"Clear and Cold"Oil on Canvas
14 x 18"
2008
For the first time in months, I feel like I'm caught up with everything. I'm finished with show entries for now so the pressure to paint a masterpiece is off and I can experiment a bit. I delivered a batch of paintings to my gallery in Winter Park on Friday, so now my galleries are stocked for a while and I can spend some time just painting what I want to paint.
When I'm painting to a deadline I tend to paint things that I'm 95% sure will turn out well, which is a really effective way to stunt my growth as an artist. Now that I don't have any deadlines looming, I'm working on some paintings that are more of a challenge for me, and might end up being dismal failures. I just have to tell myself that I learn something every time a painting ends up in the trash heap!
I'd post some of this newer stuff as I go along, but I'm just too lazy to shoot and upload photos of my paintings on a regular basis. I tend to wait until I have a pile of paintings and shoot them all at once. This is, honestly, probably what keeps me from doing the whole daily painting thing. I just don't think I could deal with editing photos EVERY day! How do you guys who are daily painters do it without tearing your hair out? Do you have a designated spot in your studio where you photograph your paintings? Do you just have more patience than me?
Hi Stacey:
ReplyDeleteFirst off... I absolutely love "Clear and Cold." It feels different than other paintings I've seen posted here. Quite lovely.
For posting everyday, I find that it takes about 10 minutes to get the image all together-- shoot, transfer from the card, crop/adjust, export.
After being a photoshop professional for the last 13 years or so, I find that IPhoto works just fine.
I shoot on the easel using available daylight, or in a light tent I built for night shooting.
That of course is for the daily stuff-- which is a different bar than gallery submission photos...
Lastly-- I'd be really curious to see the results of your experimentation, and I bet there are a bunch of others out here in cyberspace who'd say the same thing...
I'd say the same thing. I want to see the relaxed stuff.
ReplyDeleteNot that I don't like the rest of the stuff you do, but I am a lot like you Stacey. With deadlines or shows looming I kind of tighten up. I think that is why I don't look for any more galleries right now. I do fine with where I am. I think I paint better without the pressure. Since most of my stuff goes in my own gallery, I can hang the stuff I experiment with a bit and get feedback from clients.
The funny thing is that the stuff I have fun with and relax is the most popular with the clients too. Huh.
I did try two pieces in the OPA show. I spend all that money on dues and never enter. We'll see if I get in.
I just shoot my photos in the sun, no tripod , no lights. I find the sun gives me more acurate color in my paintings. If I need to I can adjust the levels in photoshop to even it up with the painting. I have to throw out the blurry ones, but I always end up with something good.
Jason - I guess when you put it that way I realize that it wouldn't take me more than 10 minutes to shoot and edit either. Maybe I just think it's a bigger deal because I'm always photographing ten paintings at a time?
ReplyDeleteFrank - I'll post some of what I'm working on eventually. I don't know that it's much different than my normal work, it's just that I'm tackling some subjects that are normally difficult for me. I already have one destined for the trash pile this week!