"Making Faces" Whimsical Portrait

With the trouble I had for our June Challenge of "Something Shiny From the Kitchen", I thought briefly about using this past painting. However, I knew I should paint something new, so it was only a fleeting thought. But perhaps you'll enjoy seeing it compared with what I did paint.

Original, unframed oil painting 8"x8".
Detailed portrait/figurative/still life painting of young man making faces, mirrored in shiny cooking pot, in warm and cool colors.
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin

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This is one of the more complicated pieces I painted last year, which obviously took me more than one day to paint. I enjoyed the challenges of the shiny surfaces and bright background, contrasted with the face in shadow.

The piece also made other contrasts for me as I progressed; the silly face vs. the serious realism, the warm light background vs. the cool darker foreground, the childlike fun this young man is having vs. his beard revealing that he's not a child anymore.

His whimsical face in the reflective cooking pot reminded me of being a kid with my sister, visiting the Fun House and seeing our faces and bodies transfigured by the wacky mirrors.

June Painting Challenge: "Something Shiny"... Helped by Legos!

This month's Challenge subject, "Something Shiny From the Kitchen" was chosen by group member Marie Fox. I thought this one would be easy, for a change. Wrong.

I had trouble finding much that was actually reflective in my cabinets of pots and pans.

Most of the "shiny" things in my kitchen needed shining up. This was not a chore I wanted to do right after surgery for my broken ankle.
Fortunately, I received a brand new (shiny!) coffee press for Mother's Day. However, I still had to figure out what to do with it in a painting.

After abandoning several set-ups, these little toy figures came to my rescue again to help me out with this pressing task at hand. Well, it's press time (haha)... so ta-da... here 'tis!

(left)
"Press Event"
Original oil on panel
7"x5"
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin

NOW SOLD

Here are the rest of the Group's paintings. Each of us works alone with the particular subject and doesn't know what the others are painting until our deadline (the day before we post them on our blogs).

The surprise of what the others have painted is half the fun. It's interesting to see the differences and similarities in our interpretations of the subject.

This month, there is quite a variety in the look of the pieces, even though we all started with a simple requirement; something shiny from the kitchen.

(left above)
"Flour Scoop and Silver Cup"
8 x 10"
Oil on canvas
©2009 Marie Fox

(left)
"Steel Cut Berries"
12"x6" Original oil on panel
©2009 Vicki Ross
(right)
"Serving Spoon"
10"x8" Original oil on canvas
©2009 Silvina Day

(left) "The Face Off"
8 x 8" Oil on canvas board
©2009 Michael Naples

(right) “Gravy Boat and Cherries”
8 x 8", Pastel
©2009 Mike Beeman

(below) "Spoons" 6"x12"
Original oil on panel ©2009 Robin Cheers

"Refraction" Still Life/Landscape Daily Painting

Original oil painting
7"x5" in museum style gold frame
©2009 Diana Moses Botkin
 
How many times do we see something but not really look at it? I first noticed this glowing phenomenon a couple of years ago, although I'd no doubt seen it before and simply not paid attention to what I was seeing.

Perhaps you're way ahead of me and have observed this a million times. Others certainly have. (Senaca the Younger wrote about it in Rome before Christ.)

I was fascinated by how the wine glass concentrated the light and revealed the surrounding landscape in a glowing topsy turvy microcosm; the glass acting as a lens. This has been one those ideas in the back of my mind that I've wanted to paint, so this is the week!