PaintMyPhoto Quarterly Newsletter - Issue 6

Summer Edition

Paint My Photo

6

‘Early Summer Morning Walk’ Photo by Sylvia Lang

PACKED WITH ARTICLES YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS...

Congratulations to Bix, our winner of the April Monthly Challenge. Her winning painting, ‘Flutterby’, takes pride of place on our front cover.

Where Photographers and Artists Meet

Original reference photo provided by PixelBloke

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EDITOR’S WELCOME

Well, Here It Is... PaintMyPhoto’s Latest Newsletter Welcome to the Summer 2013 edition of PaintMyPhoto's newsletter.

The last quarter has seen another great crop of fabulous reference photos and exceptional artwork added to the site.

Change is coming... You will find an article by Roy Simmons, our wonderful provider of this amazing website, about changes that Ning (the platform the site is built on) will be introducing later in the year.

We are hopeful that some of these changes will help us to develop and further improve PaintMyPhoto to make it an even more fabulous resource that it already is!

As always, I am humbled by the generosity of all our contributors to the newsletter, they have been extremely generous with their time and knowledge - a heartfelt thank you to you all, we couldn't do it without you. We have some amazing articles that I'm sure you will enjoy and will give you the inspiration to try out new ideas.

The Hands of Time

But enough of my waffling, go forth and enjoy....

Ruth Archer Our demonstrations will now include this splendid graphic to help you spot them.

Our thanks go to Shawn, one of this month’s contributors, for creating this for us!

Boat in a Blue Sea

If you aren't a member of PaintMyPhoto, then please have a read of this newsletter and see what you are missing. Are you are a photographer who would like to contribute good quality, copyright-free reference photos for our artists to use for inspiration? Are you an artist (a complete beginner or a professional, it really doesn't matter) who would benefit from being able to use copyright-free photos? Perhaps, like me, you are a bit of The Forager

both! Membership is free and you will find the site a very welcoming and friendly community.

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Rob

MEET THE PHOTOGRAPHER

Rob

Rob is a very talented photographer and artist who lives in the UK. Visit Rob’s gallery on PMP to see more of his wonderful photos and paintings.

Go to his PMP profile to contact him.

‘Self Portrait’

Visually Stunning and Highly Imaginative Images First and foremost, on behalf of all members, may Digital cameras have included Nikon 3100 and D80. I we thank you for your generosity in sharing your don't publish many of the film camera shots as they lose wonderful photos! Can you tell us how you first a lot of the quality when scanned. discovered Paint My Photo?

What, if any, photography/image software I saw a reference to this site whilst browsing in do you use to manage your photos? a site called Leisure Painter.

I use Photoshop Elements.

What is your favourite photography subject?

If you had to choose just one photograph that you have posted on I like Abstract and Creative type shots.

Paint My Photo, which one would it be However, these types of shots don't make good and why? reference shots for artists so I haven't posted many of these.

Choosing one photo would be hard to do. I think "Multiple exposure of a white faced man" is my favourite.

What type of camera and equipment do you use This is a triple exposure on a Nikon D80. this shot was for the photographs that you post on Paint My the first attempt.

Photo?

I live near a Sculpture park and I went back a week later II currently use a Panasonic FZ7, some filters and a to try and perfect the shot a little bit. I ended up by tripod. I have, in the past, owned a medium format being escorted out because I was deemed a camera (Sunset in Belize was taken on this), also I have "professional" as I was using a tripod. used Zenith, Pentax and Nikon film cameras.

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ROB Finally, we’d love to know a little more about you, do you have a personal website (or other online presence) where we can see more of your work?

I am a former soldier (so Ruth’s “Centurion” painting wasn't far off the mark).

I don't have a website but I would recommend that anybody interested in visual images to check out 1x.com. This site will show you what can be achieved with a camera and some imagination.

Visit Rob’s PMP Gallery to see more of his fabulous photos.

Stag at Dusk

Swan

Rob’s Choice ‘Multiple Exposure of White-Faced Man’ Cockle Picker

Tethered Boat at Robin Hood’s Bay

Dancing Lady

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ROB

Bamburgh Castle

Lola

Fan Dance

Horse on Beach

Stuntman

Castle with HDR Treatment

Fountains Abbey

Goose with Sky

Belize Sunset

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Clown Mask

Weasle

MEET THE PHOTOGRAPHER

Carrie Layne Mashon Carrie is a very talented artist and photographer and is based in Canada.

To see more of her images, visit her gallery on PaintMyPhoto.

Contact Carrie at PMP.

Carrie Layne Mashon ‘Cosmos’

A Gallery Full of Inspiring and Thought-Provoking Photos First and foremost, on behalf of all members, may we thank you for your generosity in sharing your wonderful photos! Can you tell us how you first discovered Paint My Photo?

I really don't remember when I discovered it, I think I was just getting in to scratch art at the time and was looking to find some good animal photos, and really happy that I did! I What is your favourite photography subject?

That's a really hard question....I love so many things....but if someone said that tomorrow I could only photograph one thing, I think it would have to be my Grandkids. I pray that never happens, because I love all of it.

There is, however, an abundance of some species that were rare when I was young. We have nesting Osprey near my home as well as an abundance of Egrets and Herons. Photographing animals is particularly rewarding

for me because it requires learning about their behaviours and habits in order to locate and photograph them.

What type of camera and equipment do you use for the photographs that you post on Paint My Photo?

I'm a Pentax girl through and through....the camera that I used for most of the images posted was a Pentax istDL, with the 18-55mm Pentax lens and also a 70-300mm Sigma lens. I have recently upgraded to the Pentax K5IIs with a 18-135mm lens and also a 50 f1.8 prime lens.

What, if any, photography/image software do you use to manage your photos?

What, if any, photography/image software do you use to manage your photos?

I use a few different ones, Photoshop Elements 10 and also PicMonkey. There are also a couple I use on my iPad that are quite good, Photoshop Express and Photoshop touch.

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CARRIE LAYNE MASHON

If you had to choose just one photograph that you have posted on Paint My Photo, which one would it be and why?

