"Evening Color" Daily Painting

Original landscape/skyscape oil painting 4"x6"
Rosy and violet sunset clouds in turquoise and aqua sky, over blue mountains and green fields.
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin

We've been having days and days of grey rainy weather here in north Idaho. Thankfully, there was a breakthrough of sunlight on Monday. I hope you'll enjoy these serotonin boosting colorful paintings I'm working on this week from Monday's colorful inspirations!

"Summer Afternoon at the River" Daily Painting

Original landscape oil painting, 4"x6"
Trees and green fields, with distant mountains and river in foreground.

I enjoyed looking at my summer reference photo to work on this painting. Weather here has been turning cold and grey and there is lots of fresh snow at about 1,000 feet and higher. So I guess summer's gone...sigh. Working on this little piece was the closest I could get to going somewhere warm and sunny, at least for awhile.

This study utilized simplified color choices. I tried to use only 5 tones to represent this scene. It's good for me to think about breaking a study into fewer steps and colors.

©2008 Diana Moses Botkin

Illegal Chinese Copies Hurt our Art and Livelihood

Many of you know I'm a member of DailyPainters.com and online group of ...guess what?!... daily painters! We work hard day after day to paint something original, eye-catching, fun, or perhaps even a masterpiece. We post our work at the site and on our blogs for online viewers to enjoy and (hopefully) purchase.

Then we find out that a Chinese art factory is ripping off lots of our images to offer at their website (without our permission!); painted copies of our originals. Brazen thievery of intellectual property. Many of my painting images they lifted were originally tiny paintings and were being offered at wall size "painted by artists with bachelor degrees". Yeah, right. I guess those bachelor degree programs didn't include any classes on the ethics of stealing other artists' work. But what am I thinking?! This is China we're talking about... famous.. or I guess I should say infamous... for cheap knock-offs of everything from "designer" luggage to "Rolex" watches.

The good news is that the Chinese site has now removed our images. Anytime you run across my work somewhere and suspect it is being used without my permission, please do contact me. I'll check it out and see if it's something for which I've given permission.

You can find bona fide reproductions of my work which I've authorized at my website repro page and at my giclee print gallery. And my originals are offered here at this blog, at my website, and my links page.

Winner Announced for the Book Giveaway!

Thank you to all who entered the drawing for a free copy of my new little book of daily paintings. Congratulations to Cecelia in Texas, whose name was chosen as the winner of a signed copy of "Gems From the Edge of the Earth".

And for those of you who are disappointed that you didn't win, you can preview the book (see sample pages) and buy if you'd like.

I really enjoy these giveaways because I get to hear from some of you out there in the blogosphere that I don't yet know! A number of the folks who visit here to see my daily paintings I've met personally, and others I've gotten to know through this blog. I value the camaraderie and feedback from all of you who comment and share your thoughts.

Still others of you out there are only names to me at this time... perhaps someday I'll be able to put a face with your name.

And here's my face in a photo snapped by my daughter at the Scotchman Peaks Paint Out Exhibit recently. I'm holding one of my little plein air paintings that had just sold, "Violet Evening". I'm usually not all that pleased with photos of myself and don't think of myself as photogenic, but this one is at least expressive. It says, "Well it was cold and miserable painting out there by the lake but this makes it all worthwhile!"

Book available of my small regional daily paintings

You can now get copies of Gems from the Edge of the Earth from the publisher. This 40 page small format book shows over 90 of my small and tiny daily paintings in full color. I hope you'll enjoy taking a look!

You can preview the book and order here.

To celebrate having this book finished and published, I'm going to announce a little giveaway drawing sometime this week! So, please check back here in the next few days. On the day I announce the giveaway, you'll have an opportunity to win a signed copy of the book. I'll give you details on the giveaway day.

Here are a few of my favorite daily paintings that appear in the book.
 

Book coming soon: small regional landscape paintings

I just finished uploading the file to the publisher for my book Gems from the Edge of the Earth. This book shows many of my petite paintings of north Idaho. After I proof a printed copy and make sure it looks good, I'll offer it online. 

You'll be able to get it soon at the introductory price. Stay tuned for a link if you'd like to own one. (Maybe I'll even do a giveaway of a signed copy!)

And if you want to put together your own book and use one of the print-on-demand online publishing companies, it's not too difficult. I just wrote an article about doing just that. The piece appears in the current issue of Art Calendar Magazine, now available at newstands.

I'll be taking a little more time off from Daily Painting to finish up some portrait orders, but will be back soon posting to this blog with my latest little 'uns. Contact me if you'd like info yourself about a commission of that special someone or unique place.

©2008 Diana Moses Botkin

"Plum Study" Still Life Daily Painting

Original unframed pastel on grey Canson paper, approx. 5"x9"
Loose Impressionistic sketch of purple plums on a pale green background.

This is a live demo I did recently to show my students how to block in shapes and shadows.

