PaintMyPhoto Quarterly Newsletter - Issue 8

8

Winter Edition 2013

Paint My Photo

‘Snow Scene 1’ Photo by Steve Lyddon

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

Congratulations to Anna Finkel, our winner of the October Monthly Challenge.

Her winning painting takes pride of place on our front cover.

Where Photographers and Artists Meet

Original reference photo provided by Charlotte Yealey

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EDITOR’S WELCOME

Duke’s Eye

Season’s Greetings!

Welcome to our winter edition of PaintMyPhoto’s magazine. It has been a very busy few weeks for me and I haven’t had as much time as I’d like to comment on all the amazing photographs and works of art that have been posted on PaintMyPhoto. Nonetheless, I’ve managed to find time to produce our quarterly magazine with the help of our generous contributors, artists and photographers alike - a great big thank you to you all! As usual, there is a great selection of articles to inspire and encourage everyone.

I never fail to be thrilled when an artist uses one of my photos to inspire a painting and, as an amateur artist, I’m also eternally grateful to the photographers who share their photos with us. If you are an artist who uses photos from this site, please don’t forget to let the photographer know that you’ve been inspired by their work - let them join in the pleasure of creativity!

One last thing, all of us who help keep PMP running would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Happy reading...

Ruth Archer

If you aren't a member of PaintMyPhoto, then please have Shadows of the Past

a read of our magazine and find out more about us. 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 using traditional media (a complete beginner or a professional, it really doesn't matter) who would benefit from being able to use photos without copyright worries? Perhaps, like me, you are a bit of both! Membership is free and you will find the site a very welcoming and friendly community.

Night Vision

Everyone is welcome!

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MEET THE PHOTOGRAPHER

Ruth Archer Visit Ruth’s Gallery on PaintMyPhoto Contact Ruth via PaintmyPhoto

Ruth Archer ‘Red Mask, Carnevale in Venice’

A Mixed Bag...

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?

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

My early photos on PMP were taken with my trusty Canon EOS 350D (my first ‘grown-up’ camera) and it served me very well indeed. Recently I have upgraded to a Canon EOS 60D, which I love.

I had accumulated a bank of photos that I’d taken as reference photos, but needed some images of subjects that I didn’t have access to, so I went online to search for likeminded folks who also wanted to share images. I came across PaintMyPhoto and the rest is history. I find PMP fantastic and would like to thank Roy and all the admin team, who willingly volunteer their time to make this site the wonderful resource it is. I have made so many friends and learned so much since joining - long may it continue.

I have 3 lenses that I use: Canon EFS 17-85mm Canon EFS 55-250mm Lensbaby - the trickiest to use and my favourite because of the amazing effects it can create.

My dream would be to own a Canon ‘L’ series lens, but they are extremely expensive. I can but hope, one day...

What is your favourite photography subject?

Oooh, that’s a very difficult question for me as I don’t tend to favour any one subject, but I suppose my connection with horses and boats makes them 2 subjects that I particularly enjoy. I also enjoy creating images that have a surreal or supernatural undertone.

I also use a tripod, particularly when shooting still-life images.

I very rarely use artificial light as I don’t like the effect it has - candlelight is my favourite light source.

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RUTH ARCHER

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

I enjoy fiddling! I use Adobe Lightroom to manage the bulk of my photos. I’d dearly love to try Photoshop, but it’s very expensive to buy, so I have downloaded Gimp, which is a free product and allows me to try out some interesting effects.

I also occasionally use Photomatix HDR software.

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

Catch of the Day

I think it would be ‘A Friendly Welcome’ because it has been popular with our artists and there have been so many fabulous paintings created from it. I never fail to be thrilled when someone finds one of my photos inspirational and worthy of painting.

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 currently rebuilding my own website which is www.archerart.co.uk, so forgive its current state - there just aren’t enough hours in the day!

Someone’s at the Door

I have also recently opened a shop on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArcherArtwork

Cock-a-Doodle-Doooooo

Mother & Son

Homecoming

Bumble in Lavendar

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Wish You Were Here

RUTH ARCHER

Sea Shells

Four Gondolas

Ruth’s Choice A Friendly Welcome

White Geranium

The Hands of Time

Sand Dance

Fish Supper

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RUTH ARCHER

Captain Jack Sparrow

A Sunny Monet

Nature’s Bounty 2

Starburst A Burano Backwater

Honeysuckle

Orange Boats

Sunday Morning Low Tide

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MEET THE PHOTOGRAPHER

Alex Lee Johnson Visit Alex’s gallery on PaintMyPhoto Contact Alex via PaintMyPhoto

Alex lee Johnson

‘Docile’

Thought-Provoking, Magical 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?

Thank you very much, It's a great pleasure and also an honour that people enjoy my photographs. I first discovered PMP via an active member (Neil A Kingsbury) who has also been featured in "Meet The Photographer".

What is your favourite photography subject?

My favourite photography subject by far is portraits, but not just bland, normal and generic ones. I like to be different in my work. I like to look at different angles, shapes and subject matter in the image as well as the model or subject. I guess you could say I'm not normal.

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

Everything you see on PMP is taken with my trusty Nikon D90 and a variety of lenses. I do have favourites and those have to be prime. I love my 50mm 1.8G and recently my 85mm 1.4. Stopping down to such a large aperture with a 1.4 lens is enough to make everyone happy.

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

The majority of my photographs you see on PMP are processed through Photoshop CS6, I have now moved onto Photoshop CC which I have to say, even though you pay monthly, its definitely worth it. Everything is finetuned and some of the things you can do in it open up so many opportunities.

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

"Red Riding Hood" is the one I have chosen and I have reasons for this.

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ALEX LEE JOHNSON

Firstly, it actually hasn't done as well as my other photographs on PMP, but to me it's up there with the best I have ever taken. It was hard work getting that shot, up early and cold but it was definitely worth it. Also my reason for picking this is; I think it sums up my photography style of a Fine Art Fashion Portrait Photographer.

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?

Pixie

I am a professional portrait photographer. I recently turned 20 and I have had a passion for photography since I was very young. I consider myself as outgoing, confident and as I said before not normal. Photography is literally everything to me, I know it sounds cliche but it’s literally what I do and want to do for the rest of my life. I live and breath the thing.

I have idols in my life; the one that makes me think and stands out is David Bailey.

Here are my two most important links. Firstly, the Facebook link updates more or less daily, whilst I also run my own YouTube channel with over 100,000 views, so you can check that out as well.

Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/AlexLeeJohnsonPhotography Present

YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/johnsonleealex

Changing Seasons

Amber Lake

Polly

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ALEX LEE JOHNSON

Fallen Leaves

Breakfast

Brow

Alex’s Choice Red Riding Hood

Eiffel Tower

Polka Dot

Breeze

Lonely

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ALEX LEE JOHNSON

Hallucinate

Widow

Call

Fallen Petals

Autumn

Ashleigh

Wanderer

Creep

[10]

ART IN THE MAKING

Gwen Card Visit Gwen’s gallery on PaintMyPhoto Contact Gwen via PaintMyPhoto

Gwen Card The Art of Glazing When I hear that word, it makes me think of doughnuts with their sweet, delicious, transparent, glossy icing poured on top. Or glazed carrots, maybe even a ham. If you're visualizing this, your stomach might be starting to growl, as mine has. But I digress.... what I really wanted to talk a bit about is my love of glazing in paintings.

Similar to the way you can see through the thin, transparent coating on the culinary treats - a glaze works in a similar manner when painting. For instance, putting a transparent red over a dried layer of yellow makes a luminous orange you just can't get straight out of the tube. Something magical happens and that excites me to no end when I am painting.

I have fun using this technique in my watercolours, acrylic and alkyd oil paintings. I'm able to achieve an illusion of depth and interesting colour shifts that adds some excitement to the paintings, a little something unique that the viewer, perhaps, is unable to put their finger on, precisely what it is they're noticing... I thought Roy Simmons, the creator of Paint My Photo, as well as an amazing artist, said it perfectly when talking about the glazing technique in a painting ...

"Glazing just doesn't photograph well, in the same way as seeing a photo of a stained glass window is not the same as the real thing. The light is filtered through transparent layers of paint, creating a very subtle effect"

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by Gwen Card

ART IN THE MAKING

The Art of Glazing Cont...

I thought I'd share a couple paintings-in-progress, using photo references from PaintMyPhoto from when I first joined in 2010, where I applied the glazing technique. The first one is a watercolour ...

'Table for Two' a watercolour painting This was just way too much fun!! It was just supposed to be a "permission to practice" piece, trying to loosen up my painting and I ended up having a blast! When I started this piece I figured that when I had finished mucking around, it would be going to the biggest collector of my art, our garbage man, but I was so pleased that it turned out well enough to frame.

Photo reference credit to Deby Dearman ( http://paintmyphoto.ning.com/photo/table-for-two ) on paintmyphoto.ning.com

The first stage of painting, after securing the watercolour paper to my support and adding my line work, was to mask the areas where I wanted to preserve the whites ...

2nd stage ... and this is where it starts to get fun ... is pouring the yellow and, the very important step of letting it dry completely!

Note: No brush is used during these pouring stages.

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by Gwen Card

ART IN THE MAKING

The Art of Glazing Cont...

The 3rd stage is pouring red over the yellow, creating a brilliant orange, letting this layer/glaze dry completely!

Fun!

The 4th stage is masking over the chairs to save the gorgeous orange - let dry - then pour blue over the entire area. Let this glaze dry completely!

Exciting!

The 5th stage - I poured more of the same red and blue at the same time and sloshed it around to mix together on the paper and darken the background more and let it dry. Next, I removed the masking.

So many wonderful colours appeared magically. So much fun!

The 6th stage is where I picked up a brush for the first time since beginning the painting and started to add the details, which involved applying paint and then some lifting of paint and then, perhaps applying a glaze or two over some of the detailed areas, whatever was needed to create the effect I was looking for.

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by Gwen Card

ART IN THE MAKING

The Art of Glazing Cont...

Finished !

"Table for Two" - 16" x 24" Framed view.

A wee bit about Alkyd oils & glazing ...

The glazing techniques work so wonderfully in my alkyd oil paintings as well. I fell in love with alkyd oils because of my impatience and frustrations - impatient with the lo-o-o-o-ng wait for traditional oils to dry before I could layer/glaze over them and the frustration of how quickly acrylic paints dry, not allowing time for blending and soft edges that I have such a passion for.

Alkyd oils are a happy medium between these two.

They are touch-dry on the canvas in 18 - 24 hours so I can start glazing the next day; they offer lots of beautiful colours to choose from; they can be mixed with traditional oils for more options; they can be used for an under painting for traditional oils; they can be used over an acrylic under painting; they have greater transparency and luminosity straight from the tube; they have a nice, creamy texture - great for blending and soft edges and, when adding the Liquin medium, you get an even more transparent colour which is perfect for you guessed it - glazing!!!

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by Gwen Card

ART IN THE MAKING

The Art of Glazing Cont...

Pink Peony - painting-in-progress.

I used one of Mike Simmons gorgeous floral photo reference that he shared on Paint my Photo.

His beautiful Ty Canol Gardens - www.tycanol.org - in England must be incredible to see in person, but since I am way across the pond in Ontario, Canada, the best I felt I could do was try to recreate some of the beauty onto a canvas ... a BIG canvas of 36" x 36"!

After cropping and rotating the image, I sketched it onto my stretched canvas using the grid system. The squares on the canvas were 12" x 12" ... it felt like doing 9 mini drawings! I made sure I took many breaks during this step when my eyes started to cross or go blurry from concentrating on the many petal shapes of the flower.

This is about where I started asking myself "what have I gotten myself into?!"

Here is a close-up shot of the canvas and photo reference.

First layer on the background with many layers/glazes to follow to create the depth and colour shifts.

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by Gwen Card

ART IN THE MAKING

The Art of Glazing Cont...

Plugging away at shaping the petals with the first layer of alkyd paint ....

... moving around the flower shape by shape...

(Notice my crack security team on-duty in this photo. No art theft happening in this studio!)

... until all the petals are finished. I worked 6 more days of layering glaze after glaze over the background and each petal until I achieved the effect I was hoping to accomplish.

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by Gwen Card

ART IN THE MAKING

The Art of Glazing Cont...

The finished painting "Pink Peony" 36" x 36" Alkyd Oil on canvas

Perhaps, if you haven't already given glazing or alkyd oils a try, this might spark an interest to try a new-toyou technique or medium. I would never say I am an expert at any of this, but I do believe that there are not enough lifetimes to learn everything I'd like to in the art world so, for me, it about having fun experimenting - giving myself permission to play; always wanting to grow as an artist; trusting my instincts/ intuition, as well as trusting the process; honing my observation skills; loving the personal challenge of trying to recreate on canvas whatever it was that made me “gasp” when I saw the reference ... The colour?

The glow? The interesting shadows? All of this and more equates to endless fun and with all the great inspirational photo references and wonderful support from the PaintMyPhoto community, I'm all set for a good long time!

Now, back to the studio with my cup of tea .... and maybe a glazed doughnut.

