Becky's photoblog

First ride on the T since before the pandemic

Ponte Sant’Angelo, Rome – by Becky DiMattia
oil on 14×18″ canvas
2017-2020

As with so many of my paintings, this one is a sweet memory of a beautiful moment and a beautiful scene. Our honeymoon in 2012 started with 3 days in Rome, and our 3 days started and ended at Ponte Sant’Angelo, the Bridge of Angels, which connects Rome to Vatican City. That trip was my 7th visit to the Eternal City, it was my husband’s first, and I loved seeing my favorite city fresh through his eyes. The very first thing we did in Rome (after a long nap), was take a cab to Ponte Sant’Angelo, one of my favorite places in Rome (my blog post from our first day in Rome, October 2012). We took in the incredible views across the bridge towards Rome, and down the main avenue towards St. Peter’s Cathedral, we got a start towards the cathedral and the Vatican Museums, and then, a downpour! After the rain cleared, we had an incredible evening visiting the Vatican Museums at night, a rare treat to see the galleries in a different light after seeing them 6 times before.

We had an incredible 3 days wandering around Rome, and on our last day (my blog post from our third day in Rome, including the original photos for this painting), our wanderings brought us back to Ponte Sant’Angelo. On a clear bright late afternoon, we got to take some wonderful photos from the bridge, recalling the start of our journey a few days before, and one of them eventually became this painting.

It took some time to rediscover this image in my memories and my files. I love painting images of sculptures, and I started this painting in March 2015 as just a painting of the angel, with just the very top of the pedestal. It was satisfying to paint the curves and the swoops of the wings and the drapery, but it stayed unfinished for years, until I finally decided that it was missing something that I loved about that moment … the view just beyond the angel to St. Peter’s Cathedral.

I started a second version (this one below) in September 2017, when I was about 7 months pregnant, and predictably, I got distracted. It’s hard to find time to paint with a baby, and I chipped away at this piece here and there over the next few years, painting and repainting, trying to get at the essence of what I love so much about this image, until I finally decided this week, in December 2020, that I had already finished this painting. I had struggled with the exact tone of the backlit sculpture, his exact stance, the exact configuration of the receding clouds, and I could never get it perfect. It’s still not perfect, but I decided that I love the way this painting glows in my painting corner next to our front windows, in the white lights that we hang around those windows to bring light to the dark winter months … and it’s done! And it only took 8 years! Some moments are worth capturing, even if it takes a really long time.

‘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

Trains at the Museum of Science – Dec 8, 2019 from BeckyDD on Vimeo.

The Fra Angelico exhibit at the Gardner Museum is absolutely spectacular, and I spent a delightful Friday morning listening to the exhibit curator, and marveling at the incredibly intricate shiny gold leaf.

A beautiful summer Neighborhood Nights evening at the Gardner Museum