I decided to make several canvases in exactly the same dimensions as the Boldini and then start experimenting with the composition. Still Life with Onions was one of my first efforts. Here I was interested in keeping the Japanese influence in the placement of the objects in space. I also hoped to bend and warp the space a bit. My own sensibility is very much influenced by modernist artists, such as Jules Olitski and Morris Louis. With them, my sense of what exists outside the painting seems as important as what is in the painting. In Still Life with Onions, I was quite conscious of how I cropped the composition.

The palette I chose was very limited: white, off-white, pink, lavender, gray and a black with a purple undertone. The translucent Lalique vase mimicked the layers of the white onions. I wanted the objects to either reflect light or have light pass through them. (These qualities became more pronounced with subsequent paintings.) The Brush Stroke china c.1830 was chosen for its own painterly quality. The open lace work has delighted me with its ability to be seen through, as well as be a reflective surface. It has been used in most of the paintings in this series. The Lalique vase was bought in Paris by my grandfather in 1929. Its smoky lavender glass changes with the light.

With my still life paintings I have set out to bridge the worlds of traditional subject matter and modernist composition. The objects I have included in these still lifes were chosen for the way they reflected light, their shape and color, and lastly for their personal meaning to me.

Leslie Parke, Shushan, New York, April 2, 2000.