Visit Gwen’s websites to see more of her work:

www.thefrontporchartstudio.com www.porchpaws.weebly.com

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by Gwen Card

ART IN THE MAKING

The Art of Glazing Cont...

Here are some more examples of Gwen’s wonderful paintings:

"Budding In" -­‐ 18" x 24" Alkyd Oil on canvas PMP Photo reference credit Rosemary

"Red Shoes" -­‐ 20" x 20" Alkyd Oil on canvas PMP photo reference credit Freda Nichols

"Explorer" -­‐ 36" x 48" Acrylic on canvas PMP Photo reference credit Ruth Archer

"Ready" -­‐ 12" x 24" acrylic on canvas PMP Photo reference credit ESP

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EBOOKS!

Roy Simmons Roy is the founder/owner of PaintMyPhoto and a fantastic artist too!

Contact Roy on his profile at PMP. View Roy’s paintings in his PMP Gallery.

Roy Simmons ‘Sunshine & Showers’

Calling All Budding Arty Authors...

Yes, hardly new I know, but there is a shift happening that is going to be very useful for artists and, indeed, for us here at PMP. Many of you will already have noticed my Kindle Ebook, ‘Introduction to Loose Watercolor’, and some of you have left me a review (thanks!).

The experience of going through the necessary technical hoops to get the book onto Amazons Kindle store has been an education! I am pleased to say that my book at no. 2 in the ‘Art Instruction’ section of the kindle bookstore on amazon.com So what is the shift I am referring to? Well, originally, the kindle store held only books designed specifically for the kindle e reader devices, text and monochrome only. Over the past 12 Months the market has shifted considerably. Color devices, tablets, smartphones and indeed Amazon’s own Kindle fire have exploded onto the market, and this trend looks set to continue. A quick google for technical innovations that are ‘in the pipeline’ drew me to this article:

View Roy’s book on Amazon - UK link View Roy’s book on Amazon - USA link

http://smallbiztrends.com/2013/05/amazon-liquavista-color-kindle-ereader.html [19]

by Roy Simmons

EBOOKS!

Calling All Budding Arty Authors...

“Amazon recently announced acquiring Liquavista, a Holland-based company, from Samsung. And speculation is rife that the purchase may lead to a color Kindle ereader to come.”

So, for books that rely heavily on color photos and illustrations, this is a very exciting time!

The traditional art book publishers do have a problem. They would struggle to reduce the price of ebooks without destroying the print book sales. Now I must make clear, I am not at war with print books, especially Art related books. In fact, the main print art book publishers should, in my opinion, be safer commercially than, say, fiction publishers. There is something special about having a hefty large book, full of illustrations, by your favorite Artists and long may this continue.

However, this leaves a large market share available for us. If you are browsing Amazon for a book to learn a specific style of art, say, loose watercolor for example(!), you will find some traditional watercolor print books, some

‘Horizon Light’

ebooks and my book. As we have low overheads, we can price at $2.99, which becomes a quick financial decision for many.

Over the coming year you will see some really interesting collaborations and new ebooks being produced.

So, do you have an art-related book in you? Do you need a friendly partnership with a publisher who will be transparent, generous with royalties and assist with marketing your book? That is us, we are just getting started, and we invite you along for this fascinating and rewarding journey.

Want to find out more about this exciting opportunity? Contact Roy Simmons for a friendly chat.

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PORTRAITS OF NATURE

Gary Jones Visit Gary’s gallery on PaintMyPhoto Contact Gary via PaintMyPhoto

Gary Jones ‘Out of the Dark’

Gary Jones - Wildlife Photographer

‘Portraits of Nature’ has at long last come to fruition, it’s been a long road to get there but at long last I can now think of myself as a serious Wildlife Photographer, after all I have my own website now!!! But is that what it is all about? Is that what it comes down to? I don’t think so, because wherever this photographic journey takes me, one thing will never leave me and that is my love of the natural world and all the beautiful wildlife that lives in it.

Visit Gary’s Portraits of Nature website [21]

by Gary Jones

PORTRAITS OF NATURE

Gary Jones - Wildlife Photographer Cont...

When I was asked to write this article for the magazine I must admit I was at somewhat of a loss about what to talk about. If I talked about myself, believe me the reader would be asleep in minutes, I am a Wildlife Photographer, I just live for the time I get to spend in the great outdoors doing what I love, I have never before given any thought to talking about what I do, I just do it. But this has given me the opportunity to try and express what drives me and where I hope to go, how I discovered PMP and how that has changed the way I look at my photography and, hopefully, that will maybe inspire others to get out and try it.

For as long as I can remember all I have ever wanted to do in my spare time is to be outside doing something. As a child I was very much sport related, but whilst in the great outdoors I discovered very quickly that the natural world really interested and intrigued me, and that interest has shaped me as an individual ever since. Then mountains came calling and that really hooked me, climbing and walking them became a real passion that has stayed with me to this day, days off and holidays are special times as it gives me the opportunity to visit new places and revisit old favourites. And along this journey the camera came into it, I never set out to be a serious photographer, this is very much something that has happened later in my life.

I look back now with frustration sometimes thinking of the golden opportunities I have missed to get that ‘shot’. I have walked and climbed in some stunning places over the years and never took a camera with me, but those images are still locked in my internal hard drive in my head, but oh how I wish I’d had a camera with me!

But it happened. It started as most people do with a simple point and click and I found that I quite enjoyed seeing the fruits of my efforts, but it quickly became obvious that a better camera was needed, and over the years as my enthusiasm and experience grew they got better and better, but my bank balance got lower and lower!! The camera bodies became more sophisticated and the lenses grew larger, but all the while the same philosophy was ringing in my head.... it really does not matter what kit you have and what it cost, you really need an ‘eye’ for a good photo, and that is what drives me on to take better photographs. Is that something you are born with, or can it be learnt? A question that divides opinion. Personally, I think it is within you and you either have it or you don’t, but as I said opinions differ.

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by Gary Jones

PORTRAITS OF NATURE

Gary Jones - Wildlife Photographer Cont...

If I could pick one photo that really kicked this journey into life, I need to go back maybe five years or so.

As I had done many times before, I visited one of my favourite wildlife reserves at RSPB Leighton Moss in the North West of England. It was just after dawn on a chilly autumnal morning, the rising sun was starting to illuminate the reeds, the air was awash with the bellowing sound of rutting Red Deer stags. As I opened the hide door and settled down a stunning Red Deer stag waded across the pool in front of me. It was a moment that will live with me forever and I swear that I held my breath for the time it took to wade the pool, whilst I fumbled with the camera to get ‘that’ shot. As it disappeared into the reeds my hands were shaking as I reviewed the shots I had taken on the cameras viewfinder. It was relief at first when I realised I had ‘that’ shot, but it was then the complete feeling of what I had experienced and being able to capture that moment that really made me realise what it was I wanted to do and become a wildlife photographer.

