"Winter Light on Willows" Daily Painting

Original, unframed oil painting, 5"x7".
Sunset light on the frozen lake and willow trees.
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

Contact to purchase.

It was a bitter cold evening at the beach last week by the lake with the freezing wind coming off the water.

I had driven over before the model session to see if the light would be good. The green sky and reflections on the icy water seemed other-worldly contrasted with the orange sunset color on the willow trees and compelled me to paint the scene.

Winner Announced for the Painting Giveaway!

Congratulations to Michelle in Utah!

Her name was picked out of the hat this evening and she wins "Winter Games". These Giveaways are fun for me and I hope for you all too. I enjoy seeing the entries come in from different locations on the globe. Take heart if you didn't win; I'll probably do this again some time.

Daily Painting Giveaway Today!

Yes, the Painting Giveaway is finally here!

If you'd like a chance to win, please drop me an email to botkin.id@verizon.net in the next 24 hours (by 8:30 pm on January 27... that's tomorrow!). Put "Win Landscape" in the subject line, and include your mailing address and tell me which one of these little 'uns shown below you'd like if you win. You don't even have to write an essay. Tomorrow evening at this time, I'll have my son pick a name out of the hat for the winner. It could be you!

If your name is drawn from the hat, I'll send the painting to you free of charge; no strings attached!

(above left)
"February Color"
Unframed Tiny Oil, 2.25"x3"
©2007 Diana Moses Botkin

(left)
"Winter Games"
Unframed Oil, 6"x4"
©2006 Diana Moses Botkin

"Bright Puffs" Daily Painting

Original unframed miniature oil painting, 2"x3".
With tiny display easel $55.
Tiny color study of gold and pink clouds at sunset.
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

Contact to purchase.

Sold Daily Paintings

"Aqua Backdrop" Oil Mini
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin
SOLD

"Distant Shine" Oil Mini
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin
SOLD

"Heart Talk" Oil Mini
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin
SOLD

"Kiss Me" Oil Mini
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin
SOLD

"Cloud Nine" Oil Mini
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin
SOLD

"Snuggling Kisses" Oil Mini
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin
SOLD

"One Kiss" Oil 3"x3"
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin
SOLD

"Sunset at the River" Daily Painting

Original unframed small painting, 3.5"x5", $85.
Evening sky colors in turquoises and aquas, with pink cloud highlights and dark trees and river below.
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

The days are getting a little longer and we've had sunshine, and color too. These sunset colors were a joy to behold.

"Crumpled Gold Paper" Daily Painting

Original oil painting, 5"x5" unframed. $99.
Crumpled gold tissue paper still life.
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

Contact to purchase.

I think I've taken the gold paper idea far enough for now. It's been an interesting and unusual subject for a still life... and challenging too.

"Gold Foil Bag" Daily Painting

Original unframed oil painting, 4"x6", unframed. Free shipping. $99. Still life study of empty gold foil bag on orange cloth.
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

Contact to purchase.

Our electricity went out again, but this time not for very long. When it goes out, we don't know when power will be restored. It could be days if the electric company workers have to snowshoe in to remote locations to find the problem. With all the snow, and now warmer weather, heavy fallen branches on power lines are likely culprits.

So, it feels like quite a luxury to use a hair dryer and a coffee maker now... and an electric light source on a still life. I couldn't resist this empty coffee sack.. another reflective gold thing. This was quite different than the gold paper, especially with those orange reflections from the drape.

"Visage on Crumpled Gold Paper" Daily Painting

Original unframed oil painting, 7"x 5" $149.
Painting of a still life of torn and crumpled gold paper on which a face appears. ©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

This is the painting I was working on when the power went out a few days ago. I know some folks might wonder at the symbolism, but really there is no deep meaning. The idea is simply a continuation of the gold paper studies combined with thoughts of our DailyPainter Self-Portrait Day. Because this one wasn't finished, I posted an earlier self-portrait.

No doubt some art critic will attach some dark interpretation to this odd painting. I hope you'll set him straight and say I'm just playing around, hoping to learn something and make an interesting painting.

No Power; No Paintings; No Posts

Tuesday evening I was working away on a still life/self-portrait painting of sorts. I'd had several set-backs already that day with the challenges of the odd idea I was attempting to paint. And then, one moment I was painting away and the next moment I was in pitch darkness with a wet painting on my lap and a wet brush in my hand. Our power had gone out.

After locating candles and a flash light, I washed out my brushes and set the painting aside. We were not to regain our electricity until today. Let me say that it's impossible to continue a still life study, dependent on an electric light source for the illumination, without power.

And grey overcast skies during the day do not quite cut it for a natural light source from a window. My respect for the Old Masters continues to grow.

