THE LADYBUG INSTALLATION Number One

8x8" oil on 3/4" cradled hardboard
$100

The bugs are back! Clearly the vision I had of myself courageously attacking the "Red Beret" canvas, paint brush in one hand, negative self-talk force-field shield in the other, has morphed into me as a quivering tower of jello, shield gone, with not a paint brush in sight. It's cool though. This too shall pass. Some day, real soon, I'll take up both brush and shield and finish that sucker, but for now, I'm giving it some space.

Which would explain my retreat to the safety of bugs. I'm creating an installation of 16 separate, 8x8 inch ladybugs painted on 3/4" cradled hardboard and this is the first one. They can be purchased separately at $100 each or as the completed installation for $1500. The group will be available by mid October. If one is sold separately, it will be replaced with a new pose with the entire 16 boards completed and available by October 15th. Bees next!

Back to work! Thanks so much for stopping by.

THE RED BERET in progress

16x20" oil on canvas
in progress


After working on Deirdre and That Party Dress, I was sure I had this down. What I mean is, whenever I begin a new piece I'm confronted with a myriad of doubts, the biggest being...how do I do this again? I began and suddenly I was twelve, sitting a the kitchen table with my crayons, faithfully staying within the bold black lines with my colors! Grrrrrrrgh!

I let it sit for a couple of days and decided to just attack it. No hesitancy, no mind games, just paint what you see! I'm pleased so far. The reference is from a photo I took of a beautiful young woman who agreed to pose during the fair I attended last year with my friends from dighoarts.com, who were kind enough to give me some space in their booth.

I hope to post the finished painting by Monday next. We'll see what happens.

Thanks for stopping by!

MOSES BOTKIN CHALLENGE September

"That Party Dress"
18x24" oil on canvas
NFS

Ok. Let me explain. If I had a dress like this in my closet, I would have hung it on a nice hanger, placed it on a peg against a really interesting wall and had at with the camera.  But, since I don't and I had exhausted every avenue that I could think of looking for concepts incorporating said party dress challenge, I remembered a page I'd saved from a paper company catalog ages ago and thought it would be just perfect.

The one thing I can't get over is that I found it!  And attached to the canvas I had planned to paint it on.  I mean, really? A challenge and the answer ready and waiting to go! I took it as a sign. And although I did change a few things to make it a little more my own, alas, my interpretation in oil of an incredibly lovely photo that I didn't take is all I can really lay claim to.

That said, please, we'd love for you to join the party (dresses optional)...

"Faire Dress"
16x12" oil on panel
©Robin Cheers
http://robincheers.blogspot.com/ 

"Stephanie"
12x6" oil on canvas
© Ruth Andre
http://apaintingday.blogspot.com/

"Party Dress on the Beach"
9x12" pastel on paper
© Vicki Ross
http://www.vickiandrandyrossart.blogspot.com/

"New Dress"
10x12"oil on hardboard
© 2011 Diana Moses Botkin
http://dianamosesbotkin.blogspot.com/

DEIRDRE WORKING 2

18x24" oil on canvas
SOLD

This is the other version of yesterday's commission. Lesson learned. Ask the client. Gee Suz...ya think? I was sure this would be the preferred version, but the location of the reference photo has sentimental value so the background was significant to him. No worries though, happily they liked this version enough to give it a home. Himself was rather smitten though, so he's a tad sad to see it go. If I'm honest, I am as well.

Enjoy the weekend, stay safe.

DEIRDRE , WORKING

18x24"  oil on canvas

SOLD

This is one of the commissions I've been prattling on about. It was a pleasure to work on, the reference photo is amazing. I find I'm getting more comfy with non-human backgrounds.

While working on this, it struck me that the client might have wanted the figure to be more prominent, so I stopped work and began another view. I'll post that tomorrow, see what you think.

Enjoy the weekend, stay safe.

AN ARTIST IN NEED!

A favorite artist of mine, Carol Marine and her family lost their home in the fires raging in Texas on Monday. The sad news has been mentioned on many of the blogs I frequent and since I've been so vocal about, what I considered at the time to be, my own close calls with nature's fury, I thought it very necessary to post, along with many others, a way we can all help Carol and her family at this very sad time in their lives. Thank goodness though, they are all safe.

Click here to help out if you can. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved with the Texas fires. Perhaps there's a way to "think" all this East coast rain in their direction!

GRAY SKIES

12x24" oil on board

It looks like it might be a while until I'm able to post the painting I'm really happy with so I actually sat down and painted today! Since I've been working on the commission, which ended up being two different paintings from the same reference, it feels as though I haven't gotten anything done. Silly because I have, but nothing I can post.

Himself is home on vaycay, the clean-up from the storm is almost complete, and my brother-in-law, who drove down for a quick visit/jam session, along with his daughter Claire, have gone home.  Time to relax with some wine, have a nice listen to what we played and enjoy the holiday weekend.

Thank you so much for your good wishes for our having made it safely through the storm, we appreciate them so much. So many are still without power, it's just amazing how much damage was done!

Have a wonderful weekend, a great Labor Day and thanks so much for dropping by.