Sarah Smith's Flowers, Fruit and Insects

My drawing was inspired by Rachel Ruysch's masterful oil painting from 1716 titled, Flowers, Fruit and Insects. I borrowed heavily from this moody, dramatic scene for my ink on paper version recreating certain elements: the nest-raiding lizard, the delicately arching grasses reaching skyward and the powerful sense of light glowing from within this haunting scene.

But it is the exuberant explosion of life quality that I wanted to capture in my drawing. I filled the page with radiating, pulsating patterns of energy emanating outward from within the plants. A decomposing dead shorebird in the shadow of the tree is the source of specks of silvery luminescence mixing with the dirt and lifting off into the air.

Sarah Smith installing her new drawings

The main, central drawing is 38"x50" and the entire installation is 76"x50"
The medium is ink on paper.

Rachel Ruysch's oil painting from 1716

See more of Sarah's work at: http://www.sarahasmith.com