"For two millennia, the Virgin Mary’s image has captivated the world of artists and theologians alike. Inspired by her many tender qualities and by a sense of mystery and awe, I chose to portray this still life under a blue moonlight with a candle light illuminating the miracle working statuette of the Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos. The Annunciation is represented by the bust of an innocent young woman, while in the background, shadowed by orchid pedals, is a della Robbia of the Madonna and Child symbolizing motherly love."

– Peter Adams

"The sight of sailboats silently gliding through the water, sails aglow, was the subject of a vase I painted as part of a series 'Paintings on Vases within Paintings.' Having crewed on my dad’s boats, sailing was in my blood. It was a windless and warm day when I placed white gladiolas, their blossoms like sailboat sails, into that vase, and arranged a sheet, rope, brass bell, and a fishing float with an old but weighty white sail. With sunlight and shadows revealing such beauty and visual poetry, being becalmed was, for once, wonderful."

– Mary Aslin

"As a graduate of the Art Center College of Design and as a professional artist for over 35 years, I enjoy traveling with my wife and dogs across the U.S. looking for unique scenes to capture of our country’s past. I am grateful for the opportunity to share my paintings and to convey my sense of excitement that I feel about God’s gift of life. Watercolor is one of my favorite mediums as it allows me to boldly capture color and to convey my special feelings in scenes such as A Time Gone By."

– Cliff Barnes

"This painting, Final Still Life No. 2, is a bit larger than some of my recent still life paintings, and features a more muted color palette. I chose objects in a narrow color range and lit it accordingly in a cooler light. As with all my work, it is painted from life. Some objects were removed and replaced by others as the painting progressed. The title is a tongue-in-cheek reference to this possibly being the last still life I may ever paint."

– Larry Brooks

"Designed as a work of art to inspire works of art; I planted a beautiful garden around my art studio in Malibu. On November 9, 2018, the Malibu fire swept through my neighborhood. The garden suffered fire, soot, brutal winds, and torrential rains. I feared it would not return to its former glory. Yet, God as the Creator showed evidence that he has a plan for revival and restoration. When the garden resurrected itself, there were more flowers than ever before. I gathered the abundant blooms to make this floral still life. Symbolized is the bountiful mercy of our Lord, who is Himself, The Generous Gardener."

– Cathey Cadieux

"I believe that true art is born as harmony between vibrant colors, bold light and mysterious shade captured on canvas in a very personal way. It is my objective in every painting to create this harmony, by seeing the beauty of the world and mixing in my personal vision and admiration of it in just the right proportions."

– Inna Cherneykina

"Our family farm that once produced large fields of potatoes and onions has downsized and shifted to become a few small fields of popcorn and fall ornamentals (such as pumpkins). This piece is an exploration of that beautiful end of season when the field has largely been picked clean and a few hard frosts have reduced the once lush fields to patterns of organic decay. In some ways, it mirrors what has happened to many once vibrant farming communities, and in others, is a symbol of the cycle of life and progression that will always find a way."

– David Dibble

"The Northern California coast, where I live and work, is full of abandoned, aging cars and trucks hidden away on ranches or shuttered in barns and garages. I am fascinated by the rust and fading paint of these long-forgotten vehicles. This car, a late 1920s Willys Whippet, was housed in a building located on an old movie set in Sonoma County. Hence, the title Dog Tired."

– Drew Fagan

"I am drawn to creating arrangements that evoke an intimacy of elegance and beauty. This small painting of beautiful David Austin roses combined with the Asian pieces give my painting an additional timeless classical feel."

– Amanda Fish

"This is part of an ongoing series of works called, 'Hearts for Hardware,' which elevates the forgotten electronic games of yesteryear to contemporary still lifes. While retro game culture is well entrenched in popular media and art, the hardware itself is my subject here. When excavated from boxes in attics and formalized as still life, it is amazing how art can give new life to obsolete and dying systems, encapsulating eras and associated good memories."

– Randy Gallegos

"I wanted to juxtapose the delicacy of a rose, butterfly, and fruits with the rough crackle of the niche and the hardness of the tarnished silver ewer, thus, converting into art of timeless obsession. Applying several transparent layers of color to reveal light and somber shadows, recalls a great sense of depth and a mysterious luminosity. Artwork that enters our souls and transform a blank piece of canvas into dreams of reality results."

