For some time now, I've been interested in fantastic possibilities that antique hand tools offer for still life painting. In a way, they have everything an artist could want: color, texture, amazing forms, and understated sense of story. For this piece, I wanted to combine as many tools as I could into one composition, and present them in an almost architectural way. Although at first glance it might seem like a jumble of forms, in fact spent a full day getting the arrangement exactly right - the progression of angles in the small horizontal screwdriver, the drill handle, and the large upright screwdriver is no accident. As with many of my other larger pieces, here the background is in fact a vital and integral part of the composition - in no way a "secondary" area of interest. I paid every bit as much attention to the wood grain on the shelf as I did the metal of the plane. This painting was selected for exhibition in the "Realism Exhibit" at the Mason Murer Gallery in Atlanta in 2011, and the "New Members' Exhibit" at the Copley Society in Boston in 2013. It is presented in a polished black contemporary frame, the outer dimensions of which are approximately 22 x 29 inches (55 x 72 cm)