"Table Still Life II" Fine Art Print
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Contents
The print is 18 x 36 inches (22 x 40 with border)
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Print Details
This is a giclée print on archival paper which guarantees a lifetime without fading or colour loss. The original work is oil on canvas and available for sale from the artist.
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Notes from the Artist
The idea of a half-submerged dining table had been with me for several years before I finally had the opportunity to make it happen. The table was set up and photographed in June 2025 onsite at Nimmo Bay and the paintings were created over the following ten months in my studio on Vancouver Island. Every object in these paintings has its own handcrafted story: the seafood was harvested in the morning from the waters surrounding Nimmo Bay, thoughtfully prepared by the culinary team, and carefully arranged on platters and serving vessels. In October 2024, I started learning pottery with the goal of creating an entire table setting specifically for these paintings. I had no experience working with clay, but eight months later the collection was complete. I still remember pulling the last few pieces from the kiln the day before leaving for Nimmo Bay. Every ceramic object in these paintings was made by me. Each piece was either wheel-thrown or hand-built in Victoria, BC, then hand-painted at my studio in North Cowichan, before travelling back to Victoria for final firing. I spent several months researching ceramic vessels, drawing inspiration from pieces in European museum collections. Many of the forms directly reference ancient Greek, Roman, and African pottery, while the painted decoration is based on some of my favourite images from art history. Depicting objects with such a personal connection feels essential to these paintings. It provides a sense of history and authenticity while honouring the effort put into harvesting and preparing the food. My typical approach to a photoshoot is to take hundreds of photographs and spend time refining each detail. This shoot was the opposite: the changing tide meant there was only a brief window to capture the scene before the water transformed it completely. That spontaneity, a bit of that rising tide chaos, comes through in the finished work.
Mitchell Villa Artist Bio
Mitchell Villa's paintings sit at the intersection of the historical and the contemporary, drawing on Rococo and Baroque traditions to inform figurative work that feels both familiar and surreal. Each piece begins months in advance with a single idea, developed through sketches and elaborate photoshoots with live models and props before reaching the canvas. Deeply personal and intuitively made, his large-scale paintings evoke memory more than narrative — watery, vivid, and dreamlike, blurring the line between the real and the remembered. Villa is a self-taught artist based on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
View other works by Mitchell Villa
Despite being a still life, there was an incredible sense of movement in this scene. Currents moved around the table and a steady breeze made it impossible to keep the candles lit. I wanted the painting to capture that subtle movement, allowing the still image to retain the feeling of shifting water and wind.
The reference photos for both still life paintings were taken from the top of a ladder while the water lapped around the bottom rung. Much of the food was prepared on the beach by the chef and it was rewarding to see my handmade serving ware being used for the first time.
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