Woodland Feast

Woodland Feast

I hope the following explanation of this still life may be of interest. The image was inspired by the recent announcement that a consultation on the future of publicly owned forests and woodland was to go ahead with the idea that they should be offered up for private ownership in various guises.
I currently specialise in producing still life work influenced by the style of Renaissance artists, particularly Dutch and Flemish masters whose own work was often full of symbolism including social/political commentary.
I decided to fill the pewter porringer bowl with a selection of woodland items symbolising forests and woodland in general as a commodity offered up for consumption. Pinecones are symbolic of honesty, longevity and resilience. In various faiths they are also symbolic of the third eye (Pineal gland) enabling a connection to God and therefore symbolic of illumination in which we see things clearly. The oak leaf is symbolic of strength and reliability. The National Trust, Forestry Commission and Woodland Trust all use symbols like these in their logos. The feathers symbolise freedom and the right to roam although the black feather is also symbolic of bad dreams of what may be ahead. The pearls are traditionally symbolic of purity, harmony and humility but there is also a cautionary message- ‘ Do not throw your pearls before swine or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces...’.
The egg is symbolic of the cycle of life whilst the sphere represents the Earth ( Spring, Pagan). The pewter wine goblet and flagon symbolise power, opulence, myth and fantasy. I think that the meaning of the knife is fairly clear whilst the fork has already started without us! The bell sounds a warning,the coins and dice represent a gamble. The closed books- a closed mind.
Cheers, Gary