Flowering Trees at Long Hill Gardens

Originally uploaded by: randubnick

This is a photograph that I took during a visit to Long Hill Gardens in Beverly, Massachusetts, back on May 12, the day before I left on a two-week trip to Europe. I took lots of pictures of the flowering trees, and planned to post them while I was "on the road." Well, that turned out to be too complicated, so I am posting those photos now. (This format of this post might look different today: for some reason Flickr is not "talking to" Blogger today. Lots of questions about this problem are posted on the help page, but so far, no resolution. So I am posting directly from Blogger.)

Pink Blossoms on the Tree

Pink Blossoms on the Tree
Originally uploaded by randubnick

This is a photo that I took on May 12 at Long Hill Gardens, here in Beverly, MA. I was leaving for a trip to Europe the following day. I had so much to do to get ready. Should I really take the time to go to Long Hill to look at the spring flowers? I didn't want to miss the spring blossoms or the lilacs, so I decided to go. Well, it turned out to be a great idea. The flowering trees were all in bloom, and I couldn't stop taking pictures. Suddenly I was able to calm down and focus on the present moment. Later that day, I uploaded a number of the photos to Flickr, and marked them as private (temporarily), and planned to my blog during my trip. But it was too hard to get an internet connection during the trip, so I decided to post these images after I got home. (Both Flickr and Blogger allow editing the date of posting.) This is the first of this set, and I plan to one or two every day until I "catch up." Meanwhile, I will also organize my trip photos so I can start posting those too. So thanks to digital technology, I am turning back the clock to post this image as my "daily" post for May 12!

Pear Tree at the Pond

Pear Tree at the Pond
Originally uploaded by randubnick

This is a photograph that I took over the weekend during a walk at the Cummings Center Pond (aka Shoe Pond) here in Beverly, MA. The pear tree was in bloom and it was beautiful. I liked the white blossoms against the blue sky, so I used my iPhone camera to take this picture. Apart from brightening the image a bit in iPhoto, this is the image as it came out of the camera.

Daffodils at Long Hill (Posterized Photograph)

Daffodils at Long Hill (Posterized Photograph)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

This image began with one of the pictures I took back on May 1 during a walk at Long Hill Gardens here in Beverly, MA. Signs were posted announcing that it was "Daffodil Sunday" and signs were also posted pointing toward the "daffodil path." So instead of the usual walk up the hill towards the house and formal gardens, we followed the daffodil path downhill towards the children's garden, the barns, chickens, and the fields. I used my iPhone camera to take lots of pictures of the daffodils. Tonight I cropped this image out of one of the best photos. I liked the contrast of the daffodils and the barn in the background. I used iPhoto for basic adjustments, and used Painter to posterize the image.

Mom and Me (Digital Woodcut)

Mom and Me (Digital Woodcut)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Yesterday I managed to digitally restore a photo taken by my uncle, Ike Fitterman, starting with an old negative that I came across. It was wonderful to see my uncle's photo! I cropped it and posted the result yesterday, for Mother's Day. (I used a digital camera, a computer screen, Painter, and iPhoto to do that; if you want details on how I restored the image from a negative, see yesterday's post.) Then I used my Painter software to create the image you see here. I used the digital woodcut effect on the photo, with very little black, and then posterized the result, to add more color. Working on this project was a way to bring my mom into the present tense; this project was also a way to collaborate with my uncle, and a great reminder of what a talented photographer he was.

