Interestingly, the galleries of paintings on Steve Smulka’s website are divided into two sections: Women and Glass.
Though seemingly disparate subjects, the relationship becomes more apparent when you observes his fascination with the way light affects both kinds of compositions.
Light is transmitted and refracted through his glass objects, which include heavy jars and bottles as well as decanters with their spherical stoppers and thick sides that bend, curve and curl their dark and light values into fascinating patterns, while transmitting beautifully rendered elements of landscape through their shapes in many instances.
In his portraits of women, light plays across their faces and bodies, often covered in drapery, with rows, valleys and translucent areas across and through which the light can also create intriguing patterns and contrasts. The compositions with women also often include animals.
You will also find a few different still life subjects on the sites of galleries that display Smulka’s work (listed below).
