Why “Still life”?

My name is Lucile Chaurin Ablanedo. I was born and raised in Tours, France, and hold a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris. I reside in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with my husband and two daughters and work in my little studio near Harvard Square.

I have always been passionately involved in painting still lifes. Why? First, a still life model does not move! I have control over it; I can move its elements—fruits, plates, flowers—and present them exactly as I want to. Then, this stillness gives me time to meditate, dream, draw, quietly think over my composition and experiment with brush strokes, colors, layers, time to work and achieve my vision.

My art is deeply rooted in the history of painting, mixing old and new, the old European tradition of still life composition, combined with contemporary textures and abstract surfaces.

To me, still life paintings are an opportunity to reflect and feel emotionally connected to the world around us, celebrating the cycle of seasons and beauty in every day life .

Why “Factory”?

At the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, we were a small group of students interested in still life painting. One day, our teacher and mentor, Pierre Carron, seeing us at work, said that we should create “une usine à natures mortes” (in English, a still life factory)! The name of my online gallery is a way of paying homage to the great master he was.

“Factory” means “making,” with energy and consistency, offering a wide choice of pieces, with constant new additions. However, unlike factory-made objects, each painting is original and unique!