This vanitas-style painting was a joy to create—a moody, dark composition that lets the light values shine like they’re glowing from within. 🐚 🖌️🎨 Vanitas paintings, rooted in the Dutch tradition, are symbolic still lifes that remind us of life’s transience and the passage of time. They often feature objects like shells, skulls, and other delicate treasures as metaphors for mortality and the fleeting nature of worldly beauty. For this piece, I focused on seashells, with the pearl and paua she