Another difficult question Lol! I think that the photo titled, First Time is. The photo is a profile view of my grandson blowing dandelion fluff, it seems to be a very popular photo, it was showcased on the back cover of Our Canada magazine a couple of years ago, and a number of people on PMP have reproduced it, along with another group that I belong to.

Finally, we’d love to know a little more about you, do you have a personal website (or other online presence) where we can see more of your work?

Peggy’s Cove

I've been a photographer for 34 years, I got my first camera (Pentax K1000) when my daughter was a year old. My father was a professional photographer, but unfortunately passed away when I was 4, I like to think he's watching, and encouraging me to step up and try different things with my camera.

I also am an artist, and I am the Vice-President of the Canadian Badlands Artist Association. I have a photography page called CaLay Photography on Facebook,

https://www.facebook.com/CaLayPhotography?ref=hl The Eye

I have an album of my art work on The Badlands Gallery Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Badlands-Gallery/ 111076472313910?ref=hl

Maple Leaves 1

Daisy

Pickin’ Pretty Flowers for Mommy

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Inside the Old Dorothy Church

CARRIE LAYNE MASHON

Dragonfly

Calico Kitten

Lily

Carrie’s Choice ‘First Time’

Sunlit Path

Echinachea

As Far as the Eye Can See Chevy

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MEET THE PHOTOGRAPHER

Lillian Bell Lillian is an extremely talented photographer and artist based in the USA. You can contact Freda by visiting her profile page on PaintMyPhoto. To see more of her wonderful work visit her PaintMyPhoto gallery.

Lillian Bell

‘Mystery’

If You are a Still Life Painter, Make Sure You Visit Lillian’s Gallery!

Can you tell us how you first found out about Paint My Photo?

I am a member of Wetcanvas and had seen a wonderful painting posted by a member here where he gave credit for the photo by a photographer on Paint my Photo. I looked up PMP and was thrilled with what I saw.

I am always looking for different reference photos to paint from so this site was perfect with it's variety of photographs. Once I joined I was inspired to take more photos for myself and to share with others.

What is your favourite photography subject?

I consider myself more of an artist than a photographer and I love to paint still lifes, animals and florals. My favourite subject to photograph is still life. I enjoy collecting different objects, especially reflective metals and glass and adding fruits, vegetables or flowers.

I sometimes spend up to three days on one set-up, arranging items and waiting for just the right light. I use natural light and have three different areas in my house I use at different times of the day, or I will set-up outside in bright sunlight to get the effect I want.

Light and composition are for me the most important elements in my paintings and therefore in my photos.

What type of camera and equipment do you use for the photographs that you post on Paint My Photo? What, if any, photography/image software do you use to manage your photos?

I'm not a professional photographer and I don't have and special equipment or cameras. I use a point and shoot Canon powershot camera. I never use a flash and I zoom in on the subject to correct the perspective. If needed I will crop and adjust the photo in iPhoto on my Mac. That's it, nothing special.

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LILLIAN BELL

If you had to choose just one photograph that you have posted on Paint My Photo, which one would it be and why?

I'd have to choose the photo I took of my grandfather's old pipe and tobacco tin, as it had special meaning. I had the items sitting on my shelf for a few days until the afternoon sun came out and lit it just right. I grabbed a flower, put it with it and took the photo.

Finally, we'd love to know a little more about you, do you have a personal website (or other online presence) where we can see more of your work?

Round Basket of Tomatoes

I started painting about 25 years ago in watercolour. I am mainly self taught and over the years I also worked in coloured pencil and pastel. About 6 years ago I started working in acrylics. I enjoyed the control and fast drytime of the medium and it allowed me to achieve the degree of detail that I like in a painting.

I was approached by a gallery four years ago and they only accepted works on canvas so most of my work now is in acrylic. My floral and still life paintings started selling and I had to come up with more ideas for subjects to paint. That is when I started photographing more of my own still life set-ups.

Jalapeno Peppers in Wood Bowl

I know how much I appreciated having good photos by other people to paint from, so contributing to PMP is a good way for me to share my photos and hopefully inspire other artists to paint different subjects, in the same way that I have been inspired.

Websites: My works can be seen on my blog:

lilymbell.blogspot.ca

Whiskey on Ice Three Limes

Yellow Pepper Jug with Watermelon

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Wooden Spoons with Garlic & Onion

LILLIAN BELL

Orange in Rice Bowl

Scoop of Liquorice Allsorts

Fall Flowers

Lillian’s Choice Chilli Peppers in Steamer

‘Grandpa’s Pipe’

Copper Kettle with Oranges

Teapot & Cherries

Wine, Glass & Grapes

Grapes in Crystal Bowl Single Yellow Tulip

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Three Peppers

THE THING ABOUT NING & THE RATTLE OF A TIN...

Roy Simmons Roy is the founder/owner of PaintMyPhoto. Without his generosity none of this would be possible - heartfelt thanks Roy! Contact Roy on his profile at PMP. View Roy’s paintings in his PMP Gallery.

Roy Simmons

‘Winter Watercolor’

Changes Are Coming...

As many of you will be aware, PMP is hosted on the Ning platform. This is a paid-for service that allows even the average person (Like me!) to build a social network around a topic of interest. When I started PMP in 2010, Ning had a free option, which was fine for a while, however Ning then changed their business model to a paid-only subscription type. This did present a problem, however, by then the site was becoming popular so it was decided to continue. The Ning support improved as we were a paying customer, and more features became available. However there is always room for improvement! That is what ongoing development means, both for the programmers, and for us (Meaning myself and our wonderful admins). There are many ways that we would like to develop and/or improve PMP, but are not possible at the moment on the current Ning version 2.0.

So there is good news, and not so good news!

The good news...

Ning is releasing a major upgrade and re-write of the Ning software, Ning 3.0. The feature list is increasing, which is good. A new feature that made me happy is that we can now have ‘multiple instances’ of any feature. That means we can have more than one main gallery at last! This will simplify, eventually, separating source photos from members artwork produced from source photos.

Another really good feature is that admins have full control over what stays visible to members only and what will be visible publicly. I will explain why this is important in a moment.