This was the shot...

Since that day I have continued to visit many beautiful places, seen some amazing sights and, of course, seen lots of wildlife, but the big difference now is where I go the camera goes too. It has been a steep learning curve and there have been lots of failures along the way, but I pride myself on the fact that I am completely self taught, having had no formal training.

What I have learnt has been from my own research, trial, error and sheer determination to get it right. But that is the beauty of digital photography - you can afford to keep trying to get it right, it would have cost me a fortune in film days!!

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by Gary Jones

PORTRAITS OF NATURE

Gary Jones - Wildlife Photographer Cont...

If I am really honest, the photographic equipment, all the techno blurb, ISO’s, exposure etc. really does come second. They are the tools and techniques that help me record what I see at the special places I visit. Nothing could ever replicate that feeling inside you, when the hairs stand up on the back of your neck; whether it was sitting in quiet reflection the day after my father died and a Kestrel silently flew in and perched on a log in front of me and quietly sat and looked at me as if it knew what I was feeling; or watching that stag wading the pool, a gannet soaring in from sea to The Bass Rock, or seeing a Puffin returning from sea with a mouth full of sand eels for its hungry chick and watching a Whooper swan return and land from its 2000 mile migration. These are all special moments that stay with you, the photographic equipment is my way of recording these moments.

To date I have now have tens of thousands of images neatly stored on hard drives. Not really doing a lot except the odd occasion when I scan back to have a look for particular favourites. Then I guess life changed somewhat that gave my photographic journey a new purpose and a real change in direction……. that change was Sharon and PMP.

Sharon started by sharing, with my permission, some of my images on a site I had never heard of, PMP, and with a little encouragement she got me to sign up. That was over two years ago, I now have over 800 images on my page, lots of these are some of my favourite shots.

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by Gary Jones

PORTRAITS OF NATURE

Gary Jones - Wildlife Photographer Cont...

Why? Up until then I can honestly say that anything to do with art and painting really did not interest me at all. I would never have seen myself walking around an art exhibition, sat watching an artist painting, or even picking up a pencil and having a go myself (I did have a bash and quickly realised where my talent was, behind the lens not with a pencil!!) It was Sharon that really changed my perception of art. As many will know, she has only just started painting herself over the last few years, not since school days had she last drawn and painted. She started by painting some of my wildlife images and I was blown away by her talent, and that of the other artists on PMP, and I was soon uploading images to my new PMP page.

The more I bought into the PMP community, the more it really started to change the way I photographed. I found myself more and more thinking about what artists would like to see, I would get a shot and my first thought would be ‘that would be a nice image for PMP’ We spend a lot of our spare time out walking in the mountains, visiting wildlife reserves and, whilst out and about, Sharon would see something and ask me to photograph it. Images that I would never think of photographing, but through her ‘arty’ vision she would see an image that she could use as reference for a painting and wanted it recording. This started to rub off on me and I soon found myself looking at everything in a different way, the composition of my work has changed dramatically, and I now find myself trying to get that different shot, different from the norm that every wildlife photographer gets.

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by Gary Jones

PORTRAITS OF NATURE

Gary Jones - Wildlife Photographer Cont...

Over the last couple of years I have had an enormous amount of pleasure seeing many of my images recreated by so many talented PMP artists, some have become great PMP friends, and when I load an image now I find myself starting to think which artists I think it may appeal to. It is quite amusing sometimes, as I will get a special shot that Sharon will really like, and I am told in no uncertain terms that she wants that one, or I will post some images and then get told off as she wanted it all for herself…. But I think she is only joking and wouldn’t deprive fellow artists….or maybe not!

Not only are there an amazing group of artists here on PMP, there are many outstanding photographers, and it is through their complete generosity that the artists now have a gallery of over 60,000 images to use, and this will continue to increase. It is because of this that I started to think that us photographers really needed our own part of PMP, a place where we could build our own community, to bounce ideas off each other, set ourselves challenges, be able to ask for advice and guidance and basically to show off our work. A quick chat with Roy…. He was all for it….. And The Art of Photography was born. In the few months we have been running we now have nearly 200 members. It is very much an evolving forum in which the members decide which way we go, what we discuss and how we take it forward. My role is very much to facilitate it, set challenges and run what has become a very popular challenge, Pic of the Month. A monthly competition for members to upload three images taken that month, and the winner is voted for by all PMP members.

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by Gary Jones

PORTRAITS OF NATURE

Gary Jones - Wildlife Photographer Cont...

We have lots of interesting discussions being started now every week, such things as ‘Size Matters’, nature or nurture, as it comes or tweaked, objects of desire and macro photography to name a few. Out of these discussions some members have really become actively involved, and the help, advice and friendship they are contributing will really make a huge difference to the group as we move forward. So my thanks to members such as Nigel (ESP), Craig C Johnson, and all the members that are actively making this group a real pleasure to be involved with.

As PMP evolves and moves on, with a site revamp in the pipe line, E-Books and a conference to look forward to, one thing will be guaranteed and I think I speak for the Photographers, we will still be here supporting the talented artists that paint our photographs, and the thrill I get from seeing the work an artist produces from one of my images still remains as strong today as the very first painting I saw Sharon complete. Keep on clicking!

Gary

Click here to find out more about the Art of Photography group

[27]

PAINT MY PHOTO... CREATIVELY

Lorna Webber Lorna is a very talented artist and photographer based in the UK. View Lorna’s Gallery on PMP. You can contact Lorna by visiting her PMP profile page on PMP.

Lorna Webber ‘Rockpool Ripples & Bubbles’

A Celebration of Skill and Imagination that will Inspire You! Hello Everyone!

In the last PMP magazine, I wrote about using the treasure-store of PMP photos, in a more creative or inventive way than directly copying them in paint. If you missed the article, it’s still available to read here : http://issuu.com/paintmyphoto/docs/newsletter_autumn_2013? e=5895411/4668459 My suggestions were to • select or adjust elements of the photo, e.g. crop, add, move or remove things; • combine photographs to make a new image; • transform the photo, e.g. abstract, or develop ideas from the original image.

Link to last newslette r

(There you are – now you don’t have to read my last article!)

I illustrated these suggestions with my own paintings and the excellent photos, shared on PMP, that inspired them. In this issue, I want to highlight the creative paintings that have been made by other artists on PMP, and the fabulous results that they have achieved by adding in a little more creativity. I might also sneak in one of mine!

