small format art - Tamara Jare works

Early spring still life

Feb 2, 2021

Early Spring Still Life is a small format oil on canvas painting. Basically I am working on some bigger projects right now and my studio is full of paintings in progress. Which I absolutely love, although one project specifically is giving me some troubles! Yet the early spring sun of February is already bright and the hyacinth is popping out on the window. With all the oil colors already on my palette I just had to set a quick composition to paint it immediately, just because all those colors were stunning. Look at the pink baby roses, they by a miracle survived this winter and are flowering in the garden even now! And then the purple hyacinth bulb with emerging green stems! Painting this small canvas really felt like playing with the composition, colors and emerging into the ocean of bright morning sunlight, almost giving me energy as I’ve proceeded. It’s been almost a year since we all have felt a sort of entrapment due to pandemics. I believe this could be the reason this spring is bringing so much promises. And just this are the feelings I’ve wanted to capture here…..

The mystery of things? I have no idea what mystery is!
The only mystery is there being someone who thinks about mystery.
When you’re in the sun and shut your eyes,
You start not knowing what the sun is
And you think a lot of things full of heat.
But you open your eyes and look at the sun
And you can’t think about anything anymore,
Because the sun’s light is worth more than the thoughts
Of all philosophers and all poets.
The light of the sun doesn’t know what it’s doing
So it’s never wrong and it’s common and good.

Fernando Pessoa

Tamara Jare Slovenian artist contemporary still life painting of emerging hyacinth, pink roses twig and porcelain round box on green table in yellow room strong vivid colors wll art artwork painting wall art art collector — Early Spring Still Life, Tamara Jare, oil on canvas, 2021

Variation in blue

Jun 14, 2020

Variation in blue is a still life I’ve painted back in 2018. This small format oil on linen is still dear to my heart.

Painting a still life by me usually starts with a small walk around my garden. It is a sort of meditation, preparation for the painting process. Which flowers would I pick depends on the mood of the moment. And, obviously, it depends on the time of the year in the garden. Spring is always joyous, bringing first colors to the nature, then comes the summer with all the richness of the blossoming plants, fall again has it’s own colors, just as beautiful.

But at that time, when I wanted to pick at least something from the garden to paint, there was November. And not much around the garden to pick For at that late autumn time garden is usually still, frozen on time, waiting for first snow to come on it’s cold mornings.

So instead, I took some chrysanthemums from the bouquet in our living room. Just some white and blue blossoms for the small vase. And painted them immediately, capturing those blue and white hues, trying to catch light of that November morning before the snow fell to our garden…….