Challenge Group member Suzanne Berry picked this month's subject, "Tools of the Trade".
Because I've already painted a few art supplies in the past, I decided to challenge myself with something else.
(left) "Barber Tools"
Original oil on hardboard 6"x8"©2012 Diana Moses Botkin
My grandfather was a barber. He and my grandmother ran a barber and beauty shop in a large midwestern city. The steel scissors in this painting belonged to him and the neck brush was either his or my grandma's. The shop lives only in the minds of those who frequented its floors decades ago. There is now a super highway where it used to stand.
But I remember the place well. The chatter and smells from the barber and shoeshine room, and the beauty shop, live in my memory as I recall sitting in the small waiting room with the coke machine. A dime and a push of the shiny lever would deliver, with that unique whooshing sound, an icy cold green 6 ounce bottle which could not be unscrewed, but rather had to be "popped" with the bottle opener on that big red box.
A drop of the bottle lid into the hole was the final cue before sipping the cold sugary bubbles from the heavy glass container with the embossed CocaCola logo. Empties were left in the metal racks next to the machine.
Lots more comes to mind remembering the shop: comic books, curved aluminum hair clips, ladies at their weekly Saturday appointments, picking up hairpins from the floor for Grandma with a giant magnet, monstrous hair dryers with attached manicure tables sporting red nail polish (or the paler shades in the '60s), and in the back room, a naugahyde day bed, and some early permanent wave machines that looked like some kind of torture devices. All nostalgic good memories.By the look of our Challenge Group's paintings, everyone enjoyed painting some good memories.
(left)
"Tool of the Trade"
Oil on canvas
10"x30"
©2012 Suzanne Berry
"Tools of the trade - Bartender"
Oil on panel 6"x8"
©2012 Mark Adams(Left)
"A Painter's Handful"
Oil 10"x 8"
©2012 Mary Maxam
"Paints"
Original oil 6"x6"
©2012 Becky Joy
(Left) "Bluebird En Plein Air"
Oil on panel 4x4"
©2012 Vicki Ross
9 comments:
Diana, thanks for the challenge group. I'm not surprised with what you chose to paint, but I am surprised at the diversity. Lovely job.
You managed to add nostalgia to the tools and that is such a thoughtful approach. Masterful edges and textures!
So good to see this month's challenge. What a fun Challenge. The comb in your painting looks like a major challenge all of its own. It is always so much fun to see the challenge paintings.
a lovely post to accompany a lovely painting. that comb is amazing!
Thank you, Ladies, for your kind remarks!
And yes, that comb was a unique challenge but weirdly satisfying. I fought with myself about how much detail to paint... and kept asking myself why DID I put that thing in the still life?
These are all so nice, Diana! Yours has such great detail for such a small painting!
Thank you, David. You know I love detail!
Beautifully painted memories, Diana!
I also enjoyed seeing all the other solutions to this challenge.
This one was quite a challenge but I'm glad I attempted it. I learned, had fun, and got it done.
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