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PAINT MY PHOTO... CREATIVELY

by Lorna Webber

A Celebration of Skill and Imagination that will Inspire You! Adjusting and Interpreting

Let’s start off with two very different interpretations of the same great photo reference shared by Gail Larcom:

The first painting is Gail’s own version, in which she has cropped the image and adjusted the background for maximum impact.

The second version is by Marie S, who has also kept the original composition, but used a fascinating technique to make it her own.

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PAINT MY PHOTO... CREATIVELY

by Lorna Webber

A Celebration of Skill and Imagination that will Inspire You! Here is another example of selecting a technique to emphasise the most important aspects of the source image.

I love the way Karen Sellers has used torn tissue paper collage to represent her photo of an old truck.

The medium is a perfect match for the subject.

Here is another wonderful interpretation of a photograph. James Swanson shared this super photo, which has great movement through the grasses and interesting shadow shapes‌ Helen Evans has used it as inspiration for this lovely pastel work, in which she has emphasised the swaying grass and the shadows.

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PAINT MY PHOTO... CREATIVELY

by Lorna Webber

A Celebration of Skill and Imagination that will Inspire You! Combining Photos Let’s look at some ‘photo combos’ now. These are all excellent examples of how the ideas and images in one photo can be enhanced and emphasised by adding elements from another – sometimes more than one other photo!

Here is Suzanne Wallick’s magnificent “Captain Jack and the Treasure Chest”, which she cleverly and skilfully composed from George Gallocker's “Cornwall July 2012 011”, Li Newton’s photo “Pigeon Creek View”, Steve Lyddon’s “Pirate ship” (adapted), and finally Franklin's "Birdy".

Now that’s inventive!

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PAINT MY PHOTO... CREATIVELY

by Lorna Webber

A Celebration of Skill and Imagination that will Inspire You! Another artist who excels at combining source images is GEM (Gloria). Her painting “Artist at Work” is informed by two splendid source photos. Sylvia M. Lang’s “Temple in the Park” and Ruth Anne Kruuv’s photo “Making a Heart”

This gorgeous watercolour by Lavender George was realised using great photo references from Steve Lyddon's sparrow photos and Rodney Campbell's Winter Sparrow:

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PAINT MY PHOTO... CREATIVELY

by Lorna Webber

A Celebration of Skill and Imagination that will Inspire You! The next two paintings are combinations of a single source photo with the artists’ own image or imagination….

Peter Williams is very adept at selecting great reference images and combining them in a totally convincing way to make wonderful paintings. He used his own source material and invention for his “Pigeon Hole”, and an invaluable reference for the pigeon from Ruth Archer’s photo of the same title.

This painting by Carol Gorenko, “The Tiger & the Frog Prince” is based on a superb photo by Nicola B, but with a little added magic that really makes the painting special.

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PAINT MY PHOTO... CREATIVELY

by Lorna Webber

A Celebration of Skill and Imagination that will Inspire You! Transformation Finally, my favourite set of paintings – those which include some element of transformation of the original source image.

This painting “Who is Cheating Nr !V” by Yvonne Lautenschläger, is just brilliant. It is based on Dave Webb’s super photo “Landrover sheep herding on Exmoor”. But what a transformation! When you have identified the biggest cheat, you can amuse yourself by trying to work out which artist decorated each sheep. I love it. (I would like to see “Who is Cheating” numbers 1, 2 and 3).

Another transformation with a wicked sense of humour… Take a look at Terry Dekker’s “Saruman’s Spy”.

It’s a brilliant coloured pencil drawing with a fantastic narrative and atmosphere. You could argue that it was but a short step from Steve Lyddon’s fabulous “Scary Sparrow”, but how many of us could take that step and pull it off so well?

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PAINT MY PHOTO... CREATIVELY

by Lorna Webber

A Celebration of Skill and Imagination that will Inspire You! So, I said I would sneak in one of my own, and here it is. I often go ‘off-piste’ with Craig C Johnson’s photos, and he doesn’t seem to mind. He had to be a particularly good sport with this one, because I put him in it! The amazing source photo was this one “Rush hour in Alaska”.

I had a pretty good idea of how Craig achieved this shot, and he was kind enough to post a photo of his good self on a rock climbing trip.

The resulting painting is called “In Pursuit of the perfect Shot” and I hope it is a tribute to Craig and all the other great photographers who share their images on PMP.

I have put together a video slideshow, in case anyone would like to see the development of this painting. If nothing else, it has a really great music track – worth watching just for that. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=595789550480043

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Link to Video

ART IN THE MAKING

Dilip Bhalerao View Dilip’s gallery on PaintMyPhoto Contact Dilip via PaintmyPhoto

Dilip Bhalerao ‘Kashibal Temple’

Capturing the Landscape in Watercolor Landscape paintings have been fascinating artists since very old days. It is not about just painting the scene in great details to achieve the likeness with the spot so that one can identify the spot or the place, this is not the intention. It is about capturing the mood, the atmosphere, the light; it is about overall impression of the location in the mind of the artist. The painting based on photorealism in landscape has never been very exciting since the spontaneity is lost, it does not impress the viewer even though they may be amazed by the details. So the following points should be kept in view while painting landscapes Pencil sketch: The sketch should be a very simplified version of the scene, whether done on location or from photograph. Draw only important lines that define over all shapes and relative sizes.

The more the details more rigid the painting becomes and freedom of painting and spontaneity is lost.

Chulband Forest

Composition is another important aspect to be kept in mind while making the sketch. For composition purposes you can make necessary changes in the drawing, such as shifting a tree to the left or right, or drop it altogether, or if the building nearer is slightly smaller in height than the next one, increase the size of the building nearer to you, or you can swap the positions of the objects to suit the composition.

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ART IN THE MAKING...

Demonstration by Dilip Bhalerao

Capturing the Landscape in Watercolor The foliage of the tree should invariably extend beyond the left or right edge of the paper if it is nearer to the viewer. The symmetry in the objects should be avoided, e.g. while drawing a road/river/canal, the lines of the edges should not be symmetrical on both sides, otherwise it is very odd feeling for the viewer that he is standing in the middle of the road/river.

Perspective deserves very careful consideration at the drawing stage. The roof lines of the buildings, the lines on the road or pavement, the footpaths, the poles of street lights, the compound walls or poles of the fencing that lead the viewers eye into distance should be carefully drawn. Any mistake in the perspective is immediately noticed by the viewer since human eye is very much acquainted to the 3-D vision. This also lends depth to the painting.

Normally, no sketch should take more than 5-7 minutes.

Painting: Broadly speaking, painting involves two steps - initial washes and finishing touches. The washes should be very light in values and of watery consistency. Use broad brush strokes that allow beautiful accidents to happen due to of spontaneous mixing of wet on wet colors. It lends spontaneity to painting.

