"Tenacity" Maple Seed Still Life Daily Painting

Original miniature oil painting 3.25"x2.25".
Framed in small decorative frame.
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

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This determined little seedling is such a picture of drive and vigor, bursting out of the brown seed, so alive and growing.

"Verve" Maple Seed Still Life Daily Painting

Original miniature oil painting 2.25"x3.25"
Framed in small decorative frame.
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

The life in these little brown scraps of last Fall's leftovers is truly amazing, and reminds me that God put that amazing determination to grow in His creation.

"Potential" Maple Seed Still Life Daily Painting

Original miniature oil, painted from life 2.25"x3.25".
Framed in decorative gold frame.
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

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It's pretty amazing to think about the potential of this humble seed to grow to a large towering plant.

"Winter Survivor" Maple Seed Still Life Daily Painting

Original miniature oil, painted from life 3"x2".
Framed. ©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

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Out in the freezing cold under the snow all winter, these amazing seeds come to life as the snow melts. Full of potential, they just need a little space in the dirt, some water and warm days in the sunshine... not unlike a lot of people I know.

"Spring Miracle" Maple Seed Still Life Daily Painting

Original miniature oil, painted from life, 2.25"x3.25".
Framed in decorative gold frame.
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

Contact to purchase.

Every year in the fall, our maple trees produce about a zillion of these little helicopters. They fly all over our property and would turn our lawn and gardens into a forest if they were left alone. This time of year the snow is melting and I try to get these out of my gardens before they take over.

My husband calls these hearty survivors "little miracles". It IS pretty amazing to find them literally everywhere.. tucked in cracks and piled in corners with dead leaves... damp from the melting snow and already sending out shoots.

Recent Figure Drawings

(left)
"Leaning Seated Back Study"
18"x12" Charcoal and chalk
on tan cotton charcoal paper

(middle)
"Side View in Chair" 18"x12"
Charcoal and chalk
on beige cotton charcoal paper

(left)
"Seated Arm-Trunk Study"
18"x12"
Charcoal and chalk on grey paper

(right)
"Side View Seated"
18"x12"
Charcoal and chalk on black cotton charcoal paper

©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

Contact me to purchase these and other life drawings.

Our model had fixed her hair in a 1940's style 'do, which lent a vintage feel to my studies. These drawings are the pick of the litter from this week's model session.

Live Portrait Demo and Talk About my Art

"Kensington"
12.5"x10"
Charcoal and chalk on Canson paper

©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

This evening I gave a talk about my art for Chris Kraisler's North Idaho College art appreciation class.

Chris had been teaching her students about artists' media, so I brought a variety of supplies and finished art to show to the class (oils, pastels, block printing, charcoal). Then I did a live portrait demo using charcoal and chalk on rust colored paper (at left).

Chris put my website and blog pages up on the projector for the class to see. It was interesting to see these so large!

Conversation and interaction with the students was interesting, also. It was fun sharing art ideas with these kids. ("Kids" are anyone under the age of forty.)

Ta-Da... Our March Challenge Paintings Unveiled!

Vicki Ross chose an eggplant for our Challenge subject this month. When she announced it to our Challenge Group, I struggled with what to do for an idea.

Should it be a simple still life painting or perhaps a play on words, like Vicki's painting below? Her idea was actually one of the inspirations discussed at our house. Another brain storm was eggs on a plant, sort of like those Easter egg trees you see this time of year. Somewhere along the line I toyed with the idea of adding the Legos to my composition.

(left)
"Attack on the Eggplant"
Oil 6"x8"
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

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My painting was born from some leftover thoughts from last month's Challenge with the Lego figures, combined with memories of one of our home videos where one of my sons played with a Lego knight who stabbed a carrot. So, that's how my surreal idea developed. It was fun and stretched my brain, which is one of the goals of doing these monthly challenges.

I love all the Challenge paintings this month; I hope you have as much fun seeing them as we did painting them!

