How the simple composition manages to be both decorative and compelling is Saunders' particular skill. Harmony of color and form is again echoed in Brioche, where three plump little pastries, ready for devouring, are placed upon an intricate pastoral celadon. The larger oils reflect Saunders' Parisian experiences, as well as his New York life, and share naturalistic colors and a subtle optimism. Las Jardinerre immortalizes gardening implements of the artist's wife, including clogs, gloves, hat, spade and watering can. The harvest is a full onion basket, while an elegantly silhouetted nude woman stoops to the earth in a pastel fantasy of sky blue and pale green.
Metaphor abounds in Providence.
Again, the same muted hues and incised canvas depict clams, both opened and shut, that were gathered at a nearby beach. Two embryonic blue babies float along the bottom canvas, and a bountifully breasted mother, in magnificent profile, ponders her choices. The large painted aluminum Printemps is a welded screen, echoing the same freely associated bird and twig theme seen in many of the paintings. The inclusion of a three dimensional piece, painted to look like one of the cutouts, is a gracefully cohesive touch. Saunders' latest explorations of the decorative and symbolic idiom of still life abound in tender mysteries and abundant beauty.