©2008 Diana Moses Botkin

"Plum Fun" Still Life Daily Painting

Original still life oil painting, 5"x5"
Fresh purple plums against an orange background, painted from life 
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin 

SOLD

Yes, this was plum fun to paint! Enjoy the serotonin boost. I sure did.

Plum Still Life Daily Painting and Art Instruction

Original still life oil painting, 5"x7" unframed
Fresh plums on a dark blue plate, painted from life

SOLD
 
We've not had the abundant fruit harvest this year as we did last year. I figured I'd better get outside today and pick whatever plums are left before the bears totally break the branches to get fruit (which they did to several last year). Dodging the piles of bear and deer droppings, I risked life and limb on the fruit ladder to harvest what I could reach.

I liked the way several had broken off with a short piece of the branch and thought they'd make an interesting still life. Here's a demo of the way I approached this loosely painted study which I painted live in low directional light.

First, I blocked in the shapes on a grey-tinted panel with dark oil paint (a mixture here of ultramarine blue and burnt umber).

I didn't bother to sketch this out because the composition and shapes were pretty simple and I knew where I wanted to go with it. (For a more complicated arrangement, I might draw things out first to decide what goes where. A sketch is especially handy in landscape painting en plein air, because there is frequently so much visual information it's good to decide in advance what shapes will be dominant and what might be good to leave out.)

Next I laid in greens for leaves (mixes of thalo green, cad green pale, yellow ochre and white) and then began painting in those fun pinks and reds (mixes of perm. aliz, white and thio violet).The sticks were sketched in (burnt umber and white mixes, also yellow ochre). More color (a little cad red scarlet and more aliz) was added to the plums and that purplish haze that makes plums look like plums was painted in by dragging some violet paint (mixes of thio violet, thalo blue and white) onto the surface.
 
I then painted in more blues on the background (mostly ultramarine with a touch of burnt umber and white, and a little thalo blue in the brighter spots) and the dark shadows (ultramarine, thalo green and aliz). On the plums I brushed in some warm glowing orange (cad scarlet and white) and then a very small highlight glow (white and cad yellow med).
 
I suggested the reflections under the plums and then added finishing touches to the sticks, plum stems and leaf stems. (See finished painting above.) Even though it's pretty loose, I decided this is enough to portray these blushing beauties.

©2008 Diana Moses Botkin

"Solitude" Figurative/Landscape Daily Painting

Original oil painting, figure in landscape, 5"x7"
Beach scene of young woman on colorful towel on the sand, in bright midday sunlight  
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin

This larger figure in the 5x7" format was a little easier than painting the girl so small as in the previous work. Simplifying the sand and cropping in close put the focus on her rather than all her surroundings. You can tell she's at the beach but it's more background than subject. She's the main focus instead of the setting.

So... what do suppose she's thinking?

Sold Daily Paintings

"Ambition" Oil, 5"x7"
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin
SOLD

"Shadows in the Park" Oil, 5"x7"
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin
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"Boy's Best Friend" Oil, 7"x5"
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin
SOLD

"Longhorns Fan" Oil, 7"x5"
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin
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"Twins" Oil, 5"x3.5"
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin
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"Touching the Sky" Oil, 8"x6"
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin
SOLD

"Cool Reflections" Oil, 4"x6"
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin
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"Outdoor Hearts" Oil, 5.5"x10"
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin
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"Summer Evening" Oil, 4"x6"
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin
SOLD

"Cuddling Persimmons" Oil, 4"x6"
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin
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"Persimmon" Miniature Oil
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin
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"Orange and Purple" Miniature Oil
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin
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"A Sky Like Opals" Miniature Oil
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin
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"Mini Cloud Study" Miniature Oil
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin
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"Color After the Rains" Miniature Oil
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin
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"Lone Persimmon" Oil 3.5"x 5"
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin
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"Flocked Trees" Miniature Oil
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin
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"Lombardy Poplars" Oil 5"x 3.5"
©2008 Diana Moses Botkin
SOLD

Daily Painting with my Little Paint Box

This is me working on the onion painting at the Art Faire, using my small cigar box pochade. It's small enough to fit in my briefcase along with a camera, sketch book and a few other essentials.

For the box, I've narrowed it down to 8 or 9 tiny tubes of paint, a small bottle of thinner and a sample size of Galkyd medium. There is also just enough room for some short handled brushes and a palette knife. Oh, and I use a disposable painting palette pad I cut to fit the box.

At the end of my painting session, I fold the top sheet with the paint, stick it in a plastic bag and deal with it at home later. Sometimes I'll add my dirty brushes to the baggie, as well. If there is leftover paint, I transfer it to my palette at home. Waste not, want not.

I do have bigger painting boxes I take sometimes when I go out for demos, on trips, or to paint out. But I love the simplicity, light weight, and compactness of this one and use it often.

©2008 Diana Moses Botkin