tools

At Stanford, The Results, Please

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My previous post was about an outing at Stanford yesterday with Scott Loftesness. This post will be less confusing if you scroll down and read it first.

Scott processed several HDR images, and I picked the lighting which matched what I was painting, as the clouds were rolling in and out at times. Below is Scott’s final image, which has been scaled down for web display–

stanfordquad-hdr-2-25apr200.jpg

Just as a comparison, below is my painting again–

stanford9.jpg

In the HDR photo, it seems the lighted areas of the tower were a bit darker, the color more saturated, and warmer (more reddish) than what I painted. The shadows were about in line with my observations. Although I usually apply more gradient (a gradual value and color change to a particular area) to enhance whatever I am painting I didn’t in this work. You will notice, however that Scott’s image had more gradient, for example the shadow area is lighter at the top and darkens toward the bottom.

I am rather confident on the value accuracy of my painting, and the photo of it shown, at least on my monitor, matches the actual painting. I imagine Scott could adjust the HDR image somewhat, but would probably have to go on location with a computer to match it exactly.

There are no winners or losers here, just observations. The HDR process produces beautiful and stunning photographs. However, I think to accurately capture values and color, painting from real life still wins out.

Scott added a bit to his blog about the day, which you can read here. He also posted more pictures, particularly of me painting, here. This is by far the most anyone has photographed me painting!!

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Of Big Sandy, TX and Water Soluable Oils

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I just returned from a week long trip to Big Sandy, Texas. I visit fairly often as my parents and sister live there. My last visit was December of last year to dedicate a painting I donated to a local church there.

I had been experimenting with water soluble oils recently and brought those on this trip. Sometimes when I travel, it is too inconvenient to find turpentine at my destination, so many times take acrylics, which I recently did on our cruise to Alaska.

Many of you know I spent 15 years in East Texas from the time I was about 13 years of age. I started painting while there, and at the time painted from other peoples photos such as calendars, etc. of far off spectacular places. Didn’t seem like there was a lot to paint in my local area. Now that I go back, I find good painting subjects everywhere! I think the mark of a good artist is to make the seemingly ordinary and mundane into something of beauty.

With visiting family and friends, I only took one morning to paint. It didn’t take me long to find a nice pasture and pond just south of Big Sandy close to the Sabine River. I brought only minimal equipment and ended up using the hood of the car as my easel. It was somewhat cloudy, but the pink of the early morning sun was wonderful. However, it soon began to rain, so I had to stop as the water soluble paints were smearing all over the canvas! I will continue to experiment with these paints.

Below is a picture of the scene. You can see the painting in progress on the hood of my car–

bigsandyaug.jpg

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Back to Work & Trying New Technology

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I didn’t paint much over the holidays, in fact not much the last month. I have had a lot of lower back pain the past few months, and although could still paint, just haven’t been overly enthused about sitting in front of an easel. I did make use of the time, however, watching some newly obtained demonstration videos by Scott Christensen. I met Scott at the 1991 Arts for the Parks event and have followed his exploding career ever since.

James Harold Galleries at Lake Tahoe called just before New Years, told me the market is picking up and they recently sold 4 of my works. Nothing like a little snow to bring in the skiers and subsequently the art customers! And nothing like selling some paintings to encourage me back to the studio! My back pain is also getting better, which helps.

I have done three small paintings the last couple days, and am trying some new technology. My wife gave me an iPod Touch, which allows you to download and view pictures on its 3.5 inch screen. I have gone all digital in my picture taking for some time, and usually print out studies I want to paint. Since my printer is having some problems, I decided to try painting from the iPod Touch. It works fairly well, as the screen is very clear, but I have to set it down and not touch it while painting. Why? Because I usually get paint all over my hands and don’t want to mess up my new iPod!

Below is a snapshot of one of my paintings with the iPod Touch. The painting is only 4×6 inches, barely larger than the iPod!!

img_0236.jpg

In the past I tried painting from a laptop, but it takes up a lot of space in my cramped studio. I think I could do a large painting from the iPod as it gives plenty of detail of a scene…at least enough to paint from. Plus, I don’t have to waste paper to print out my studies. Nothing like new technology.

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A Handy Tool

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I have never really been into ‘view finders’ when plein air painting. These are usually square cutouts you hold up to frame and isolate the scene so you can get a better handle on the composition and how to paint it. Many artists make their own just by cutting a square out of a piece of cardboard or matting board. Here is some info on using a viewfinder. While in the field if I need an aid, I usually just hold my hands up or use my camera as a viewfinder.

When I was at the PAPA paintout several weeks ago, Kevin Macpherson was using a viewfinder which I thought was really worth getting…well actually, I just had to have one!! It is made by Artwork Essentials. It comes with a dry erase marker, so you can actually draw your scene on the viewfinder as you hold it up. It also has a value bar with three peepholes to better isolate and judge values in the scene. It comes in two sizes, a 6×8 and a 3×4, so I ordered both.

I tried it out yesterday at Elkhorn Slough and it worked great! I did find if you are sketching on it, you need to prop it on the top of your easel or other support to get a good sketch.

One of the other features I especially liked was the hairline partitioning of the viewfinder. The hairlines partition the scene by thirds both horizontally and vertically. On the larger viewfinder, the “Golden Section” is also indicated with slightly smaller hairlines. I won’t go into details about these rules of composition other than saying generally put the center of interest somewhere along the one third line intersects. This viewfinder makes doing so a snap. You can read more about these composition rules here.

All-in-all, this is the handiest tool I have seen in a long time! Both viewfinders are very affordable at around $10 and $4.50 depending on size. You can get more info and order it at:
http://www.artworkessentials.com/products/accessories/Viewfinder/VF68G.htm

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