Saturday, 25-Jun-11 10:24:00 CEST

Chromium nutcracker

Here is an aquarelle painting from 2007 showing various kinds of nuts and nutshells on a plate together with a chromium nut cracker. Chrome means that there is almost a perfect reflection of the image in the nutcracker.

To the right you see a walnut. To the left behind the nutcracker you see the shell of a sweet chestnut. In front of the walnut you see three oak nuts. To the left of the oak nuts you see a pecan nut. I need to verify these things but for now this is how I believe it to be.

When I listen to the audience of this image I recognize two groups: some see the reflection and some just asks what that big red thing could be. I think the people asking about the big red thing are people with a greater knowledge about nature than the other group who is satisfied with the fact that these objects are nuts so then the big red thing should be that too "but what a nice reflection you got there!".

This is actually a known phenomenon amongst painters that a detail of a painting can send out distraction to the viewer. I think that the big red thing could have been made slightly smaller and that would take away that distraction. On the other hand paintings that give the viewer questions are sometimes the best paintings.