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Site Changes by Roy Simmons

THE THING ABOUT NING...

Changes Are Coming... Cont.

It also seems that it will be much more mobile and tablet friendly, with a modern automatic resizing on any device, which is very important for many busy folk on the move.

There will also be no limit on the amount of content we can add.

Ning is planning to make this upgrade available ‘late summer’ which is when Ning sites subscriptions are due, which is not coincidental I suspect!

The not so good news...

The price is increasing, also when we hit 10,000 members the cost will nearly double as we will be required to upgrade to the ‘Ning ultimate’ plan which allows up to 100,000 members.

As you know we are a site run purely by volunteers, which is a great thing! It means we are independent. I have always wanted to make PMP different by being transparent about our plans and engaging with members and our admin team and not making decisions in isolation, or without discussion. PMP will remain free to join and access great photos to paint from. However, as we grow we need to have more of a business ‘hat’ on, at least in a small way, to attract advertising funding or other ideas we may, have to raise funds. Before we go over 10k members I hope to have more ‘revenue streams’ in place to help with this. At our current rate of growth we will be at 10k members in around 7 or 8 months time.

I mentioned above about changes to controls over private/public access to content on PMP. Rest assured, it will continue to be the case that only members will be able to see photos in the main ‘source photos’ gallery.

However, it will help us be a more attractive proposition to advertisers if people generally searching for art or photography-related content can find us via a google search for example. At the moment, just to clarify, Google can only fully ‘see’ the home page of PMP. This means that forums, blog posts, etc currently will not show up as an entry in a google search. The proposed changes mean that we will be able to have some public-facing content pages where, for example, we can offer advertising.

Hopefully this change alone may enable us to generate some income for the site. Another way I make some income which helps is by selling my ‘Fearless Watercolor’ ebook. I also now make a little from advertising on my youtube channel, I funnel this to an account on Paypal as well.

At this point I feel I must say a big thank you to those of you who have made a donation to support us! You know who you are, I hope I have thanked you personally via email. I must also give a big shout out to our admin member Robyn Lovelock, who has championed the appeal for donations! Thanks Ro!

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Site Changes by Roy Simmons

THE THING ABOUT NING...

Please remember, folks, all our admins work voluntarily for the love of the site and the wonderful community here on PMP. Sometimes, if you have a concern and contact us you may not get an instant response, as many of us have day jobs or other commitments. Be assured we have your best interests at heart, and any delay is not intentional.

Donations are the main way you can show your support and ensure the continuing growth of PMP, it need not be large! Any amount is very welcome. I still have the objective of making the donate button unnecessary in future, as I have said, but we are not there yet!

To make a donation, go to the Donate box on the right-hand side of the home page of PMP entitled ‘Support PMP’.

Thanks for your continued support of our wonderful site!

We are anticipating that the changes will be introduced towards the end of the Summer. We are currently looking at the proposals and evaluating what we can utilise to make improvements to PaintMyPhoto.

We think that the multiple galleries will make an immediate improvement in how we display our many wonderful photos and paintings. Public areas on the site will also make it possible to improve ways to generate income to sustain the PMP without relying on donations.

There may be some disruption while the changes are being implemented, but we will try to keep these to a minimum. Please bear us with during this time.

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David Stribbling

ART IN THE MAKING...

David is a very talented professional artist based in the UK. He also takes some great photos!

View David’s Gallery on PMP. You can contact David by visiting his PMP profile page.

Water Lily Painting David Stribbling ‘Lily 1’ original photo by Richard Stedman

A Step-By-Step Oil Demonstration by David Stribbling This is a 14x18" painting in oils on canvas using Richard Stedman's beautiful water lily photo: http:// paintmyphoto.ning.com/photo/lily-1-1.

The canvas I'm using is from www.artistsmaterialsonline.co.uk and is the fine cotton no.

574. It's already primed and I just cut it to size from a roll allowing a one and a half inch border for stretching. I don't paint on stretched canvases very often, it's just a personal preference as I like a hard surface to work on. It's also much easier, safer and much more cost effective to ship a painting on canvas rolled in a postal tube than a stretched one.

The first thing I do is give the canvas a quick wash of burnt sienna acrylic which dries quickly and makes for a nice ground. Once dry, the initial drawing is done with an H or 2 H pencil. I feel this is in many ways the most important stage of the whole thing as if I'm doing a representational piece (as this is) I want to be sure it's accurate. There are plenty of ways this can be done - grid, tracing, camera obscura, whatever. I believe there was even a fellow by name of Roy who came up with an ingenious digital camera on a stick gizmo...and it worked! Brilliant!

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ART IN THE MAKING

Step-By-Step Guide by David Stribbling

A Step-By-Step Oil Demonstration Cont...

So do I measure? Damn right I do. Does an accountant check his sums? If not the result may be interesting, creative even, but there's also a good chance they would be just plain wrong. I just want to make sure my drawing is right.

The paints are the "I Love Art" range from Great Art (www.greatart.co.uk/) in the UK. I first tried these last year and I really liked them. They have a lovely creamy consistency and an impressive range of colours.I have to admit I was first attracted to them by the price - ÂŁ4.95 for a 200ml tube of Titanium White had to be looked at, but I do actually now prefer them to Winsor and Newton or Daler Rowney.

They are part of the very large German group Gerstaecker. Their spray varnishes are also much superior in my opinion to the Winsor and Newton and Daler Rowney alternatives and, again half the price. At the end of a painting session I scrape the unused paint from one palette to another and store it overnight in a tub of water! This keeps it perfectly airtight and stops the oil from drying until the next time I need it.

The next day the excess water is soaked up on a kitchen roll and ready to go!

The only medium I use is cheap white spirit from the local DIY store.

A lot of the brushes I'm using are Daler Rowney's Taklon Gold. Again, not expensive and I like the flat ones in particular.

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ART IN THE MAKING

Step-By-Step Guide by David Stribbling

A Step-By-Step Oil Demonstration Cont...

Here I'm starting the painting in the top left. The painting will be done in two sessions. The first underpainting will be left for a few days to dry before adding detail in the second session. I don't try to get detail in the first session. It's just laying down colours and tones and then blend together to cover the canvas.