– William Galvez

"I am fortunate and humbled to study the beauty of our world for a living. I work alla prima in a quick manner, which leaves me constantly engaged with each piece. Light and history are what ignite my passion in a subject matter and I try to capture this inspiration and reflect it back to my viewers. I consider myself a visual historian, freezing intimate interior scenes in time. Gatherings from the Garden, Chateau Bridoire is a moment in time that I occupied temporarily, but being such a historic interior, I could feel its timelessness transporting me to the past."

– Lindsay Goodwin

"Fizz is the first in a series of pop bottle paintings based on a collection amassed over many years by my brother. Not your everyday, run-of-the-mill bottles, they are all unique to a specific concoction, geographic region, and/or era. Now in my possession, I am honored to have the opportunity share them with a larger audience and document their whimsy and charm."

– Debra Holladay

"Flowers, particularly azaleas, are the inspiration for this painting. All of the other featured objects, the blue and white teapot and the peaches, emphasize the blossoms as the focus of the painting."

– Jacqueline Kamin

"As the pluot season was nearing its end in August, I was hoping to convey a way to show the life of these beautiful, dusty fruits as they were beginning to fade from their prime. My painting was an attempt to find a way to show that loss in a visual way. Plus, they’re just plain fun to paint."

– Tia Wallace Kratter

"Baking is something we can all relate to in some aspect. It takes me back to the days when I would help my mom and grandmother make cookies in the kitchen. The sweet aromas that filled the air and the sounds of the wooden spoons and clanging pans bring me joy. It was important to work directly from life to study this scene, and gouache was the perfect medium to work quickly and decisively to capture the soft fleeting colors of the natural daylight."

– Heather Ihn Martin

"With my still life paintings of toys, I am examining how symbols are interpreted by individuals and through the lens of cultural dogma. My intention is not to promote a particular concept or ideal, but to inspire analysis and contemplation in my viewers."

– Elizabeth McGhee

"The butterfly is a spiritual symbol for life after death because of its metamorphosis, or transformation, from a caterpillar to an almost ethereal creature. In my painting, Brevity, the butterfly is a reminder of how beautiful yet short this life can be; but also, that the best is yet to come."

– Andrea Mosley

"Great artwork is an externalization of the artist’s internal subjective values. Concepts like; clarity, focus, joy, simplicity, and order are things I value most. I believe this painting embodies all of these traits. I love a good cigar, I love how organized I keep them, and how I group them in my cigar bin. This is the third cigar painting I’ve made. The other two have found homes in Connecticut and Montana."

– Daniel Raminfard

"The pink galah cockatoos are found only in Australia. The rhodochrosite cockatoo, mined in Argentina, was the inspiration for this painting. Rhodochrosite is a very rare stone. I like adding the inspiration to the painting to give the viewer both the reality and the interpretation."

– Gayle Garner Roski

"Striped Blue Cup is inspired by the groundbreaking 1962 exhibition, 'New Painting of Common Objects,' hosted at the then Pasadena Art Museum and including works by Andy Warhol and Wayne Thiebaud. I choose some of my still life subjects because they are so every day and unimportant. They are not beautiful in any obvious sense and have no inherent value. Painting an object like this and trying to make it beautiful is a challenge, but my hope is that the viewer might consider many seemingly unimportant every day moments to be beautiful."

– Bradford J. Salamon

"What started as a tool for sketching quickly became an obsession. Many years ago I learned to draw with ink instead of pencil but overtime I grew tired of disposable pens and wanted something that was enjoyable to hold and responsive to my touch. A friend introduced me to fountain pens. Little did I know how wonderful and diverse the fountain pen world is! What started as a drawing tool has become a collection of pens from Germany, France, Italy, and Asia. I fell in love with the history of fountain pens and they quickly became objects of my paintings."

– Brenda Swenson

"Every time I stand in front of a master’s painting, I try to see and think past the layers of the painting. I believe that the beauty of art is emotional and I strive to paint elegance and calmness using objects such as antique china, musical instruments, and arranged flowers. I aspire to provide my audience the same elegance and calmness. As time passes, I hope the message and effect of my work remains. I am grateful to be trained as a classical artist and intend to learn until the last moment of my life. 'Art in not what you see, but what you make others see.' – Edgar Degas."

– Yun Wei

"The western bluebirds that flourish in my backyard inspired The Pastry Shelf. When they visit, they are as much a part of my consciousness as if they were, in reality, sitting in my worn but much loved kitchen shelf."

– Mary Kay West