In my Modern Masters painting class (at the
Dundas Valley School of Art) we are studying a genre of artwork called
memento mori. The purpose of this genre is to remind us of our mortality.
Although this is a very morbid genre, I painted this piece with a rather bright and warm feel because let's face it, we cannot have life without death. And life is a warm, bright and wonderful thing!
This is a very deep and personal piece to me. The book is actually my great grandmother's bible. She wrote out the names of each family member who died in that bible. The egg was painted by my deceased grandmother. It is a symbol of life but at the same time the egg is boiled and dead. The pearls represent my grandmother on my mother's side. She is getting very old now but is still so beautiful. The rings represent life commitment and love. But the rings are also a worldly object which will be left behind when we die. In the background is a broken violin who's playing days are over (or at least until someone decides to fix it).
This was created with an iPad, a program called Brushes iPad edition, and a Nomad brush.
I would like to thank my Mom very much for lending me all the objects in this piece and for being awesome!
Thanks for reading this and cheers!
On a side note, this song was playing in my head the entire time that I was painting this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X2fdGEWOhA