You can see here that I'm not bothered about joining everything up before blending. At this stage it's a bit like painting by numbers without the numbers.

I'm using a big, fat, soft brush to blend these two colours together to soften the edges and cover the canvas.

This is the technique I use to progress this first stage. Add colour, shape and tone fairly basically and then blend together to form an underpainting. I will often leave all the blending part until the end and just go over the whole thing quite aggressively just to form a basis for the detail to follow in the second stage.

The green I'm using here is called bright yellow green. I think the equivalent in other brands is zinc green. The darker green on the palette is a 50% mix with french ultramarine.

The lilypad colour I'm using is a mix of the greens with titanium white and a dab of cerulean blue.

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ART IN THE MAKING

Step-By-Step Guide by David Stribbling

A Step-By-Step Oil Demonstration Cont...

Again just applying tones and colours fairly basically and then blending. Yes, that lily is going to get blended soon...

Blending the lily.

This is the first underpainting stage completed. It's a muted, blurred approximation ready for detail to be added when dry. The blending process also has a darkening effect which I like as I much prefer adding light colours over dark to create highlights.

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ART IN THE MAKING

Step-By-Step Guide by David Stribbling

A Step-By-Step Oil Demonstration Cont...

This is where I start going over the (now dry) painting again, this time adding detail and emphasising darks as well as lights. This time I'm using a rigger brush for the fine detail in the water.Here I'm adding highlights to the lily pads and blending with a dry brush...

...and finger to mould the dimpled effect.

Here you can see the contrast between the upper and lower lily pads. The bottom pads are still in the underpainting stage. The flower was actually easier than I anticipated, just picking out the highlights and emphasising the shadows.

French Ultramarine and titanium red were added to the titanium white of the petals to keep the shadows fairly warm. The care taken to ensure the initial drawing was right has paid off. It would have been a nightmare if I had tried to be too gung-ho with the drawing.

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ART IN THE MAKING

Step-By-Step Guide by David Stribbling

A Step-By-Step Oil Demonstration Cont...

...and here's the final painting photographed outside.

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ART IN THE MAKING...

It’s a David Stribbling double-bill!

Thanks for being so generous with your time, David.

Squirrel David Stribbling ‘Share you say......No I say!’ original photo by Paul Sherman

A Step-By-Step Oil Demonstration by David Stribbling This painting of a squirrel from Paul Sherman's great set of animal photos ( http://paintmyphoto.ning.com/ photo/share-you-say-no-i-say) was painted in a different style to the waterlily. It's 10x12" using the same canvas and again prepared with a burnt sienna acrylic wash.

This is a much more painterly style completed in one session. Here I'm emphasising and and often exaggerating colours.

I find it a very liberating way to paint especially if the painting before was a more detailed one.

I find it best to limit myself to larger brushes, especially the flat ones that show the brushstrokes nicely and lessens the temptation to add more detail than I really want.

So here's the initial pencil sketch with the acrylic wash.

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ART IN THE MAKING

Step-By-Step Guide by David Stribbling

A Step-By-Step Oil Demonstration by a Very Talented Artist Cont...

No medium just a loaded flat brush. No point in holding back, you just have to go for it and I'm always looking for areas where I can introduce primary colours - blues, reds, yellows.

It is so important to get the eye shape right and in the right place! The equally important highlight follows the shape of the eye.

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ART IN THE MAKING

Step-By-Step Guide by David Stribbling

A Step-By-Step Oil Demonstration Cont...

Quick work with the flat brush loaded with paint gives the feathered effect as the brush is lifted. You can see particularly in the bottom half of this photo where the flat brush has been used.

Hinting at the grass with the side of the flat brush and introducing the laid back reds yellows and blues into the background with a larger flat brush. If it looks haphazard it's because it really is!

Once the colours are laid out on the palette I just try to get the paint on the canvas as quickly as possible whilst still using the photo as a guide.

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ART IN THE MAKING

Step-By-Step Guide by David Stribbling

A Step-By-Step Oil Demonstration Cont...

Quick work with the flat brush loaded with paint gives the feathered effect as the brush is lifted.

Hinting at the grass with the side of the flat brush and introducing the laid back reds yellows and blues into the background with a larger flat brush. If it looks haphazard it's because it really is!

Once the colours are laid out on the palette I just try to get the paint on the canvas as quickly as possible whilst still using the photo as a guide.

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ART IN THE MAKING

Step-By-Step Guide by David Stribbling

A Step-By-Step Oil Demonstration Cont...

Some light blending of the background with a large dry bristle brush. The edge of a palette knife is used to hint at grass and shrubbery. Thick impasto paint is added and just smudged around the canvas with the knife to create texture, both in the background and foreground.

Just a case of moving the paint around until it looks right!

Breaking up the greens with a little random orange. If in doubt just pick a colour already used in the squirrel to create balance.

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ART IN THE MAKING

Step-By-Step Guide by David Stribbling

A Step-By-Step Oil Demonstration Cont...

Here's the finished critter photographed outside in natural light (in the shade, not direct sunlight). From cutting the canvas to adding the signature in around 3 hours. That's the point about this kind of painting it has to be quick to get the freshness and vibrancy. As soon as it becomes too laboured this effect is lost.

To see more of David’s fabulous paintings visit:

www.davidstribbling.com David and his daughters Sarah and Rachel, also talented artists, can be found on FaceBook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stribbling-Family-Wildlife-Art/ 148041741884386

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THOSE PESKY SPAMMERS

Roy Simmons Roy is the founder/owner of PaintMyPhoto. Without his generosity none of this would be possible - heartfelt thanks Roy! Contact Roy on his profile at PMP. View Roy’s paintings in his PMP Gallery.

Roy Simmons ‘Rasta’

Tips for Spotting Spammers Just lately you may have noticed a flurry of discussions around the problem of spammers here on PMP. Like all successful websites (particularly social type sites), we are a target for those who would try to sell something, or obtain private information. Thankfully, we have a team of admins who quickly deal with any problems noticed or reported. So I thought it would be a good idea to give some guidelines here in the newsletter for what to look out for, what steps to take, and what steps not to take.

