Art Faire and Live Portrait Sketches

This past weekend was our local Art Faire at Naples Gallery in north Idaho, a three-day event with art, music and food. I showed paintings, large and little, and did live portrait sketches.

It's a challenge to prepare for a big exhibit. I rarely do outdoor shows. And to be on my feet talking to people all day long at a live event, especially since my ankle break last spring, is quite tiring. However, with some help from dear Suzanne who runs the gallery, and my husband and son loading and unloading all the stuff in the car, this event went smoothly for me. I'm thanking the Lord!

I met a lot of nice folks who dropped by my booth and I saw a number of my faithful local collectors. It was enjoyable talking to other artists, musicians and food artists who participated, too.

During a break, I even got to watch one of the artisans construct a hand-made glass and silver marble (which I bought for a very reasonable price). Perhaps you'll see it in a painting one of these days!

This lovely young lady at left was a pleasure to sketch as she sat for me so calm and still. Drawing faces is one of my favorite activities. It's such a pleasant job! Maybe I'd feel different about a job like that if I was working somewhere like Disneyland... or maybe not. But I figure this is a lot easier than going to Anaheim to work!

“Soda Crackers” ACEO Tiny Daily Painting

Original oil on canvas, 3.5"x2.5"
sent in protective ACEO sleeve
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

SOLD

When I was in high school I attended a week-long journalism conference at the university, about an hour's drive from home. I roomed with Donna, a fellow student from my school, at the dorms, which were empty during the college summer break .

Our parents drove us down, deposited us at the dorms and kissed us goodbye for the week. They must have thought food was included in the cost for the dorm room. The first morning, Donna and I walked to the dorm cafeteria and picked out a few items for breakfast. Come to find out, meals were not included, so I produced a fiver from my purse to pay for the meal and got less than half that back. (This was a long time ago. Five bucks would barely pay for a drink and a donut now.)

That five dollars was all the money I had. Donna had some change, I think. This was before the days of kids' credit cards and cell phones. There was no working telephone in the dorm room to call our parents and a pay phone would've cost a lot to make a long-distance call.

So we did the best we could and found a little market near campus later that day. We bought a small packet of saltines and little jar of peanut butter. With a knife borrowed from the cafeteria, this kept hunger at bay for a few days.
I still remember Donna and I sitting on the stairs at the dorm digging into our food supply. This all came back to me as I was painting this little still life... a remembered adventure of self-reliance.

“Vintage Estée Lauder” ACEO Daily Painting or Valentine

Original oil on canvas, 2.5"x3.5"
sent in protective ACEO sleeve
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

Purchase here.

I'll be posting a few more little 'uns this week while I work on a portrait commission. This little bottle speaks of Valentines and sweet thoughts.

Oil Figure Studies Daily Paintings

I'm finishing up an article this week for Art Calendar magazine's December issue. It's about scams and how to avoid them.

I hope you'll watch for the piece in a couple of months when it's available on newsstands.

So, while I'm busy slamming words together, please enjoy some more figure studies. These are in oil.

(left above) "Lauren Reclining on Elbow"
Oil sketch on unstretched canvas 9"x12"
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin





(left)
"Reclining with Hand Shadow"
Oil sketch on
unstretched canvas
9"x12"
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin



(left)
"Lauren's Back"
Oil value study on board
12"x9"
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

Contact me to purchase any of these, or for more information.

Figure Studies and Time Constraints

Poses of 10 or 20 minutes give me a chance to develop the form a little more. Although this is not enough time to draw much detail, I usually try to at least give some clues where features are located.

(left above) "Lauren Resting on Knee"
Charcoal and chalk on Grey Paper 12"x18"
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

(left)
"Reclining with Arms Across Chest"
Charcoal and chalk
on Blue Paper
12"x18"
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

(below)
"Lauren Quotes Shakespeare"
Charcoal and chalk
on Grey Paper
12"x18"
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin


Please contact me if you want more information about these studies or would like to purchase.

Some Figure Studies in Quick Poses

(left) "Hand on Tummy" 18x12"
Charcoal on grey paper
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

(right) "Hands Clasped Behind" 18"x12"
Charcoal and chalk on grey paper
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

Lauren, our model at the Artists' Salon chooses expressive poses, especially for the short ones she doesn't need to hold a long time. A few minutes for the shortest poses for warm-ups offers the chance to hold a position that could be really painful, or downright impossible, held for 20 minutes.

(left below) "Leaning Over on Knees" 12x18" Charcoal on grey paper
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

(right below) "Headache" 12"x18" Charcoal and chalk on grey paper
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin


Please contact me to purchase these studies, or for more information.

"Unmade Bed" Still Life Daily Painting

Original oil painting on unstretched canvas 9"x12"
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

Okay, this is the serious version of what I would've done for my August Challenge if those pesky little toy figures hadn't insisted on me doing the other painting.

The silky nightgown contrasted with the cottons of the bedclothes made this challenging. And pulling those shapes together was interesting. I actually had a couple of reasons to paint this value study. One was the flip side of my August Challenge. The other was to make something interesting for my Gamblin Torrit Grey entry.

Torrit Grey is what Gamblin Artists Materials makes from all their pigment that winds up in their filtering system. Being a person who hates waste, I love it that the company makes oil paint from the combined pigments rather than throwing it away. They offer the tubes of grey every year at various sales outlets as a free bonus.

An Unmade Bed ... our August Challenge!