The light in the painting is decided by the

Aix en Provence, France

washes, so if you are painting from a photograph that has no light from any specific direction, we should introduce the imaginary light source. It should be from the top right/left hand corner of the paper so that it provides numerous possibilities of shadows of the objects on other objects or on the ground that you will be painting after the initial washes are dried. Do not hesitate to leave white paper in some part of the painting to depict light in some portion of your painting. Painting light is in fact painting shadows. The final stage is finishing touches. The colors are of milky consistency and the care is taken to ensure the values depending upon the light and shadows in the painting. These should be fading out with the distance. Harsh contrasts should be avoided, the shadows should be transparent and strips of light should get thinner and thinner as you go further away from the viewer.

To ensure that sufficient wet paint of the same consistency is available throughout the painting, I place small amount of paint from the tube on the palette and prepare sufficient pool of each color ready in advance. It is good practice to take small amount of fresh color from the tube even if it is already on the palette.

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ART IN THE MAKING...

Demonstration by Dilip Bhalerao

Demonstration 1 - Watercolour Landscape Watercolor landscapes are one of the most favorite subjects for all artists. Watercolor is an unforgiving medium, but it has got its own beauty. Landscape paintings with free, transparent colors look great if the freshness of the colors is maintained. The best way to do a landscape is painting on location. Paintings done on location are not necessarily the museum pieces, but they provide great learning experience. However, if that is not possible, then one can take a photograph and do it in comfort of the studio, at home. The books on paintings do not teach you painting but they inspire you.

I have chosen a photograph by Terry Dekker titled ‘Pueblo Home’ for demonstrating the three basic stages in which I paint a landscape. Do not forget to see the beautiful painting of the same photograph done by James Swanson in oil.

Before deciding to give this demo I had done the same painting based on this photograph some time ago when writing this article was not on my mind. As I usually do, I had drawn the sketch from the photograph and then switched off my lap top leaving everything to imagination so that spontaneity is achieved because when you keep the photograph in front of you, you tend to copy every thing from it, including colors. So it is good practice to keep the photograph away after pencil drawing which provides full freedom for painting.

It is up to you to decide which one looks better. So here is the earlier painting or a 1st version of this photograph.

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ART IN THE MAKING...

Demonstration by Dilip Bhalerao

Demonstration 1 - Watercolour Landscape Here is 2nd version of the same photograph done by keeping it on the desktop.

Stage 1 : Pencil drawing……whether done from photograph or on location, the drawing should be very simple and the details should be kept to minimum. The lines drawn need not be very smooth, but the composition and perspective of the painting is decided by this drawing. This should not take more than 10 min normally.

Stage 2 : Initial washes …….This is the most important stage that decides the light and depth of the painting. The initial washes should be very very light and should look very fresh. Here I have used much diluted burnt sienna for the wall of the house, which is expected to be seen after I paint shadows of the tree on it.

The tree trunk is touched with French ultramarine blue + vermilion hue while the colors are wet.

Similarly in the foliage, yellow ochre, lemon yellow, sap green, viridian hue are used in varying values painting patches of irregular shapes touching one another so that they get mixed on the paper. It is not wet on wet, but the colors are placed side by side touching one another, so that the freshness is maintained.

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ART IN THE MAKING...

Demonstration by Dilip Bhalerao

Demonstration 1 - Watercolour Landscape Stage 3 : Highlights ……….This decides the success of the final painting. So, before starting, take a break! That allows the washes given in stage 2 to be perfectly dry. The shadows on the wall, as well as on the ground, are done by drawing criss-cross strokes with wet brush first (without any color) and then with burnt sienna. It produces sharp edges where color brush hits the dry portion of the paper and gets diffused and flows when it touches wet portion, creating interesting patterns. The wall on the right side is almost left untouched, with basic wash in stage 2. Highlights on tree trunk can now be added to enhance the shapes and few shadows of the branches and leaves are added carefully. The foliage touched with same colors with thick consistency leaving holes in the process to show the light washes.

The houses on the background are just suggestive, so are the logs and bushes on the right side.

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ART IN THE MAKING...

Demonstration by Dilip Bhalerao

Demonstration 2 - Hingna Village En Plein Air Landscape Painting, Done on Location: The photograph taken before starting the painting, but unfortunately the trees on the left side of painting are not in the photograph which I noticed only after returning home. So here is the photograph taken at village Hingna near my city.

Stage 1: Simple line drawing, I have added some stones on the lower left quarter of the paper as I did not want to the show hand pump in my painting, and adding it in the foreground would be a great distraction and is not suitable for composition.

Stage 2: Initial washes ‌‌.This is the most important stage that decides the light and depth of the painting. The initial washes should be very very light and should look very fresh. Here I have used all light colors like lemon yellow, orange, yellow ochre, sap green, burnt sienna. The trees in the background are painted, leaving the tree trunk blank.

Similarly, the cow and human figures are left blank.

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ART IN THE MAKING...

Demonstration by Dilip Bhalerao

Demonstration 2 - Hingna Village En Plein Air Stage 3: A continuation of Stage 2 above, I have added foliage of the trees on the right and also on the left, leaving tree trunk blank. After the washes have dried I painted the tree trunk on left adding little bit of dark brown patches to highlight the texture. The cow is also done in burnt sienna, without many details. I have also suggested some imaginary huts beyond the human figure to enhance the perspective, which were not there.

Stage 4: Finishing touches are given to the ground using colors of thicker consistency, working around the stones and highlighting the slope of the ground, adding grass and little bit of details on the cows, human figures and huts on the b/g. Few finishing touches to the huts, poles so that overall painting looks finished. Though I feel that I have overworked the color on the foreground and look little bit louder than I wanted, well, then that is something that is bound to happen working on location. One should be ready for such things.

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SELLING ARTWORK ON ETSY

Kylie Fogarty Visit Kylie’s gallery on PaintMyPhoto Contact Kylie via PaintMyPhoto

Kylie Fogarty ‘Give Me A Kiss!’

PaintMyPhoto on Etsy - Team PMP As an artist who finds inspiration everywhere and one that has a very limited (it’s very safe to say) ability to take a decent photograph, PMP (Paint My Photo) has been absolute gem and a constant source of reference for my art practice.

I am a lifelong artist, drawing is always something that I have done, and I was able to concentrate on developing my art practice professionally in 2008, when my husband and I moved with our family to Canberra, Australia. I now exhibit both internationally and nationally, attend Art Shows which support the local community as well as trying to have a fairly strong online presence.

