"New Family"
Original oil on hardboard, 6"x8"
in handsome custom frame
©2012 Diana Moses Botkin
I named our focus to paint this time, following the lead of our last two month's
subjects. You'd think I would have more of a plan about what to paint
when I chose the idea, but I did not.
I simply thought it would be an interesting challenge to continue the progression from childhood to adolescence on to adulthood.
What does it mean to be an adult? Is it being of legal age to buy alcohol or tobacco? Is it that one is old enough to vote, or enlist in the military, or get married? Does it mean getting a job, or buying a house? I thought about all these, and more, as I was considering what to paint for this month's Challenge.
I don't think I actually felt like an adult until I became a parent, even though I'd been on my own, working, and married, for a number of years before I had children. It was only when I had my own babies that I truly felt like an adult.
And you know, some people never grow up. Adulthood signifies responsibility, and there are those who have lived many decades who have not yet grasped that concept.
On the flip side there are young persons who've had to take on responsibilities beyond their years and have had to grow up with hardly a glance at childhood. I suppose I could paint for a year and not exhaust all the possibilities for ideas about our subject this month.
Fellow Challenge participant, Mark Adams waxed eloquent about our subject at his blog post today. Here is his lovely painting.
(left)
"Father Frederick Hanna"
Oil on Canvas
24" x 36"
©2012 Mark Adams
Challenge group member, Suzanne Berry painted a lusciously rendered
small oil for this month's puzzler. It speaks volumes, don't you think?
(left)
"Adulthood"
Oil on linen
6"x6"
©2012 Suzanne Berry
9 comments:
"New Family" is absolutely beautiful, Diana! Such an intimate moment in time...I love it!!!
Congratulations on a beautiful piece!
Thank you for your kind words, Hilda. This piece actually was begun months ago... maybe it's been a year now. I had set it aside after coming to a dead end on how to make it work.
It started out bigger and I changed it a couple of times, then got it out for this Challenge. I decided to crop in to the focal point to finish it up. I'm glad it's now finished... it was a challenging piece on several levels.
i love this painting diana! it's so beautifully done as are your thoughts on what being an adult means! bravo!
and thank you so much for your kind words, they are very much appreciated.
What a tender painting - so challenging and complex and you have done it seemingly efortlessly. Stunning!
Suzanne: thank you for your feedback. It is wonderful hearing from you!
Susan: your words are very encouraging to be. It's good to know this piece (which was far from effortless) looks as if it was. One of the elements that attracts me to a painting is the kind of mastery of the medium that gives the impression that it was easily done.
This new family trio is beautiful! you really caught the moment. The others are wonderfully done as well...wow!
Thank you, Mary. Those first hours with a first child are so magical... full of wonder and promise and the blessings of God.
You have captured the moment with such intimacy. The composition works so well. Congratulations on finishing this one. Lovely.
I'm very happy to read your kind words of praise for this piece, Ruth. This one was quite the challenge for me and it feels good to have it finished.
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