Mom and Me (Digitally Restored Photo from Negative)

Mom and Me (Digitally Restored Photo from Negative)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Today I wanted to make a Mother's Day image, so I was looking for a photo of my mother. She was camera-shy, so pictures of her are hard to find. I found an envelope of negatives of family photos taken by my uncle, Ike Fitterman. (My uncle had a photography studio in Pueblo, Jay Phillips Studio) In one of the negatives, I thought I saw an image of my mom holding me on her lap. I didn't think that I had ever seen a picture from this negative. Although I now plan to get this negative developed professionally, I was excited and wanted to see this today. I tried and failed to capture the negative image with a scanner; the result was too dark and I couldn't turn it into a good image no matter what I did with it afterward. Finally I had an idea. I slipped the negative under the edge of my computer screen, and then used my iPhone to photograph the back-lit negative. I got a clear image of the negative, which I e-mailed to myself, and downloaded. Then I opened the image in Painter, where I was able to produce a "negative" effect, and suddenly the positive image appeared! I did a little digital sharpening and cropped the image to get this composition. Then I transferred the result into iPhoto and made the image into a black and white photo. I was excited to see the photo that my uncle took, and here it is, cropped just a bit! I also used this image to create a piece of digital art which I plan to post here tomorrow, a collaboration with my Uncle Ike Fitterman.

Photo Display at Beverly Farms

Photo Display at Beverly Farms
Originally uploaded by randubnick

After I finished setting up my art show at Beverly Farms Library, I took some pictures. I usually hang my photographs on the wall. But these frames aren't sufficiently to work with the hanging system that the library uses. (The weight of the art work makes the hook engage and hold tight against the metal rod.) I didn't want to re-frame the photographs, so I decided to display the photos on a table (in this case, two library tables pushed together). I bought some very simple black metal stands at Michaels that seem very stable. The hardest part was arranging the display. Each photo can be seen without obscuring the other photos, but viewers have to lean in and get involved to get a really good look.

Pink Peonies for Mother's Day

Pink Peonies for Mother's Day
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Today I received an early Mother's Day gift: a beautiful arrangement of pink peonies in a glass vase. Of course, I took pictures. This close-in view of the huge blossoms was the best of the photos that I took this morning.

Photo of New England Landscapes show

Photo of New England Landscapes show
Originally uploaded by randubnick

This afternoon I took this photo of some of my oil bar paintings on display at the Beverly Farms Library. The light there is very nice in the late afternoon. The library has a pretty interesting hanging system of metal rods that hang from the moulding. There are hooks on the rods that slide up and down so you can adjust the height of the painting. (At first, they were sliding when I DIDN'T want that to happen.) It's a very efficient system, but it took me a while to "get the hang of it".

Beverly Farms Library (Digital Woodcut)

Beverly Farms Library (Digital Woodcut)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Tonight I used my Painter program (and a lot of trial and error) to create this digital woodcut. I used the photo of the Beverly Farms Library that I took yesterday. (I was there to hang paintings for my art show.) The library is charming and so is the little town of Beverly Farms!

Beverly Farms Library (Vine Street Entrance)

Beverly Farms Library (Vine Street Entrance)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

I spent much of yesterday hanging my art work at the Beverly Farms Library. It was a lot of work to get everything ready, but Beverly Farms is an adorable little town and I always enjoy being there. On my trips back and forth to the car for loading and unloading, I caught myself admiring this charming little library, so I stopped to take a picture of the Vine Street entrance with my iPhone camera. Tonight I cropped the original photo to get this composition. I think it would make a nice digital woodcut. To be continued. . . .

Magnolias and Fence (Digital Woodcut)

Magnolias and Fence (Digital Woodcut)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

I recently published a posterized version of a photo that I took of pink magnolias against a wooden fence. I also used Painter to create this digital woodcut of the same image.

Morning Light in New Hampshire (Posterized Photo)

Morning Light in New Hampshire (Posterized Photo)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Tonight I am re-publishing this posterized version of a photo that I took back in 2009 of the woods on campus at the University of New Hampshire at Durham. I created this version back in late December of 2009 and used it as a reference photo for a painting. I am going to include the posterized photos in my upcoming art show of New England landscapes. In fact, this very image is framed, in my studio, and today I packed it up for the show. I have been searching for this in my photostream and although I can find it in iPhoto on my computer, I can't seem to find the posterized version published here. So this may be a duplication, but I am uploading it again tonight. After losing too much time searching my Flickr photostream for it, I just decided to upload it again and add it to the set of photos that are in the show. I am using Flickr's sets and collections to make an online version of the art show for far-flung friends and family.

