Surprise! I really did take a break from desserts today. Here’s an oil sketch of Laura’s Baby Shoe (we only have one).
For many years, I thought this shoe belonged to Laura, my oldest daughter. Bonnie, my youngest, just informed me that it’s hers. I associate it with Laura because all her baby shoes looked like this. Maybe I’ll be able to find Bonnie’s pastel multi-colored baby shoes before the end of this challenge and do a painting of her’s too.
I ran across this baby shoe last week, and put it aside thinking it would make a nice painting and memory of times past. After yesterdays’s colorful but demanding donut painting, I was ready for a change in subject, level of complexity, and cleanup (fewer colors = fewer brushes). This monochromatic subject fit the bill. I also think a recent show called Wayne Thiebaud: In Black on White at the Allan Stone Projects in Chelsea played a unconscious role in my decision. Well, maybe not so unconscious since I’ve been looking at this image in a brochure since December, and you already know about how I feel about my hero, Wayne Thiebaud.
When my husband and daughter saw today’s oil sketch, they were less than enthusiastic about this unexpected shift in direction. Maybe I should have prepared them first. Clearly this painting did not meeting Bonnie’s expectations since her feedback was that it was boring and colorless. Jay tried valiantly (but failed) to cover up his dislike. It doesn’t matter, because I painted it for myself.
Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but wonder what this oil sketch would have looked like with a colorful background to punch it up a bit… Should I change it? Or try another one? I would like to hear what you think.
This was the first day of the challenge that I painted from an actual object. Even so, I used my portable lamp (aka flashlight) to play with the shadows and took photos to help decide on the final composition. I didn’t realize until today how “addicted” I am to digital photography as part of the process. And it’s so much easier to paint with the aid of a photo conveniently taped at eye level on your easel. Below are two “finalist” options with subtle differences. The first one looked good to me until I saw the second with the funkier shoelace shadow, the direction that I went with.
I am really enjoying painting every day, and am learning a great deal on so many levels. The difficult part is finding time for everything else. I definitely need to fit more cooking in. The true challenge today was to finish before 6:30pm when Jay and I were leaving for the Holiday Train Show evening event at the New York Botannical Gardens (which was truly stunning at night!). I even managed to post to Leslie’s site before leaving (I was #297 today; moving on up).
Tomorrow we have New York Philharmonic tickets and had originally planned to go to some museums first. That would probably mean doing a drawing instead of a painting, which I don’t have to decide right now. But why do I feel like that’s cheating?
See you tomorrow.
Cris K
I think I like it in all white. Really sweet painting.
Beverly
Cris, I just got home and looked at it again, and I think I will leave it alone. Time to get ready for tomorrow anyway. Thanks for the feedback.
Pamela
I love this Beverly!
In the old day there was a vogue of bronzing baby shoes… kind of creepy, especially compared to the freshness of your image.
Your painting captures the ephemeral preciousness of that time (for whichever daughter) and suggests her inevitable flight into the next pair. The shoelaces bring wings to my mind…. such a tender piece.
Beverly
What a thoughtful response! I am so happy you like this piece. Your comments validate my own feelings about it (still a minority view in this household).
I had forgotten about bronzing baby shoes. And now that you mention it, I see what you mean about the wings.
It’s funny because the Van Gogh working shoes painting at the Met got me starting thinking about shoes. Surprising where I ended up, isn’t it?