I have a friend who has taken up painting. He had a learning curve with what he was painting and has gotten much better. I love his work when the painting tells a story. Sometimes he tells a well known story and sometimes he "had a dream". For instance he did a painting around 2002-4 of a forest and a river. Two groups of men were in the picture. One on horseback and the other in canoes on the river. On the far side of the river is an Indian (Native American) village. I looked at the painting and immediately said, "Lewis and Clark expedition on the Yellowstone River." He replied, "How did you know that?" I said, "the expedition was two hundred years ago and the government is trying to make a big thing of it.

To me, Still Life is just that, while your painting may be a study of color and brush stroke. I want a story.