Excuse of a Heart

In my last post, I mentioned the exhibition of works of art that featured hearts at the Nina Liu and Friends gallery a few years ago. The second work I made for that exhibition was a slightly revised still life. Once again, it was a still life painting that was not painted to my satisfaction. These are always good to experiment with as there is no compunction about ruining a good thing. A bad painting cannot be made worse - but it can possibly get better. So after toning down some areas and keying up others, I added a small red heart on a platter, leaving it up to the viewer to decide what the heart is and what it signifies. It could be a candy heart with a red wrapper. It could be a locket. It could be a carving. Or it could be an excuse to include it in a thematic exhibition. The painting is now in a private collection in Charleston, SC.