First rule, do not accept a friend request from someone until you have done some basic checks. Just like in ‘real life’ you would not decide someone was a friend unless you knew a little about them, and so it should be on PMP. At the very least, click on the persons name and see what activity they have on the site. If they are new and do not seem to have any meaningful activity, be suspicious. Are there strange or suspicious entries in their ‘Latest Activity’ stream on their page, or is there no activity at all showing? What personal information have they disclosed, for example, art interests etc.? If in any doubt, don’t accept.

The reason for this advice is that once you ‘friend’ someone they can message you privately, but only using the PMP message system. This is important for you to understand, as one of the security features of Ning is that they do not have your email address, only your name within PMP - your personal email address is protected and is not disclosed within the Ning messaging service. We advise you not to disclose your personal email address to anyone who you are unfamiliar with.

However, private messages between members are, of course, not visible to admins, which is why the spammer/scammer wants to friend you, then send you links to click on which take you out of PMP and who knows where...

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THOSE PESKY SPAMMERS...

Top Tips by Roy Simmons

Tips for Spotting Spammers Cont’d.

At this point it is important for you to understand that, while we take precautions to minimise risk to members, we cannot take responsibility for anyone's actions on the site.

A little thought can prevent you having these issues, usually the language and style of these communications is not very sophisticated! The spammers are playing a ‘numbers game’ trying to get on as many sites as possible.

One of the steps I decided to take recently was to remove the ‘status’ feature, as this was being used by spammers to post links to dubious sites. I have not had major complaints from any of you saying you missed this particular feature, so for now I will leave it off. After all, we are not trying to be Facebook! We actually get less of a spammer problem than many sites because we have a lot of members who kindly report issues to me or other admins quickly, this in turn deters spammers as they don’t last long!

The other way that spammers may post to the site is by commenting on any posts or media, usually with just a link, once spotted they are quickly deleted.

Hopefully, this also explains why we have such a seemingly ‘cryptic’ joining procedure with an art-related question to answer! This is easily found with a simple Google search, but does stop most spammers who rely on scripted procedures.

PMP’s admin team has an ‘International’ flavour, so with admin scattered around the world, whatever the time of day, spammers are usually spotted reasonably quickly and dealt with swiftly and mercilessly - don’t mess with Roy’s Angels... Once they have been removed from the site, all trace of their activity also disappears.

Its not personal...

The spammer does not know who you are or care about you, the biggest thing you MUST NOT DO is to get involved in any conversation with a spammer, even if you are annoyed, Treat them like something stuck to your shoe, clean it off and get on with your day without giving them another thought, they're just not worth it.

Roy Simmons (PMP Owner)

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ART IN THE MAKING

Karen Sellers Karen is a gifted artist based in the USA. To view more of Karen’s wonderful work, visit her PMP Gallery.

Karen can be contacted via her PMP page.

Karen Sellers ‘Pearfect’

How to Create Texture in a Painting When I was asked to come up with a How-To page for the newsletter, I was so overwhelmed and honored. I thought long and hard as to what to write about. Many of the things I do have been learned from watching fellow artists. While watching them use certain techniques, I built upon them to make them my own.

Often, time spent looking at a blank piece of paper can be pretty overwhelming when you want to create a work of art. Well I’m going to tell you something, IT IS ONLY PAPER! And if you mess it up….maybe, just maybe, you can use it in something else like bookmarks, cards, weavings etc.

This is what I was told when I first started in watercolor. I was scared to death to put anything on it for fear of ruining it. Well, guess what, once I got my mind acclimated to the fact that it was ‘just paper’, the freedom of creating became much easier. Then as time passed, I realized I could take a failed painting that was a total disaster, and use it in something else that just might be wonderful.

But for this How-to, demo, I wanted to share with you all a fairly new technique of using watercolor, with a ‘gloss medium, gesso’ mixture for texture.

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ART IN THE MAKING...

Demonstration by Karen Sellers

How to Create Texture in a Painting Cont.

I found a photo on PMP that I thought would make a great foundation for my creation. When I do find a photo that I like I will use it as reference. The end result doesn’t always look like the photo when I am finished. This is because I paint what I feel, and to me, ‘Art is not what I see, but what I make others see’.

So I have chosen ‘Chinese Apple Still Life’ , a photo by PMP member Charlie Capuano to use as a reference… it is a fairly simple arrangement of veggies, with good design. First I draw a reasonable facsimile of the photo. I do not worry whether my proportions are correct, because I want a certain abstractness to it. The paper I’m using is arches 140 lb. 12 x 16.

When it is drawn on the paper, and I am satisfied with it, I jump right in with the gloss medium, gesso mix. By the way it is a 50/50 mixture. I use either a cosmetic sponge and/or a foam brush to put the mixture on the paper. In this case I cover all or parts the design with it, heavy in certain spots, light in others.

But I usually cover all of the design, leaving the background untouched at this point. Being satisfied with it, I then applied the mixture over a grid of some kind (I used a stiff canvas mesh) on the background and under the design for added texture and interest. But be careful not to take away from the design itself.

You can use almost anything for a texture effect with the 50/50/ mix.

At this point, you probably won’t be able to see where you have painted the mixture, however if you look at it horizontally, you can usually see where it is applied.

Now the fun begins. Take your watercolor and apply it as you normally would. I tend to use a heavy pigment, because the texture from the 50/50 mix shows up more. You may use acrylic or ink; however, acrylic and ink cannot be reworked once it is down. It may be reworked on the mixture part, but not on the paper itself.

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Demonstration by Karen Sellers

ART IN THE MAKING...

How to Create Texture in a Painting Cont.

Many layers of paint may be applied. You can even splatter. The background was painted last. Many layers of color that complements the design were used with splatter and salt for added texture. I did not worry that the veggies received some of the background splatter, because it could easily be removed or worked into them.

Don’t be afraid!! Don’t be timid!! Jump in with both feet. Use color like there’s no tomorrow. Have fun with your art and remember if you don’t like the result, don’t through it away. It may come in handy on another project.

