“I work from direct observation whether I’m out in the landscape or in my studio with a still life such as this one,” says Jeremiah Patterson. “Titled Independence Day, it’s composed from memories of childhood trips to my Grandmother’s house for the 4th of July, with swims in her pool and walks around her incredible gardens. It was at that time that a gigantic patch of her Black-eyed Susan’s, which flanked one of the pool’s edges, began to flower. While this still life painting avoids the combination of red, white, and blue that is directly synonymous with the 4th of July, it was the shadow on the wall from the flowers that cemented the theme of this work for me. They reminded me of the trails of smoke that blow away from the pom-pom sprays of the explosions at an Independence Day fireworks display. For me, the flowers were the explosion of fireworks, and the shadows, those trails of smoke of the ones that had just faded.”