Magnolias and Fence (Posterized Photograph)

Magnolias and Fence (Posterized Photograph)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

The magnolia tree is finally blooming! The blossoms looked great against the fence so I took some photos through the window. Later, I used Painter to crop and posterize the image. I also created a digital woodcut which I plan to publish here tomorrow.

Look Up

Look Up
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Here's another photo of trees leafing out. Tonight I noticed the tracery of the trees leafing out against the soft colors of the evening sky. I was in the driveway at the time, heading into the house. But I put everything I was carrying so I could look up and take some pictures with my iPhone. Later, I used iPhoto to crop this image from the best of the photos.

Nature's First Green

Nature's First Green
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Today was very warm and humid until an afternoon rainstorm cooled things off. It was so warm that some of the trees are starting to leaf out. I was admiring my neighbor's tree from my upstairs window and decided to take some pictures with my digital camera. This is the best of the bunch. I always think of a Robert Frost poem when the trees leaf out, hence the title which is a phrase from the poem. These early leaves do look like flowers, in golden green, as Frost suggests. Some people emphasize this poem's pessimism about the transience of youth and beauty, but I like to point out that Frost has actually captured this moment in his poetry and made it last forever. Giving the fleeting beauty of nature, one choice is to despair. Another choice is to appreciate a beautiful moment, capture it, and turn it into art. I think that was Frost's choice, and here is his poem:

Nothing Gold Can Stay

by Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

First Forget-Me-Nots

First Forget-Me-Nots
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Here's another photo that I took during a recent walk at Long Hill Gardens, here in Beverly, MA. The forget-me-nots are blooming all over the place. I liked the contrast of the early spring flowers coming up through the autumn leaves, so I took a picture with my iPhone camera. I cropped this image just a bit, but otherwise this is how it looked right out of the camera.

White Magnolia (Posterized Photo)

White Magnolia (Posterized Photo)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Yesterday I published a photo that I took over the weekend: a white magnolia tree in bloom at Long Hill Gardens here in Beverly, MA. Tonight I posterized the photo to emphasize the pink haze created by the budding tree branches in the background. Then I cropped the image to emphasize the shapes made by the magnolia blossoms.

Magnolia Tree at Long Hill Gardens

Magnolia Tree at Long Hill Gardens
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Here in Beverly, north of Boston, the has gone from November to June and back to April over the past few days, resulting in rain, mist, and fog. Sunday's adventure was a trip to Long Hill Gardens, just up the road, to see what bloomed in recent warm spell. There were lots of daffodils and forget-me-nots in the garden, and I took pictures of them. But what I liked best was a magnolia tree just outside the gardens proper so I took a photo with my iPhone camera. Long Hill Gardens (aka Sedgwick Gardens) used to be a private estate, but now the house and formal gardens are open to the public. And it really is on a hill. This photo shows the view looking out into the distance. I liked the magnolia tree against this backdrop; some of the trees in the background create a pink cast because they are about ready to bloom. Tonight I cropped the original photo to get this composition.

Path to the Beach (Oil Bar Painting)

Path to the Beach (Oil Bar Painting)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

This is my oil bar painting of a path to the beach, based on a photo that I took at Lynch Park here in Beverly, MA (posted here April 15). In the past twenty-four hours, I have made a number of small changes. I added some blue to the sky, especially on the right side of the canvas. I also added some definition to the boats and adjusted some shadows, especially a shadow on the water that was very distracting. Now I am ready to call it: this is officially finished.