My Challenge Group is smaller now; two participants had to drop out due to commitments that made it difficult to participate with project deadlines. So, there are six remaining members: Robin Cheers, Silvina Day, Marie Fox, Michael Naples, Vicki Ross and Yours Truly (Diana Moses Botkin).

We have all been busy this month with Robin's choice of subject matter; "an unmade bed". Several ideas jiggeted about in my brain as I considered what to paint these past few weeks.

Those insistant lego helpers wanted to be the stars of the show again, so here are these fun little guys!

I love ALL the paintings for this month's challenge; such beauty and feeling in something so simple. I feel very honored to have each of these talented artists on my team for this Challenge project.

Every month, we each work on the same subject for the Challenge, but we don't know what each other is painting until we send them to each other just prior to posting them on our blogs on the 15th. I get so excited and blessed when all the paintings roll into my Inbox each month. It is always so interesting to see the similarities and differences in what we each come up with, painting the same subject.

(left)
"The Old Brass Bed"
Oil on Panel 10"x8"
©2009 Robin Cheers

(right)
"Unmade Bed"
Oil on Canvas 9"x12"
©2009 Silvina Day

(left) "Wine Night"
Oil on board 8"x8"
©2009 Michael Naples

(right)
"The Boys"
Oil on Canvas 9"x9"
©2009 Vicki Ross



(left)
"Asleep At The Window Seat"
Oil on Canvas
18"x24"
©2009 Marie Fox

"Ripe Tomato" ACEO Tiny Still Life Daily Painting

Original oil on canvas, 2.5"x3.5"
sent in protective ACEO sleeve
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

Purchase here.

My small kitchen garden out my door is finally producing some ripe tomatoes. For those of you who live down south this probably seems ridiculous. It does to me too because I remember ripe tomatoes by the Fourth of July in the MidWest. But, believe me, I'm happy to get these now. Fresh salsa, anyone?

Tomorrow is the day our Challenge Group unveils the paintings we've all been secretly working on. Check back here for the fun when we show them off!

"Salt Shaker" ACEO Still Life Daily Painting

Original oil on canvas, 2.5"x3.5"
sent in protective ACEO sleeve
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

Purchase here.

Reds in paintings are a challenge to accurately represent in a digital image online. As with most original art, it's always much better seen in person. But this little picture of my ACEO is pretty close, so I hope you can get an idea.

"Dark Cherry" ACEO, Tiny Daily Painting

Original oil on canvas, 2.5"x3.5"
sent in protective ACEO sleeve
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

SOLD

Watch soon for our August Challenge! Only a few more days until my group reveals all their paintings they've been creating. I'm working on mine too.

More Figure Studies

These are the pick of the litter of some longer poses from our last model session at our Artists' Salon.
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

Please contact me to purchase either of these, or others.

The study at left was painted in pastel on wet paper. For the study on the right I utilized my favorite drawing technique with willow charcoal and chalk on charcoal paper.

If you've never used this forgiving medium, you can watch my YouTube video to see how to try it yourself.

A Couple of Recent Figure Studies

Quick studies on 18"x12" grey paper from our last model session.
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

The one on the left is charcoal and chalk and the one on the right is a two minute warm-up in graphite.

You can easily purchase these and other figurative works at my online DailyPainters gallery page.

"Shell Buttons" ACEO, Tiny Still Life Daily Painting

Original unframed oil on canvas 3.5"x2.5"
sent in protective plastic ACEO sleeve
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

Purchase here.

These shiny buttons have been on my desk for weeks, waiting for me to replace them on a summer pajama top. I keep meaning to take time to do some sewing. One of these rainy days I'll get to it, but for now I thought these iridescent disks would be a fun challenge to paint.

Keep watching my blog for another challenge soon... our Challenge Group paintings next Friday!

"Ripe Apricot" Tiny Still Life Daily Painting

Original unframed oil on canvas 2.5"x3.5"
in tiny frame
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

Purchase here.

Apricots are so delicious. I think they might be addicting.

While I'm meeting the challenge of a portrait job I have this week, I'll post a few ACEOs. They're fun little studies; tiny glimpses of what catches my eye! You just never know what I might paint.

“Bunch of Grapes" ACEO, Tiny Daily Painting

Original unframed oil on canvas 3.5"x2.5"
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

Purchase here.

A couple of days ago I posted my very first ACEO*. I painted another one today just for fun as a daily painting while I'm working on a larger piece for a portrait commission.

*ACEO stands for Art Cards, Editions and Originals. These original works of art are baseball trading card size (3.5x2.5") and are bought and traded by artists and collectors.

“Loftiness" Daily Painting: Miniature Pastel Landscape

Original miniature pastel
painted on matboard 3.25"x2.25"
Matted and framed under glass
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

Snowy mountains under a blue afternoon sky with puffy white clouds.

Contact to purchase.

My First ACEO “Green Apple on Red" Daily Painting

Original unframed watercolor 3.5"x2.5"
protected with acrylic varnish and signed on front & back.
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

Purchase here.

After hanging my ArtWalk show and attending the Opening last Friday, I was all tuckered out. This weekend I took it easy, spent time with family, saw friends at church and pretty much just hung out and relaxed. Thank God for rest, because I feel like a human being again and not some tired arthritic old person.

Today I dug out an old set of illustrators' watercolors. I thought I'd use them for a change and see what happened. This bright little painting in red, green and metallic silver came out of my play time today. It seemed a perfect candidate for my very first ACEO*.

*ACEO stands for Art Cards, Editions and Originals. These small original works of art are baseball trading card size (3.5x2.5") and are bought and traded by artists and collectors.