See more of Karen’s wonderful paintings in her PMP Gallery

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ART IN THE MAKING

Michelle Michelle is a talented artist based in the USA. You can see more of her wonderful paintings and photos in her PMP Gallery.

Michelle can be contacted via her PMP page.

Michelle ‘Tulip & Dargonfly’

Painting with Acrylics on Black-Primed Canvas Whenever I look at a white canvas I get artist’s fright.

I’m not sure how to start putting paint on canvas and get going. I have found that painting on a toned canvas, usually red or black, gets rid of some of those hesitant feelings. In this demo, I will you show you how I paint one of my favorite subjects, flowers, in a dark support which I underpainted in black acrylics.

Black-primed canvases can be found at many art supply stores nowadays and black gesso is another alternative as well. The advantages of painting on a black support are many. The darks are already there and it’s just a matter of adding the midtones and lights.

Unless thickly painted, the dark support shows through everywhere which brings a luminous quality to the painting and unifies the colors. One disadvantage is that to adequately show midtones and lights, there is a need to work with thick opaque paint. However, it is also possible to work with transparent colors by using thick paint or glazes with white mixed into the paint or white added to the canvas itself prior to transparent color application.

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ART IN THE MAKING...

A Demonstration by Michelle

Painting with Acrylics on Black-Primed Canvas Below are some pictures showing the progression from an all-black support (in this case a 11x14 inch canvas board) to a finished acrylic painting. The reference picture of pink hibiscus can be found on PMP and has been uploaded by Franklin to: http:// paintmyphoto.ning.com/photo/hibiscus-437.

I start by painting my support in black using Golden fluid acrylics.

I then make a light sketch using watercolor pencils in light colors that go with the local colors in the painting. Below you can see some how I’m blocking in some of the background leaves using green (usually a mix of Chromium Oxide Green, phthalo blue and a little red/ochre/white). I generally use a couple of small and medium-sized flat brushes, usually a natural-synthetic blend.

I then start blocking in the flowers. I generally start with the midtones and the more pure and vibrant hues, the bright reds, in this case (Pyrrole Red/Quinacridone Magenta). I do introduce some lighter tones in large areas but leave the smaller light detail areas for later. If my colors are not opaque enough to show over the dark support, I first add a lighter layer (where I mix the paint with some white) and once that is dry, I overpaint in the desired color.

As you can see, I also leave the dark areas unpainted and some black showing through here and there. Some of these black areas will be overpainted or glazed over later on.

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ART IN THE MAKING...

A Demonstration by Michelle

Painting with Acrylics on Black-Primed Canvas As the painting progresses I start introducing lighter and more opaque shades and working in more details, like the stamens and pollen (Hansa Yellow Medium/Pyrrole Red/Yellow Ochre/Titanium White).

I notice that the painting is unbalanced and so I added a couple of extra pink/red buds in the background to the top.

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ART IN THE MAKING...

A Demonstration by Michelle

Painting with Acrylics on Black-Primed Canvas In the final step I do some spattering of white paint over the flowers to give them variety and a sense of randomness. The spatters also simulate loose pollen in the flower petals.

Here is the finished painting - ‘Hibiscus’.

Here are some more examples of Michelle’s work:

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RO’S HIDDEN TREASURES

Robyn Lovelock Robyn (Ro) is a very talented artist and photographer based in Australia. She is also one of PMP’s superstars, helping to keep PMP running smoothly and looking after members.

You can view Ro’s gallery or contact her though PMP.

Robyn Lovelock ‘Wattle I Do?’

Robyn’s Been Busy Finding us a Fabulous Selection of Summer Photos - Enjoy!

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RO’S HIDDEN TREASURES

Summer Special

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RO’S HIDDEN TREASURES

Summer Special

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ART IN THE MAKING

Shawn Shawn is a fabulously gifted artist located in Canada.

More of Shawn’s amazing paintings and photos can be viewed in his PMP Gallery.

Shawn can be contacted vis his PMP page.

Shawn

Shawn Fishing

A Watercolor Demonstration by Shawn I was absolutely delighted when asked to do this summer "art in the making" article for our PMP newsletter. Seeing as I have never done anything like this before, I was also petrified! Let me assure you that it is a hugely difficult task to pick from amongst all of our great photographers.

However, recently I have been very impressed with the photographs uploaded by our incredibly skilled photographer, Viacheslav. He has provided world-class reference photos on PMP and sits on my top shelf— I am a huge fan and will be exploring his work further.

My Inspiration Right from the start when I saw Viacheslav's photo of the spoons I knew I had to paint it. It spoke to me and I had to reply. Truth is that I find all of his pictures offer something — this one of great depth and visceral qualities. My goal was to try and capture some of that in mid flight!

My Strategy Just my reactions to the picture dictated that this wasn't going to be a painting about spoons. It couldn't be. There's SO much more and I needed to downplay the two central characters (the two tall spoons) to pull this off!

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ART IN THE MAKING

A Demonstration by Shawn

A Watercolor Demonstration Cont...

I felt it right that at some point, accurate details would be made important in bringing the focus back down into the painting. Strategy? – Process over accuracy perhaps.

My Process I generally like to start all my paintings strong–almost with abandon. I seem to be attracted to initially painting myself into an uncomfortable corner and then figuring a way out.

Really nothing more than a repeating cycle of “give and take, take and give" incorporating whatever media I think is best for me. This cycle gives way to the “inherent marks of art"

Stage 1: Starting Out Usually for me, the start is all about being aggressive and direct. A simple wet into wet—carving around the spoon shapes, using the colours of quinacridone gold, ultramarine blue, and perylene maroon. While the background was still wet, I quickly placed in some colors in the left spoon hoping that some edges would merge softly setting the left spoon into the background. I'm not concerned much with accuracy at this point.

Stage 2: Trace & Cut This is about adding more texture to the background as well as working strongly on the center spoon knowing fully well that later on I would soften both spoons back. Here you can see the randomness of the whole mess, great fun! While the background is still wet, I restated the spoons stronger still and then scrubbed out some of the dimensional work with my scrub brush.