Path to the Beach (Oil Bar Painting Day 5)

Path to the Beach (Oil Bar Painting Day 5)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Today I worked on this painting of a path to the beach (based on a photo that I took at Beverly's Lynch Park). First, I adjusted the line at the end of the path to correct a persistent optical illusion that made it the line look crooked even though my trusty T-square said otherwise. (I fixed this by over-correcting the line, tilting it slightly in the opposite direction.) Then I continued to work with my T-square and a brush to add lines in the water and make sure the horizontal lines were parallel. Then I corrected the shapes of the boats on the left side and added color to them. I also added yellow to the highlights on the path and to the grass, and also added some subtle touches of red to the grass, to bring the colors of the boats into the rest of the painting. Then I worked on the texture of the sandy path, working closely from the reference photo (posted here April 15) as I added shadows in shades of purple. Finally I added subtle touches of blue to the sand, tapping on some blue with my fingertip (leaving fingerprints instead of footprints). I think this is painting is finished, or close to it (which is good because I need to get everything ready for the art show). There might still be changes, but if so, I think they are likely to be small.

Path to the Beach (Oil Bar Painting Day 4)

Post as: art

Originally posted by randubnick

I worked on this painting today, an oil bar painting based on a photo that I took of a path to the beach near Beverly's Lynch Park. Today I changed the shape of the hills in the distance and then started correcting the colors, especially on the path. As I made changes, I had to be very careful because the least little thing can throw the perspective off.

Celebrating Forsythia (Posterized Photo)

Celebrating Forsythia (Posterized Photo)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Forsythia is blooming all over town! All the bright yellow flowers everywhere make it look like a celebration. This image started with a photo that I took a few days ago, during a neighborhood walk. I transferred the image from my iPhone to my computer, and then used Painter to posterize it. In the original version, there was just one tiny spot of bright red (a glimpse of a car in the background, I think). But I liked the touch of bright red against all that yellow, so I added a few more touches of red, about the same size, using some digital pastel. Can you find them? They are very small. This is a very subtle difference, but I think those little touches of red help to balance the color and the composition.

View of JFK Library from UMass Boston

View of JFK Library from UMass Boston
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Today I went to hear a talk at the University of Massaschusetts in Boston. When you are at UMass Boston, sometimes it is hard to believe that you are very close to the ocean, until you look out the window. Here is one of the pictures that I took tonight, looking out through one of those windows at the JFK Library. I took this photograph using the Hipstamatic app and the iPhone camera. (I chose the 'John S' lens and Kodot film.)

Path to the Beach (Oil Bar Painting Day 3)

Path to the Beach (Oil Bar Painting Day 3)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Here is my oil bar painting in progress as it looked after I worked on it today. This view of a path to the beach is based on a photo that I took here in Beverly, at Lynch Park. (You can my reference photo, posted here on April 15.) Now that the basic shape of the path was in place, today my goal was to soften and break up the borders between the path and the vegetation, in order to show the incursions of sand into grass and grass into sand. As I worked, I tried to figure out what makes a path read as "sandy" when we look at it. This is an interesting problem to me, because I don't have much experience painting sand. (I'm from Colorado and still see the ocean as exotic.) I tried to suggest a little texture on the path, and I also worked on the vegetation in the foreground to try to make it relate to the path. And then it was time to stop for the day.

Happy Matza Flowers

Happy Matza Flowers
Originally uploaded by randubnick

This afternoon, I used Painter's pattern pen to create this little floral fantasy for Passover. Why are these flowers different from all other flowers? If you look closely, you will see that they are made of matza! Last year I used Painter's "capture pattern" function to create a pattern from one of my photos, which was just a picture of a piece of matza. Simple, but it makes a nice pattern. I plan to send this spring-time image out with holiday greetings for Passover.

Path to the Beach (Oil Bar Painting Day 2)

Path to the Beach (Oil Bar Painting Day 2)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

This morning I worked on this oil bar painting of a path to the beach. I am working from a photo that I took at Lynch Park a few years ago. (I recently published a posterized version of the photo on this site on April 15.) Today my goal was to widen the path and give it a little curve, as in my reference photo. Well, making the path wider was pretty easy; I just had to move the boats and the posts on the sides. But adding a little curve to the path was very tricky and I had to struggle to get that path to do what I wanted it to do (and not behave like a roller coaster). It was worth the effort, though. If the perspective of the path is "off" in this painting, nothing else is going to work. At this point, I am satisfied with the basic shape of the path. Later I will soften the edges of the path and add texture to indicate that it is sandy.

