This painting was inspired by the large collection of antique bottles my mother sent me. There is a wide variety of shapes and sizes. It began with a drawing from life. As I sketched each bottle, I turned my paper in all directions and overlapped the bottles, which made a more interesting arrangement than just standing next to each other on a shelf.

In choosing the colors, I decided from the start to use blue as the dominant pigment. Most of my recent paintings are warm colors: reds, orange and yellows. I did use some warm quinacridone sienna for highlights around the featured bottles that interested me the most. For repeating patterns, a linear design was added around the bottles in emerald green, black and red. Some detailed wording on the bottles was included too. My favorite bottle was a very tiny one of Dr. Daniels Veterinary Colic Drops.