(left) "At the Market"
Ink & Watercolor 9"x12"
©2009 Robin Cheers

(right) "Eggplants"
Oil 10"x8"
©2009 Silvina Day

(left)
"Eggplant"
Oil 6"x6"
©2009 Michael Naples

(right)
"Huddled Eggplants"
Oil 11"x14"
©2009 Marie Fox

(left)
"It's Just a Big Ol' Eggplant"
Oil 10"x14"
©2009 Dianne Mize

(right) "Eggplant?"
Oil 11"x14"
©2009 Vicki Ross

These are all a lot of fun, don't you think? Next month's Challenge promises to be a lot of fun too. The subject has been named and we're all working in secret on our paintings. Look for our group unveiling on April 15!

A Few Figure Studies... and a Challenge Soon!

(left)
"Standing Wood Nymph" charcoal on grey paper

(right)
"Young Woman Sitting" charcoal and chalk on grey cotton charcoal paper

(below) "Woman on the Black Throw" charcoal and chalk on blue cotton charcoal paper

©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

Our model this week is a young woman with long hair and long legs. She would be the perfect wood nymph skipping through the forest with flowers in her dark hair, ala Maxfield Parrish.

I'll be thinking about painting something along those lines. It would be an interesting challenge to plan it all out and get the lighting and setting just right.

Speaking of challenges; I hope you'll keep watching this blog for our upcoming March Challenge. My Challenge Group members have all been mum about what they're doing with our subject this month. (Which is appropriate because it's a secret until we reveal our finished paintings this weekend!) I've been so busy with other projects and the Yellowstone trip that I've hardly thought about it. But now it's time to finish my painting!

Last month was our very first Challenge and so much fun. I had proposed the idea of painting something specifically unusual to a group of fellow painters. Each artist put a lot of creative thought into their piece. This month, Vicki Ross chose our object to portray. It's something I probably wouldn't have picked out to paint, although it's not all that unusual. You've seen this thing before, perhaps recently.

Stay tuned here to see what that is, and what happens when we unveil our March Challenge paintings on the 15th (this Sunday)!

The Quick Draw at Yellowstone Art Museum

"Winter Light" Original oil 8"x10"
Quick-Draw painting for Yellowstone Art Museum
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

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Last Saturday was the Yellowstone Art Museum Art Exhibit and Auction, along with the Quick Draw event. Two of my paintings were accepted (and sold) at the Exhibit and I also participated in the Quick Draw.

When I checked in Saturday for the Quick Draw, I was a bit early and the first artist there. A few minutes later the news crew from the local CBS station arrived to get a story on the Exhibit and Auction, so I was recruited to be interviewed in front of my paintings in the Exhibit.

Pretty exciting... I hit town a little early and get on the 5 o'clock news!

Saturday evening at the Quick Draw my husband snapped these photos of me mixing colours and painting furiously during my hour. (The light was really awful for working and for photos, but perhaps you'll get an idea of the intensity of the event.)

After the painting hour was up, we artists quickly framed our wet paintings and promptly carried them upstairs to the auction. Then, we each brought our work onstage while the auctioneer sang his song. It felt a bit like going door to door selling art. I don't believe I've ever "modeled" any of my paintings before.

The trip to Billings was enjoyable on several levels and also productive. I delivered the portrait to my collectors, who were very pleased. And I'm happy to report that I've been accepted into Meadowlark Gallery in Billings. I hope if you're in the area, you'll drop by to see my work there. Please tell owners Gary and Marylee that I sent you!

"Storm at the Flats" Also Available at the Museum

Original oil painting 8"x10"
Big storm cloud overhead in a pale blue sky, with more storms in the distance and the Grand Tetons below. ©2006 Diana Moses Botkin

Here is another of my paintings that was accepted into the Yellowstone Art Museum Exhibit and Auction this weekend in Billings, Montana. This is a dramatic storm I observed in Grand Teton National Park near Antelope Flats.

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"Dazzling Storm" Available at Yellowstone Art Museum

Framed, original oil painting 8"x10"
Storm clouds in oranges, pinks and purples in a brilliant blue sky, over mountains and river.
©2006 Diana Moses Botkin

Perhaps you'd like to see one of my paintings that was accepted into the Yellowstone Art Museum Exhibit and Auction this weekend in Billings, Montana? This is painted from a dramatic scene I saw in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, east of the Grand Tetons.

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