BLUE CUP AND MEASURING TAPE

russelldorey • Jun 14, 2018

( BLUE CUP WITH MEASURING TAPE IV )

This painting PINK BOX from 2013 may have been first time that I used the Blue Cup. It’s the first mention of it that I can find.

( PINK BOX oil on canvas. 26” x 16”. Cat 509 )

Six months later I finished a rather cluttered composition involving the blue cup. I took some of the elements out of the still life, pared down the composition, and arrived at BLUE CUP WITH MEASURING TAPE almost by accident, I’m not sure that I even have a photograph of that first painting.

Cat 529. III. Blue Cup, Tape and Coin. (8''x10'') copy.jpg(  BLUE CUP WITH MEASURING TAPE III. Cat 529 )

I sold BLUE CUP WITH MEASURING TAPE to a friend almost immediately but people kept asking me for it so I put the objects back on my shelf and painted a second version, which I also sold.

( BLUE CUP WITH MEASURING TAPE VII. Cat 645 )

I was initially a little embarrassed about this; I wondered if a similar painting devalued the original but the light and the time of day are different in each painting and I have enjoyed returning to the same composition so they are never identical nor sterile reproductions.

( BLUE CUP WITH MEASURING TAPE VIII. Cat 655 )

People continued to ask about the painting and so I made a third version and I have continued to paint the same composition. I reassemble the cast once or twice a year and paint another version. I have so far made eight versions of BLUE CUP WITH MEASURING TAPE and I’ll stop when I’m bored.

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