I thought of doing a painting by candlelight but somehow felt unmotivated. Maybe another time. Meanwhile, yesterday I ventured down our icy drive to do some shopping in Sandpoint while I awaited electricity at home. Today I stayed busy cleaning up candle wax and feeding the washing machine and dishwasher. I hope to finish up the still life/self-portrait piece this evening, Lord willing.

"Shell on Gold Paper" Daily Painting

Original unframed oil painting, 4"x6".
Still life study of shell on crumpled gold tissue paper.
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

Contact to purchase.

This was more challenging than I thought it would be.

I've never painted a shell before and I thought I'd try portraying the paper again. Recently, I did "Glass Ball and Gold Paper" and found the paper especially interesting.

The forms in the paper can get complicated. The hills and valleys are all quite random. It's a challenge to keep track of where I am when I'm studying it!

Speaking of challenges, I'd like to announce my Monthly Painting Challenge, which you can read about below.

A Monthly Painting Challenge

I've invited a group of fellow painters to join me in a playful creative Challenge for 2009. We'll be taking turns each month naming an subject for the group to paint. The project was inspired by a similar idea at Jelaine Faunce's blog.

I liked the project so much that I wrote an article about it for the May '09 issue of Art Calendar Magazine. The article explains the idea and gives guidelines for starting your own group.

I'm really excited to see how each member artist responds to the Challenge. Today I sent out notice to my group of what we'll paint for our first one in February.

These talented artists will be joining me in this venture; Mike Beeman, Robin Cheers, Silvina Day, Marie Fox, Dianne Mize, Michael Naples and Vicki Ross.

The Challenge Object (chosen for its creative potential) is announced to the artists but not the public. It will be a surprise, as will our paintings. The idea is for each of us to paint this chosen subject (something we might not normally choose) have fun with it, and give our creativity freedom and exercise.

We're to keep our ideas a secret and work alone until we all reveal the paintings to each other. On the 15th of each month (beginning in February) we'll unveil all the Challenge Paintings at our blogs. I hope you'll stay tuned for the fun!

Keeping up with Daily Painting and everything else!

Here we are three days into 2009 already. I'm having a bit of a struggle wrapping my mind around the year. Two thousand and nine? How did 2008 slip by so quickly?!

I guess it sped by for me pretty fast because I was busy. They say time flies when you're having fun. It also flies when you're working hard. Looking back I see I worked pretty hard, week after week. In 2008 I painted and drew 176 new works (11 more than in 2007, and 50 more than in 2006!).

Art Calendar Magazine published ten articles I wrote for them in 2008. If you don't get Art Calendar, you can read two of my pieces (and a whole lot of other articles) at the magazine's website. Dick Blick is now posting my article which originally appeared in Art Calendar in 2008, "12 Ways Artists Can Go Greener" (with my permission) at their new Green section online.

One of my reports for the magazine was about how artists can use YouTube. Gathering info and communicating with artists who had done this motivated me to produce my own short video demonstrating charcoal drawing. I also made a second video of some of my Daily Paintings. You can see them both at my YouTube channel.

Another of my articles was about using Print-on-Demand book publishing services. Researching that piece made me realize I ought to have a book printed of my work to share with collectors and have available for purchase. I chose a small format book, perfect to showcase my little landscapes. In October I finished "Gems from the Edge of the Earth" and it became available at the publisher's. Here's a story about it at one of our local news sources.

I also took part in two Paint Outs in 2008, did several portraits for collectors, taught a few art workshops, and participated in a number of regional exhibits.

Plus I continued my hobbies of washing laundry and cooking meals.

And I enjoyed very much posting to this blog, reading your comments here, responding, and visiting other bloggers' sites. It's amazing to be connected with people all over the world through this medium. Thank you for staying in touch!

"Glass with Cherry" Daily Painting

Original, unframed oil painting 7"x5", in museum style gold frame.
Maraschino cherry in cocktail glass in detailed realism.
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

More glass. I like working with it as a subject. It's so subtle when it's thin like in the bowl of the glass here. When it's thicker, it's more translucent than transparent, and picks up the light in unexpected ways.

This little painting was an interesting challenge; the contrast of simplicity and detail, the limited colors, the lost edges paired with the sharp reflections, those pesky ellipses, and that red cherry almost smack dab in the middle of the composition.

"Hey, Sugar!" Daily Painting

Original unframed small oil painting, 5"x 3.5", in cherry and black frame.
Vintage bottle with sugar, against dark marble background.
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

Here's a sweet little painting for you. (Sorry... I couldn't resist!)

This was fun, painting glass again. Portraying this object, more solid than the Christmas ball, and with straight lines, felt very different than doing yesterday's study. I also used fewer colours in today's piece.

I've had this old bottle for years and always enjoy looking at it. I think it might have originally held little pickled hot peppers in its first life. The top is bakelite, so it's pretty old. We keep sugar in it now, for the occasional need to sweeten a cup of tea.