Suzanne chose our Challenge this month. I've admired many trompe l'oeil paintings through the years and have sometimes thought about doing one... but never have until now.
Trompe l'oeil (French for "deceive the eye") painting aims to give the impression of being actual 3-dimensional objects, rather than painted 2-dimensional ones. While this is generally what many painting styles try to do, trompe-l'oeil presents the piece in a format that invites the viewer to believe the objects are real, rather than painted.
(left) "To Do"
10.5"x13", unframed
Oil on Canvas
with painted edges
©2013 Diana Moses Botkin
SOLD
Many trompe-l'oeil paintings portray life-sized objects in a small format, such as I've done here. Flat or nearly flat items are commonly used in trompe-l'oeil set-ups such as this one.
There is room on my "bulletin board" to tape a photograph or other real item, (which is sometimes done in this genre to assist the illusion). Any number of items would be fun additions to my little lego boxing man who has been working out, the needle and thread with the button, the keys, and my lists. What would you put on there?
I've read that Rembrandt's students painted coins on the floor of his studio for the pleasure of watching him bend down to pick them up. Maybe they set the stage by leaving a real coin one day and then painting sham coins after that.
There are also large trompe-l'oeil works: impressive paintings of forced perspective that fool the viewer into thinking a ceiling has a dome, a solid wall has a window with an outdoor view, a door opens to another room, a bookshelf exists on a flat wall, and other such deceptions of space.
However, like with many of our Challenges, I learned something, had fun, and pushed myself to do something I hadn't tried before.
The other gals did too and I love what they painted!
"Red Vase in Niche"
4" x 4" oil on marble
©2013 V.N.Ross
(at left)
"That Shirt"
16x20" Oil on Canvas
©2013 Suzanne Berry
10 comments:
Wow! What a challenge. Diana, this is one great painting. You accomplished the challenge beautifully.
Thank you for the vote of confidence, Ruth! I enjoyed this, tedious as it was. Since I love realistic detail, I felt right at home with this genre. (And I've really been trying to loosen up... ha!)
Insanely good!
Thanks for making my day with your enthusiastic words, Mary!
This is outstanding work Diana!, I agree with Mary, it's insanely good! bravo!!!!!
Another one out of the ballpark, Diana! Don't know how you accomplish so much with traveling, family, etc. Great job!
Suzanne, thank you so much for your kind words and for choosing our Challenge subject this month. I think it was one of our best!
Vicki, you should talk! I'm always impressed by what you get done with all you do.
I loved both of your paintings for this Challenge. It is always a lot of fun seeing how different or similar our minds work for the monthly subject.
Wonderful work Diana! And from the others as well. This would have been so hard for me!
Your wonderful loose brushwork always has ongoing appeal, Robin!
This was hard for me too, although I felt confident with the actual rendering. Just coming up with the idea, though, was a puzzler.
I continue to admire the extremely clever trompe l'oeil paintings of history and also from contemporary artists. So interesting!
This is so wonderful! I have always admired the Trompe l'Oeil painters from the past and present, and I love this one as well! You have created such beautiful shadows and contrast and details in this work, and it's just perfect! Shockingly perfect! Totally inspires me to give this a try myself. =)
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