Taking good photos of your work.

I wanted to show how I take pictures of my paintings. I learned this is in Qiang Huang workshop this spring. He posts everyday, Because at first he was working full time and painting at night, he came up with a good way to photograph his work inside, save it to a jump drive, then post at work during his lunch hour. So I tried it and liked the results. In Fayetteville we can't always  count on the sun shining to take pictures outside.  So I would get behind on posting waiting for a good day to take pictures. so this method is a life saver.
    Take a box - like a pizza box, that has edges about 2" wide. Set your artwork up and place it on a chair. Make sure the light is coming from the sides, no direct sunlight coming toward the painting. I have windows on either side of my studio (which would be left and right of my chair in the photo). Then take the picture. It seems to be a good option and I don't have to fight with glare. Give it a try!

Sketchbook Fun

I have been taking an online class about lettering by Joanne Sharpe. It's LetterLove 101 on Joanne's blog "Whimspirations". Really fun and something I've been wanting to work on. I use a sketchbook that is made from heavy watercolor or mixed media paper, 90 lbs or heavier, because I like to used markers, paint, colored pencil and all kinds of pens -besides pencils- in my book. The first page was painted with black gesso by Liquitex. It dries really fast and make a great surface for metallic gel pens. Very fun.

Environmental Art by my Students

I wanted to share this example of environmental art done by one of my students age 7. We looked at the DVD "Rivers and Tides" about Andy Goldsworthy's work with water, stone and other materials found in nature. It is a fascinating documentary on how he builds some of his structures. I got it from the local library. anyway the assignment was to make something non representational using red, black, white and gold stones and pebbles on the gray stone surface. 

This was done by two little girls. The challenge was to build a nest using the dried stalks in the field.

This was done by a group of girls. They had to use whatever they could find.

This was the first painting I did in the workshop with Qiang. We did a value study first in burnt umber. He talks a lot about painting the ligh. He is very good at keeping everything subdued, yet beautiful, so the areas of dramatic light that he wants to emphasize, really stand out.

Easter Weekend

Straight ahead we saw this.....

...to our right there was a thick,dense cloud of deep pink with a complete rainbow.

This was the dramatic sky I saw on my way home from Albany on Wednesday evening. We are busy preparing to celebrate Easter tomorrow and I thought this sky was a wonderful reminder of the Glory of God that we as artists see all around us in His creation. I have never seen such a sky before. Monday I will take pictures of the paintings I did at the workshop and post about some of the things I took away from the teaching. 

Workshop with Qiang Huang

Well there is so much to tell about the workshop I'll have to break it up into a few posts. Unfortunately it is back to the real world as soon as I got home and this will be short. Let me just say Qiang Huang is a marvelous, generous and patient teacher. His presentation is very organized and if you come willing to learn, you will. The first photo is one of the demos he did for us on the second day so we could watch him paint roses in a still life. Each and every stroke he takes is well thought out and deliberate.  

          If you get an opportunity to study with him you will not be disappointed! More tomorrow.

road trip

I am heading to Albany, NY for a three day workshop with  Qiang Huang. I have admired his skill with still life and have been following his career for awhile. It will be very exciting to meet him and watch him paint. Last I heard there was still a space open because of a cancelation. Contact Kristin at kristin.woodward@earthlink.net. I'll post some pictures when I get back.