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, July 22, 2011

The Evolution of "Festival Sunset Dance", Part 3

These are the final two studies I painted as I planned my art for The Festival at Sandpoint. The sixth study in the series, at left, started to look more like what I wanted for the festive atmosphere of the concerts. But it was looking awfully busy with all the crowd in there too.

"Sunset Swing"
Original oil on canvas, 10"x8" 

©2011 Diana Moses Botkin 
 

SOLD
 
And one of the most fun aspects of the dancer references I had shot was the backlighting on the long hair of some of the girls. Plus, I wanted more focus on the dancers and less on the crowd. So, I made the dancers more in the foreground in this seventh study, at left, and used the moving hair catching the light. This was almost it!

"Twilight Delight" Original oil
8"x6" unframed

©2011 Diana Moses Botkin
 

SOLD 

Here again is the final art for The Festival!
 

"Festival Sunset Dance" Original oil
20"x16" in black and gold frame
 

©2011 Diana Moses Botkin

SOLD

I added that fifth figure as a main focus for added foreground interest and to make an odd number of figures. The foursome was okay but a little bland. Someone at the unveiling commented about there being so many women dancers. Yes, those women make it interesting and fun, don't you think?

7 comments:

pattrsnd said...

Beautiful work Diana!

Diana Moses Botkin said...

Thanks, David. Let me know if you'll be over this way for The Festival!

Ruth Andre said...

You really worked hard on the art for this project. Nice work. The art reminds me of a book I read by Ivan Doig, "Dancing at the Rascal Fair" Great art and a great book.

Diana Moses Botkin said...

I did work hard, Ruth. Thanks!

I appreciate you telling me about the book; it looks interesting. That cover art by Owen Smith is pretty fun.

mary maxam said...

Wow, Diana, this is so exciting to see the process! You really went all out and to me they're all wonderful...congrat!

Diana Moses Botkin said...

Mary, thank you for your kind and encouraging remarks. They mean a lot to me!

If you happen to be headed up this way for The Festival, please let me know. I'd love to paint with you at the lake before the concerts.

Dave Rossi said...

You not only broke a stick...you broke the palette! The colors are absolutely fabulous.