‘Duck’

Until I found PMP, I was often unable to capture studies I wanted to focus on, particularly of animals. I often used my imagination, relying on my memory, to avoid being worried about inadvertently breaking copyright law. I admire photographers, and their ability to be able to capture moments or subject matter in interesting ways.

In my art practice, whether I am drawing, painting or printing, it is an important part of my process that I have an accurate starting point, regardless of how loose the rendition becomes when exploring a new path in the work. I stumbled across PMP on Facebook when I found Peter William’s work after it was shared by another artist. He had mentioned the credit to the photographer at PMP. I couldn’t believe that there could be such a generous group of photographers out there. But there is – PMP.

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SELLING ARTWORK ON ETSY

by Kylie Fogarty

PaintMyPhoto on Etsy - Team PMP It is a subject that often comes up in the various workshops and drawing groups that I attend – where do you find good images that you can safely use without getting into trouble for it? I now point them towards the website and recognise the relief they show when I hand over the website address.

I need to be honest and tell you I was unsure if PMP was for real when I read the terms and conditions, particularly in respect to using the images for works which are to be exhibited in Art Shows. So I joined and held back for a little while, reading the threads and contacting the two extremely patient admins – Roy and Ro with quite a few questions, (thanks for your support guys J) Like many members on PMP, I enjoy creating and like to connect with others through my work. This being my full time career, the next part of the process is then to work out which ways are best to sell my work. I now have my work held in Galleries here in Canberra, alongside the online avenues that are available to all who wish to utilise them. The question for me became which one? I had set up my website, so I knew that was ticking along, however, I wanted to be able to reach an international market as well as provide an avenue for my local followers that are unable to physically attend the galleries.

‘Easter Bunny’

As a result I opened an Etsy store in July 2011. (www.KylieFogartyFineArt.etsy.com) I was incredibly nervous and wondered if I was doing the right thing – the answer is yes! It took a little while to establish myself and make a few sales, but I can honestly say that it has been a positive experience for me. Only once so far have I been spammed, which was dealt with swiftly by the Etsy Team, and the supportive community there has been incredible. Most team members and fellow shop owners are happy to help answer questions and provide a bit of positive morale when needed.

I chose Etsy as I felt that buyers may feel more secure in an established arena rather than to buy direct off my website, now I am thinking that it is nice to have both.

‘Lew Trenchard Ice House’

I sell a lot of my ACEOs off Etsy, which have made their way to various parts of the USA, NZ and England. I’ve also sold cards and prints, they are mainly smaller items as postage becomes pricey from Australia as the size of the parcel increases. I think the benefit of using the Etsy platform, as is with Facebook, is that it is already established with a lot of traffic, so you are not fighting the bigger sites to be seen. Etsy is well known and so there is a level of comfort and familiarity there.

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SELLING ARTWORK ON ETSY

by Kylie Fogarty

PaintMyPhoto on Etsy - Team PMP The fees for Etsy are varied depending on where you live in the world, you can find out more here: https:// www.etsy.com/au/help/article/2028?ref=help_search_result. The fees to list are relatively small, ($0.20US per listing) and there are no fees to join.

I do get a little nervous when posting my one of a kind artworks, however, so far it’s been OK, I’ve been fortunate that nothing has been lost as yet.

Not only has Etsy facilitated a platform for me to sell my artworks internationally, I have also been contacted to be involved in other collaboratives, including broadsides with international Poets and recently a book of pictured poetry, by Australian Poet, Crystal Davis, called Azure Assurances, to be released next year. Freda Austin Nicholls kindly allowed me to use her photo as a muse for one of the drawings inspired by one of the poems in the book, which resulted in this drawing:

I noticed that the discussion of selling has come up in the PMP threads, so after chatting to Roy and getting the OK, along with the lovely Ruth Archer, we have decided to start a team for PMP members who are interested in doing the same. We would love to have new members, and it’s a great way to support one another, it’s a very new team, (Ruth and I are the only members at present), so we can hopefully support one another to get our work out there and also to spread the word about PMP as well.

For anyone who would like to be a part of the team, you can find us here: https://www.etsy.com/au/teams/19403/pmp-team?ref=pr_teams If you would like to see more of my work you can find it at www.kyliefogarty.com, or you can visit my blog (I’m fairly new to blogging) at www.kyliefogarty.com.au [45]

ART IN THE MAKING

Dale Cato View Dale’s Gallery on PaintMyPhoto Contact Dale via PaintMyPhoto

Dale Cato ‘Juicy Fruit’

Painting Perfect Pastels I first started painting in Pastel around 12 years ago, when the classes I was attending in china painting disbanded and I was left looking for a new artistic outlet.

Not having any experience in other art mediums, and as I was working full time, I found a night class in soft pastel with Nell Frysteen, and decided that the medium might just suit me. I was not prepared for the dirty hands but I soon got used to that. I have since dabbled in acrylics, water colour and my latest exploration has been with oil pastels but I always return to my first love - soft pastels.

As well as finding a class, I joined some local art groups, namely The Nell Street Painters and Plenty Valley Arts Soc., where I get a lot of encouragement. I enter most of the local art shows with varying success. I also have my work hanging at a regional Hotel that I change over every 2 – 3 months.

I suppose you would call my style realist, some people might say I’m a photo realist.

Jennie’s Girls

I love that PMP have so many great avenues to try, the monthly groups and the photography are so inspiring.

When I choose photos I firstly look for light and colour and then a subject that catches my eye.

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ART IN THE MAKING...

Demonstration by Dale Cato

Painting Perfect Pastels

This picture is called ‘Resting’ painted in pastel from a photo by Gwen Card.

This picture is ‘Winter Solstice’ painted in pastel from a photo by Shaun.

This picture is ‘Reflections’ painted in pastel from a photo by Joanne V.

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ART IN THE MAKING...

Demonstration by Dale Cato

Painting Perfect Pastels

This picture is call ‘Fantasy Rose’ painted in pastel from a photo by Nicola B. This is shows how I work, with a grid first and then I apply the colour.

Demonstration: I have prepared is from a photograph by Gary Jones, I just liked the complete look of relaxation in the subject’s eyes.

I start by gridding the photo in 1cm squares with a sharp point that actually scratches the photo surface, (it makes a thinner line than a biro so that no detail is left hidden under ink).I then work out the ratio between the paper size I am using and the photo.

I generally work on black paper but I also like to work on deep ultra blue. I like to use Artist Spectrum Colourfix or Mi-Teints by Canson which both have a light sanded finish and Stonehenge which is a printing paper also by Canson, smooth but takes several layers of pastel.

For this painting demonstration I will use a variety of hard and soft pastels and pastel pencils, I do not use the very soft pastels as I find that they fill the tooth of the paper too quickly.

