‘Go Bruins’ painting
Wednesday, November 11th, 2020
‘Go Bruins!’ – by Becky DiMattia
oil on 9×12″canvasboard
2020
This painting may not be my finest work, but it represents several important firsts for me … it’s my first painting of my son! It’s also my first completed painting in 2020, my first painting completed during the pandemic, and my first portrait in four years. How is that possible? Oh right, I have a toddler!
I started this in mid-May, when the whirlwind of the upended Spring semester finally slowed down, and it’s based off of a photo that I took of E in late February (original below), just a few weeks before the pandemic started.
I’ve taken several thousand photos of this kid, and I thought it would be impossible to pick the perfect one for my very first painting of him, but to me, this is perfect. This painting was a fun opportunity to explore the play of light on his clothes and the couch, and it was a fun challenge to focus on feet and hands, which have always been a challenge for me.
It’s also not an understatement to say that this captures his very essence, and the essence of this moment in time. He’s such a happy beautiful kid, and in many ways, February 2020 was the peak of his young life, after a really wonderful Fall and Winter season filled to the brim with family, friends, celebrations and holidays (the last time we saw most of our loved-ones). Everything shut down a few weeks later, which was almost 10 months ago, but E still lights up the room just like this all the time, and this painting reminds me that he stayed happy and silly, even while the adults in his life were filled with stress, dread, anxiety and longing.
This also captures his hometown pride! He loves watching sports with his daddy and grandfather, and of course he has an endless supply of shirts and hoodies for Boston sports teams.
February 2020
