Oil on unstretched canvas, 30 in. x 19 in. Though at first glace this painting may seem a radical change of direction from the 2 pieces I have previously added to my ArtWanted portfolio, there are more things in common between them than may be readily apparent. This painting was done completely from live observation of a still life. Close examination of the composition will reveal that the subject matter has been presented in multiple scales--this was done as a variation on the idea of multiple views that were utilized by the Cubist painters of the 20th Century. My overall intent was to give the painting a sense of monumentality akin to that which Cezanne is often credited with imbuing in his paintings. I happened to be reading a chapter on the Northern Renaissance (and the Dutch Miniaturists in particular) at the time I began this painting and soon found myself heavily involved in the representation of the pattern in the cloth I had chosen as a backdrop for the still life. It seemed to fit the flavor of this particular painting so I stuck it out and attempted to find all the important details in it. An interesting note on the generation of the title of this piece--the working title as I was executing the painting was Still Life with Ceramic Kitty (rather boring, but an apt description of what I considered the central object of the still life). One thing I happened to be experimenting with as a technical approach in this painting was that I painted it laying flat on a table (like a drawing) rather than upright on an easel. One morning when I was about half way finished with the painting I came down to my studio to find that our cat Chloe had jumped up on the table, walked through my palette and tracked yellow and white kitty prints across the painting. I immediately realized that Cat's Step would be a more appropriate title--particularly since the still life was set up on the 2nd step of a painter's ladder.