MOSES BOTKIN CHALLENGE July

"Seeing Double"
48x36" oil on heavyweight canvas


Well this month's challenge subject should be fairly obvious at this point. I love painting eggs. In the shell, out of the shell, cooked, raw...there's just so much going on at any given time with eggs, vibrant colors, the googlies, almost as if half of the sun was (should that be were or was?) encased in clear liquid.

There's this great gourmet market a bit up the road that I just haunt. Amazing collection of treats, both savory and sweet. They carry eggs with double yolks and when I discovered Vicki's choice for this month, those yummy double yolks popped right into my mind. I set up a photo shoot and snapped over 50 shots so there will definitely be some protein-laden canvases in my future. And, for some reason, I feel as though I need to paint everything on large supports here lately!

I decided not to rush into the painting and did some thinking and even with that I had to begin over again having started working on a lighter cotton canvas with far too much play in the surface. A very unique thing happened during this process. It dawned on me that far larger brushes might be a big help and they were! Who knew? I went to Home Depot and purchased the regular brushes one would use to paint the wall and they worked perfectly.

I would normally start by looking at my reference and try to capture the deep reddish orange and nearly white highlights in one session but since the previous few paintings have fared well with layering I thought it best not to futz with the streak.

I painted the predominate color with lots of Liquin so the next day I could paint the next layer and so on for three days. I actually finished on time!

Also, a dear friend, Brenda Ferguson (I love her work) suggested that I include a snap showing the scale of the canvas in real life. Thanks Bren, great idea!

There's a feeling of fullness, of working on 3 different challenges, commissions, mentoring and donation work all at the same time. My head hits the pillow and I'm feeling satisfied because there are paintings waiting for me when I get up the next day. Tim you were so right. Working really, really helps. Repeating myself, I know. And speaking of himself, what would a post be without including Tim?

Sitting out reading a book last week before it got oppressively hot, I saw a rather large crow perched on a branch nearby. He was incredibly loud, cawing and cawing, when suddenly he began making this soothing clucking sound. He stayed there for the duration of my reading session making that soothing sound. Once or twice I looked up, laughed out loud and asked him if he was Tim. He was there when I went back inside, having stayed on that branch cooing sweetly for an hour and a half! The next morning when I took the boys out into the back for their morning toilette, I found a big black feather right in front of the door. Now me being me, it was validation that Tim did indeed join me while I read. A more rational person would pronounce the crow annoying and ignore the feather, however, clearly, I'm not rational and for that I am so grateful.

That said, please enjoy the Egg Specials of the day:

"Imposter"
Original drawing on paper
Approx. 7.5 x 9"
©2013 Diana Moses Botkin
http://dianamosesbotkin.blogspot.com/

"Dusk Flip"
12 x 16" pastel
©V.N. Ross