Photographic Redos

I consider myself more of a photographer than a painter, but painting just won't let go of me. One of my favorite things to do is to take one of my photographs and change it.

Here are two paintings that started off as photographs. The one of the ruins is the Old Sheldon Church off Highway 17 in South Carolina; pretty close to Beaufort. I've photographed it several times in different seasons. If you go anytime of the year, any season, take a container of potent bug repellant. The tiny mosquitos about carried me off last time! I was holding my camera with one hand and making flapping motions from head to foot with the other. It makes for some interesting photographs, that's for sure!

So for this technique, I took my original 4x6 color photograph,copied,and enlarged it onto gray watercolor paper. I then recolored it using watercolor pencils. The result is a finely executed watercolor painting. Since my drawing skills are pretty poor, this is a good way to let my photograph do the drawing for me.

The second painting is a watercolor using my image of a foggy morning in Virginia as a guide. The finished painting is a 5x8, so it's pretty small. I like to paint small so I can finish a painting in one quick sitting. I really don't have the patience to work on a piece for hours or days at a time. Instant gratification is the ticket for me!

I've tried many different techniques combining photography with painting which I'll share as the mood strikes. What different techniques have you tried, and were you happy with the results?

Art and The Things You Love

"Your art is to be the praise of something that you love." John Ruskin

Here are three small watercolors of mine painted within the last 2-3 years and are of things that I love; the ocean, a Paris street scene, and a country cottage. I know that I'm not a very good painter, but I derive an extreme amount of pleasure from trying to capture with paint and paper the world I see.

Williamsburg Watercolor

I took this photo at the Powhatan Plantation outside Williamsburg where we usually stay. As ya'll probably already know, I'm a sucker for fog and impressionistic images.

Here I tried re-creating it in watercolors. I haven't viewed them side by side, but as I'm looking at them, I didn't capture the right colors of purple that was in the photograph.

I also felt that I had to make the road more distinct or the whole thing would have been a dark blob. I'm still happy with the outcome. After all, I wasn't striving for photographic realism. It makes for a good excuse, anyway.

A Watercolor Inspired by the Sea

My latest watercolor painting was inspired by photos from the Sea Cottage blog. You can see her photos here: http://seacottage.blogspot.com/2012/03/seaside-covesea-and-sky.html

Next I want to try one with the rocks, sand, and sea. It'll be more of a challenge. I'm trying to get braver and use more vivid colors. This one is 8x11.

Watercolor Finished

Well, I finished the tiny watercolor that was based on an original by Jules Pascin I wrote about here: http://artfulaspirations.blogspot.com/2012/02/keeping-on-with-painting.html. I think it turned out fairly well. The paper was a little quirky and soaked up the paint and water much too rapidly which made it difficult to do what I liked with it. Maybe I'll try it again someday on a different paper.