The paper I am using for this painting is black Artist Spectrum Colourfix.

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ART IN THE MAKING...

Demonstration by Dale Cato

Painting Perfect Pastels In the first photo I am just getting the eyes and nose in the correct position and like many artists I start animal pictures with the eyes, if they are not right the painting will not be successful. I have also completed the platform he is laying on and the background which is a mixture of subtle colours.

In this photo I have finally got the eyes the way I want them to look, and I am putting the colour and shading in several areas to judge the way the fur sits and try to get the stripes in the general area.

I am still blocking in using soft pastels and larger marks at this point.

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Demonstration by Dale Cato

ART IN THE MAKING...

Painting Perfect Pastels I make the most of the black paper base, letting it show through the top layer of pastel as shadows between the fur, however I will add black pastel when I want to make a black area stand out.

All the while I make judgement calls to darken or lighten. I adjust the colours when necessary. My pastel mark application is made to suggest individual hairs.

As I get towards the final stages of this painting I use my pastel pencils to accentuate fur highlights, or to blend and soften the colours in the furthest hair as it is the more distant.

More detail for what is close up and less detail for what is further back.

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ART IN THE MAKING...

Demonstration by Dale Cato

Painting Perfect Pastels Here is the finished painting.

I have made his eyes the focal point though use of the yellow colour, which does not appear in other parts of the painting thereby calling for attention.

As you can see my choice of Gary Jones’ photo is all about the bright light against a dark background, wonderful strong colours and I love painting Big Cats.

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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 ‘Vatican’

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

Paul Sherman Pin Mill in the Morning

link Big Sky Wanda McDonald

Winter Scene Freda Sidaravicius

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RO’S HIDDEN TREASURES

A Mixed Special

Venice Michael Yates Meanderings in Mechelen ESP

White-Tail Deer Fawn Ben Swadley

Vineyard, Early Fall Jill Trear

Maple Tree in Fall Sue

Arches Gillian [53]

RO’S HIDDEN TREASURES

Snow Scene Elaine Cross

A Mixed Special

Winter Landscape Angelina Rijkeboer

Winter Trees at Sunset Heidi Andersen

Seascape Pepino Peter

Robber’s Bridge, Devon Ruth Archer

Reuben & Brodie Stephen McLean

Barwite Mt. Bulla Robyn Lovelock

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OCTOBER CHALLENGE: - LIFE IS JUST A BOWL OF COLORS

Anna Finkel View Anna’s gallery on PaintMyPhoto Contact Anna via PaintMyPhoto

Anna Finkel Our Winner!

‘Mr Forbes’

An Interview by Suzanne Wallick with Anna Finkel, Winner - October Challenge Anna, as winner of the October challenge, Life is Just a Bowl of Colors, we were wondering what about the challenge caught your attention and gave you the inspiration to take up the challenge?

I had never done a painting using such a tight range of colors, so for me it was a big challenge. Also I had only done still life a couple of times, and one of those was my lunch! So that also was something different to try.

What made you decide to use Charlotte Yealey's reference photo called Pots? Why did you choose to paint it in watercolor? Can you tell us what your thought process about the colors that you chose to use for this painting?

The thing that immediately caught my eye in Charlotte’s photo was the beautiful green of the pot in the upper left of her photo. As soon as I saw it, I could see the whole painting. I used the same color for that pot in my painting also. I used several different greens and blues, turquoise green was probably the farthest in the green direction, ultramarine blue was the warmest blue. In between were prussian blue, perylene green and various mixes of all of them. For the places where I needed darks, I added very small amounts of complementaries to the greens to get an olive color and used perylene green, which by itself is very dark.

I chose watercolor because that’s all I have been painting with for several years.

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OCTOBER CHALLENGE

An Interview with our Winner, Anna Finkel

An Interview by Suzanne Wallick with Anna Finkel, Winner - October Challenge What would you like to tell us about yourself and your art? Did you have specific training in art, or are you a self-taught artist? Is there a particular medium you like to work with?

For the last 20 years before retirement I worked as a graphic artist, and I do have some training in that.

Most artwork I did for graphic art was either pen-and-ink or computer-created. My hobby painting during that time was with gouache. After retirement I set out to learn watercolor and I am self-taught in that. It is far and away my favorite medium as well as the most difficult I’ve ever tried. I’m a convert!

Is art your main passion/hobby, or do you have others that you enjoy?

When did you know that you wanted to pursue painting as a form of creative outlet?

I have had other interests over the years, knitting, basketry, jewelry-making but the only one I would call a passion is art. I would guess my parents knew it would be a passion for me, when I was a toddler I smuggled crayons into my bedroom for Sweet Pea

drawing on the walls during nap-time.

Do you have an art studio? Could you tell us about that?

I do have a studio. It’s an extra room that was added under the eaves on the second storey of our house.

It’s a long rectangle 10 feet wide by 24 feet long with a slanted ceiling, chock-full of art stuff. It’s almost like a hidden room since you have to go through the main bedroom and bathroom to get to the small door to it.

I like the hidden aspect of it. I can’t even hear the doorbell from up there.

Do you promote your art in shows, or galleries, and do you have a website that you would like to share with us?

No, I have no website, art shows or galleries although I live in a very art-conscious community, Asheville, NC, and I should keep an eye out for shows to enter, but so far I have not.

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OCTOBER CHALLENGE

An Interview with our Winner, Anna Finkel

An Interview by Suzanne Wallick with Anna Finkel, Winner - October Challenge What are your thoughts about the input of photos provided by our photographers in the main gallery for artists to use free of copyright?

I think everything about the website is wonderful. It’s a multi-faceted real community of like-minded people who support each other in very real and practical ways. The challenges are great learning tools, the availability of copyright-free photos means that reference on any subject is always at hand. I want to express my appreciation to all the photographers who offer their art for us to use to make our art.

Since you have joined PMP, and have now had the experience of winning the monthly painting challenge, what do you think of our growing community of artists and photographers?

I am delighted to have found and become a member of such a talented, supportive community. And a special thanks to those of you who do all the behind-the-scenes work to keep it going for us.

Thank you, Anna, for participating in our October challenge....and for giving us a little insight into your world of art!!! We appreciate your being a member of our community here at Paint My Photo!

The Winning Painting - Blue Green

Free

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Congratulations go to Jim Humphreys, whose wonderful pastel painting called ‘Eye Eye’ won 1st place in the Pastel Guild of Europe’s monthly challenge - well done Jim!

Reference Photo - ‘Ginge’

Jim’s winning painting - ‘Eye Eye’

Well that’s all folks - I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the magazine. The next edition will be published in Spring 2014.

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year from the Admin Team at PaintMyPhoto!

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