I'm very conscious at this point that my painting is NOT about spoons. My painting will be about the wholeness of Viacheslav's picture. Things are looking scary at this point but I don't stop. I drop down, still using only the three primaries and I begin to paint the drain rim.

I really had to resist the urge to be "too careful". All of this stage happened in minutes. Dark drain inset shadows are worked on.

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ART IN THE MAKING

A Demonstration by Shawn

A Watercolor Demonstration Cont...

Stage 3: Subtle, non-specific interest points are added to the spoons followed next by the masking out of bubbles see inset photo

Stages 4 & 5: Daring Drain Back to the sink stopper and drainer. You can see how wet I was working (wet onto dry) followed by the lifting out of highlights and scrubbing the top right quadrant.

I'm happy to learn that this paper can take a lot of punishment — notice the flecks of raised paper from my aggressive scrubbing.

I treat the top four drain plug shapes quite differently.

Here I flood the four shapes with lots of water—I actually primed it twice— Then dropping a mixture of colors at both ends and let the water do all the work. I'm happy where this is going and I quickly render some color into the bottom two spoons and hint at a noodle.

Stage 6: Wipe Out - White Out – Scratch Out This may be my favorite stage of the painting. GESSO, fresh out of the jar, is globbed on rather heavily, thinned with water and then soft edges are feathered out into the background. This stage is all about the softening/ pushing back of "the tall left soldier. I drop the gesso brushes and pick up pastel pencils and scratching tools.

This is fun, I think I caught the fever!

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ART IN THE MAKING

A Demonstration by Shawn

A Watercolor Demonstration Cont...

Stage 7: Eject Button Anyone?

Once I layer in the blue, I went right into panic mode. Then I thought, since we're here already, let's go deeper and darker still, knowing later on I would wipe off the masked bubbles. Next begins the really loose detailed work of the left spoon. I'm trying to be more concerned with expressing the spoon rather than accurately rendering the spoon.

Stage 8: This stage is all about fluidity. I'm feeling rather free to draw, paint, add, or remove any which way I please. The flooding in of color gets developed on the bottom right spoon, hints, hits and misses with bubbles.

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ART IN THE MAKING

A Demonstration by Shawn

A Watercolor Demonstration Cont...

Stage 9: I have a bottle of sepia India ink staring at me so with nib in hand, away I go! Here I'm merely outlining shapes followed by a mist of water followed by more ink followed by more misting. I'm not afraid to scratch out some lights and I'm not afraid to pastel pencil in some marks. In this last stage I'm very aware that the painting is busy and evocative - come good or bad, it retains and conveys what I 'feel' about Viacheslav's picture.

Parting Thoughts: Regardless of which way this goes, I had the most fun doing this painting. I'm going to be doing this all over again using all sorts of photographic references from our great great library.

This whole piece was almost completed with only three colours.

Now for the trick. Right from the beginning of the piece, I made a note in my sketchbook with regards to colour. I knew that to make JUST the four top drain stopper shapes "pop" I would be switching to midranged colours of cobalt blue and burnt sienna. The colours were dropped in and left to mingle with little effort from me. I'm pleased with these shapes and colours.

I hope that I inspired fellow artists to reach out, draw out and paint it out all in one day. I personally enjoyed the explosion of freedom that came from this. It is quite a rush and very liberating.

Give it a try and let's see what you come up with!

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ART IN THE MAKING

A Demonstration by Shawn

Shawn’s Finished Painting Shawn will be making this painting available in his PaintMyPhoto Gallery where you will be able to look at his amazing work in high resolution.

At present, Shawn doesn’t have his own website, but is hoping to create one in the near future.

Here are some more examples of Shawn’s paintings:

Fishing Boat

Sylvia’s Light

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A TRIBUTE TO PIXELBLOKE

David Smith, you were our friend, Sharing photos, an artist through the lens.

We all knew you as PixelBloke, Of generous spirit and and game for a joke Stormy skies, birds in flight, Boats and beaches in perfect light.

Fabulous frogs and flowers abound, You saw great beauty all around.

Your skill with a camera is plain to see, For all who visit your gallery on PMP. Through wonderful artworks you will live on, You continue to inspire even though you are gone.

So David, thank you for leaving your legacy, For artists past, present and future, your gift is plain to see.

It was a sad day when we heard you'd reached Heaven's Gate, Rest in peace, we miss you mate.

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APRIL CHALLENGE: TRIBUTE TO PIXELBLOKE

Bix Bix is a gifted artist and runs art holidays during the summer in France at her beautiful home in Bandouille.

Visit her website to find out more.

You can view Bix’s gallery, or contact Bix on her profile page on PaintMyPhoto.

Bix Our Winner!

‘Bandouille Monastery, France’

An Interview with Bix, Winner of the April Challenge 1) Please tell us a little about yourself...your hobbies and passions, your favorite painting style and media...and how you came to be a member of PMP!!

I am Bixxy Nash, 51 years old born in Germany, lived in Brighton for 20 years and now, with my partner Drew, I run art and fishing holidays in France during the summer season. My earliest memories are of me making and creating things and I was always given a “makey doey” present at christmas to keep me busy and had a wonderful Uncle in Denmark that kept me supplied with interesting arty books as I was growing up.

Crafting is something that I have always done and whilst my 3 children were growing up spent everyday creating clothes, presents for friends and things for the home and also have a great love for Cooking gardening and DIY. All these things were the perfect ingredients and skill sets for my new life that I now have with Drew at Bandouille in France. These were once my hobbies but now are my life and I love it.

Painting and sketching was always there but with a family and a job time was limited like for everyone else. So I only “played” when I could and that was not often. When we found Bandouille in 2007 we were not sure what we wanted to do with it and then Drew sent me on an art holiday and at once I knew. I wanted to run Art Holidays and give people that came the same feeling that I had when I returned from the holiday.

Then came the hard work I had to get up to scratch and learn what I could about the watercolour medium, its use and interesting techniques to include those of which a lot of people had not used before and make the holidays different and fun. That’s when I discovered I Draw and Paint, my first art community and from there Paint my Photo and never looked back. I paint to learn so that I can pass on that knowledge that I have gained. That gives me the most joy.

