Tea with the Tools

2008

36" X 28"

Oil on Panel

SOLD

It took hours to get these tools to behave
and stay in their positions long enough for me paint this “still” life.

Just as I was finally getting them to calm down,
the lemon fork to stand at attention, the teabag to stop twirling,
and the sugar cube to stay put in the silver tongs….
our most wonderful neighbors, Sue and daughter Zola, came for a visit.

We talked about bird nests and feathers and how Zola wants to be a Zookeeper.
Zola is a bright and curious bundle of eight year old energy and so,
when she approached this set up on the workbench…
I was watching.

She stood there for a while,
checking it all out
and then reached out with the speed of a dragonfly for the precariously balancing sugar cube…
ZOLA !!! WAIT !!!!
“What ?”, she says, looking up at me with consternation
Remember Z, you mustn’t touch anything in Heather’s studio
“But….I LIKE sugar !”, she says.

Sue and I have been getting a chuckle out of that at our morning chats over the studio fence ever since.