create this still life: a Vanitas and a Lament for 2020.
