858 Ice Cream Social

I bet you are wondering how the title relates to this painting.  The painting is of a small section of a very long (I would guess 8') mid-century Italian ice cream parlor bench--the kind where 10 people can comfortably sit back to back in the little niches.  This beautiful piece was retrieved from Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and is quite impressive with it's yellow circular tabletops strategically placed.   I really enjoyed zooming in and finding just the right section to paint, and I loved how the reflections of the lights and other objects in the room bounced off the slats.  I think the painting has an op art feel to it, yes?

You've probably guessed that I love old and unusual artifacts, and painting them has been quite interesting and challenging for me.  The piles of old doorknobs, antique monastery keys, French wine jugs, Czech Republic juggling pins, Italian mid-century wood carvings,  a weathered door, statues and this bench have all interested me in some way, compelling me to paint.  Mostly it's the texture that sings to me---rust and chipped paint, and the concept of preserving the old, knowing where the item came from, in a wabi-sabi sort of way.  Here is Wikipedia's short description of Wabi-sabi.

"Wabi-sabi is a concept in traditional Japanese aesthetics constituting a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete."

"858 Ice Cream Social"
acrylic -

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/858-ice-cream-social/581304