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APRIL CHALLENGE

An Interview with our Winner, Bix

An Interview with Bix, Winner of the April Challenge Cont.

My favourite medium is watercolour, but I do love experimenting and playing with new things too and last year discovered Brusho and am a great fan of that medium too. I admire those that handle acrylics and oils so beautifully and am sure that one day I will wander off more in that direction, but not yet. I also love mixed media and collage too and am fascinated with the process of Watercolour Batik and am in the process of learning this technique.

I think that I became a member of PMP right at the start when Roy moved over from IDP. I loved watching Roy’s progression in his artwork and all his unique ideas and when he launched PMP it just was the most perfect solution to most of our issues as “artists” wanting good reference photos without the red tape. I recommend the site to everyone that I come across and many of my contacts have since joined. I am so happy that the site has grown to what it has become now and is such a wonderful resource to everyone, with a fantastic supportive community

PixelBloke’s Original Photo ‘Flutterby’

Bix’s Winning Painting of ‘Flutterby’

2) Do you have a designated studio where you go to create your work? What is it like? What kind of atmosphere is most conducive to your creativity when you paint?

When we decided to run art holidays creating a Studio was a must and I do have an amazing space. But….I am not used to this space being mine (yet) and do not tend to work in there on my own. and find myself still working at the end of the kitchen table or even just curled up on the settee with my table of bits next to me, sketching and doodling!

This is when most of my better pieces “happen”. I find I don’t need music or even silence for that matter. Once I have put my mind on a project I immediately get lost into it and nothing else matters. Its incredible how you can really lose sense of time and place…But wonderful too.

In my studio I try and supply as many interesting “new” products that I can and that I think will work for our guests too. This way our visitors get the opportunity to try products before they buy them back in the UK and its nice to break up the week in this way too..

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APRIL CHALLENGE

An Interview with our Winner, Bix

An Interview with Bix, Winner of the April Challenge Cont.

3) You have received our top prize for the PMP April painting challenge, a tribute to our friend and very talented photographer, David Smith, aka, PixelBloke. Did you know David personally or meet him through PMP? His photos are very inspiring....what are your thoughts on the many paintings our PMP artists entered in the challenge to honor him?

I was really thrilled when I found out I had received the top prize for the challenge and it really came as a surprise as there were so many wonderful entries. I knew “Pixelbloke” initially through PMP where I fell in love with his incredible photos. I then made friends with him on Facebook too and we indulged in the FB banter as you do!

The first photo that really had an impact on me was Cromer Beach for the contrast and colour and I loved his frogs too….But when I saw ‘Buttermouse’ a couple of years ago, I knew that I had to try that one and I was really pleased with the outcome as I used many techniques that I had not used before and it just worked.

The paintings that everyone did for the tributes were amazing and the sentiments that went with them also. I think that something like this always brings out the best work from people as its done with love.

Bix’s painting - ‘Buttermouse’

4) Did you have a hard time choosing which photo of PixelBloke's to paint? What was it about David's photo, "Flutter-by," that caught your eye and inspired you to work from it?

I had no difficulty choosing which one to paint as I had done ‘Buttermouse’ already and wanted another similar painting to go with it and ‘Flutterby’ was perfect. Maybe it was also the name! It was such a sweet and simple subject and I loved the colours too. But my decision was threefold as I run the Watercolour challenge on I Draw and Paint and my subject for that month was “Spring has Sprung” and I belong to another group where the challenge set was “Greens” so ‘Flutterby’ covered the ground on all three challenges, and I was able to contribute to each with the one painting. Perfect solution as time does tend to run out! But such fun!

I was very tempted with the sheep scene too. Maybe at a later date I will endeavour to capture that one too.

5) What were your thoughts while you were painting your version of Flutter-by? What were you wanting to convey in your artwork, and do you feel you succeeded?

I have learnt to be a lot more relaxed in my approach to painting, especially if it is for a challenge etc. I tend to sit and play with colours and as I am doing that the painting seems to evolve and then I find my “practice” ends up being the final. I do fall into the trap however of not using the “real” paper a lot of the time in these situations and then have to go back and revisit the painting. But it never looks as spontaneous as the first one! I wanted to depict the freedom of the photo and I think that that was achieved but again only as I did not worry about it!

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APRIL CHALLENGE

An Interview with our Winner, Bix

An Interview with Bix, Winner of the April Challenge Cont.

6) Would you encourage other artists to take part in the Monthly Challenge on PMP, and why?

I would certainly encourage anyone to participate in Monthly Challenges. It was this that helped my progress and learn further. By entering these you are challenging yourself. Perhaps leaving your comfort zone of your favourite subject and trying something new and in turn, by doing this you learn. You learn that you CAN do something different and use different colours, or even jump to a different medium and that can be very refreshing.

Its also wonderful to see how everyone else sees the same subject and how diverse that can be. I always find it exciting and love learning something new.

3rd Place - Lillian Bell

2nd Place - Lori Lpolitto

Joint 4th Place Robert Reed

Joint 4th Place - Liz Elsworth

The Monthly Challenges are great fun and encourage members to try new ideas and subjects - if you haven’t participated in one yet, then why not take a look and see what you’re missing?

View the Monthly Challenges Go on, you know it makes sense... Join in the fun and learn at the same time!

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Bandouille Painting at the Monastery A Relaxing and Inspirational Holiday Venue Artists of all Abilities Welcome

Bandouille is a wonderful stone building, part 12th century monastery and part 18th century farmhouse, set within 24 acres of beautiful grounds.

A really stunning location with a multitude of subjects to draw or paint. Watercolour and mixed media courses, most materials provided. Tuition provided by Bixxy and other visiting tutors.

Tutored groups very welcome. Group rates available.

Historic towns, chateaux and landscapes within easy reach for painting on location.

Bixxy and Drew look forward to welcoming you to Bandouille!

For

 more

 information

 visit

 www.francepaintingholiday.com Contact

 Bixxy

 &

 Drew

 online

 -

 Contact/enquiry

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