Welcome to my Art Blog! I paint or draw most weekdays and sometimes finish a painting a day. I fondly call them my "Postcards from Paradise" because it's such a beautiful place the Lord made here for us.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Our January Challenge: Apple, Glass and Spoon!

Our January Challenge was chosen by member Vicki Ross, who asked us to incorporate a spoon, an apple and something glass in a still life.

I admit I probably would never have thought of putting these objects together. That is one of the fun aspects of doing this as a group; painting someone else's suggestion for subject matter makes us stretch a little!

I did have a lot of fun trying to figure out how to make some sense out of these things, and create a pleasing arrangement. Sorry to say those friendly little toy figures from my other Challenges were nowhere around when I set this up, so they missed out. But I guess they showed up for all my Challenge pieces in 2009, so I'm going to take them to the movies or make them some cookies.

(left)
"Kitchen Lovelies"
7"x5"
Oil on hardboard
©2010 Diana Moses Botkin

NOW SOLD

Two of our Challenge Group members could not participate this month due to family responsibilities, but here are the rest of the very interesting and fun paintings.


Our newest Challenge Group member, Jeanne Illenye, graciously agreed to join us after my invitation to her only a couple of weeks ago.


(left above) "Aunt Bea's Morning Glories" 5"x5" Oil on panel ©2010 Jeanne Illenye
(middle above) "Wooden Spoon and Friends" 10"x10" Oil on canvas ©2010 Suzanne Berry
(right above) "Spoon Bridge" 6"x6" Oil on Board ©2010 Michael Naples


(left) 'Baked Apple Reflection'
8x10" Oil on panel
©2010 Vicki Ross

(right) "Apple, Spoon and Glass"
8x10 Oil on paper
©2010 Robin Cheers



6 comments:

Marie Fox said...

Great painting, Diana! An amazing silver spoon with the hardness of metal, yet wonderfully reflective. I like the weighty sphere of the apple in the delicate glass dish. An amazing combination of design and realism. Hope to see you next month.

Diana Moses Botkin said...

I liked those qualities about the materials, too. The suspended look of the apple is a little mysterious but I think it makes one want to know what's going on.

Thanks for dropping by and leaving your insightful comments. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

suzanneberry said...

Diana, beautiful arrangement. Your work has such a luminescent old world quality that brings to mind the old masters, which I dearly love. Just amazing! And how nice you are to the Legos! Another great challenge. Thanks.

Mary Sheehan Winn said...

Diana,
that is a beauty!
These are all fabulous actually and could hang together quite compatibly.

JEANNE ILLENYE said...

Thanks for your invitation to join the group! Such fun to see all the interpretations. What particularly drew me to your painting is the beautifully muted palette of soft blues/greens punctuated by a dark background, and the rendering of your silver spoon is wonderful. Jeanne

Diana Moses Botkin said...

Suzanne, Mary and Jeanne: Thank you for the kudos. This Challenge subject, although simple objects, presented some hard problems for our group.

I really like how everyone solved those problems and feel we all learned something. I know I sure did.