Path to the Beach (Oil Bar Painting Day 1)

Path to the Beach (Oil Bar Painting Day 1)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

This morning I started another oil painting, working from a reference photo that I took back in the summer of 2007, a view of a path to the beach at Lynch Park, here in Beverly, MA. (Yesterday I used Painter to created a posterized version of the photo and published it here.) This morning, I planned to begin by printing out a copy of the reference photo from my computer, but the printer's nozzle for blue ink was clogged, so I got a print-out of the photo with only red, green, and yellow. A little basic printer maintenance allowed me to print the 'full-color version' five minutes later. But I also kept the first "problem" version because I can use it as an aid to color analysis later on. Before I even started, I knew I wanted to change the photo's composition for this painting, not just to get it into a square format, but to make some minor placement adjustments. So I was folding the printout and drawing on top of it till I knew what I wanted to do. When I was ready, I picked up a gray oil bar and sketched in a basic composition on the canvas. I used my T-square with the oil bar to make some corrections, and kept making lines with dark and light gray paint. When I started to get lost, I added some color to make it easier to see what I was doing, but I wasn't worrying too much about whether the colors were "right" or whether the shapes were completely accurate. I was just trying to establish basic placement of shapes. I worked for about an hour and got the composition roughed in. I can already see lots of things that I want to modify, but I had a good time and I am glad I got this painting started.

Path to the Beach (Posterized)

Path to the Beach (Posterized)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

I am thinking about trying to fit in one more oil bar painting for my show in Beverly Farms, but timing is very tight. (The show starts May 1.) For a few weeks now, I have had an image in mind for another painting, a photo that I took a few years ago of a path that leads to the beach at Lynch Park, here in Beverly. (I posted a version of the photo here back on July 21, 2007.) Today I used Painter to posterize and crop that photo to see if I could come up with a good composition and the image you see here is the result. I think this would work for a painting, though I might modify the placement of some elements just a bit. Although life is busy enough, and I need to work on getting art ready to hang, I will probably try to start another painting to see how far I can get with it.

Yellow Pansies

Yellow Pansies
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Here north of Boston, signs of spring appear first at the supermarket, when it is finally warm enough to set up displays of flowers outside the store. Today I saw that a big display of pansies so I took some pictures. Tonight I cropped this image out of one of the photos.

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting)

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

I finished this painting today, a view of an amazing sunset inspired by a photo that I took last August (posted here March 28). I had planned to make only one change today: to make the boat on the left a bit darker. But I made a few other changes as well. I added some dark blue lines and shapes to add depth and perspective to the shoreline in the distance. Then I made a few other very minor modifications, including softening the transition of the rays of light to the sky. Tomorrow I will send a jpeg of this painting off to be used to publicize my art show in May.

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting Day 10)

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting Day 10)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

This is an oil bar painting, almost finished. The scene is the view west over the water at sundown. My reference is a photo that I took last August from Obear Park in Beverly. Today my focus was on the shoreline. First, I added some detail to the shape of the shoreline over on the left side of the canvas. Then I added suggestions of lights along the shore, especially a couple of bright spots of light near the edge of the canvas. And I added a gentle suggestion of a boat, again on the left side of the canvas. Although there are several boats in the reference photo (posted here March 28), I only added one. I added these small details not because I am trying to make the painting realistic but because I think they help balance the composition by drawing the eye to the left, and that's important with the land mass over on the right. I used a fairly light color to suggest the boat. I'm going to let this sit overnight and if I still like the placement tomorrow, I will make the boat darker. And then I think that will be it. Although I made a few other very small modifications this afternoon, I began to get that nervous feeling that I stand to lose more than I gain by making changes. It's important to be aware of that feeling. It tells you when to stop.

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting Day 9)

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting Day 9)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Here is the oil bar painting I have been working on, as it looked when I finished painting for today. (I am using a photo that I took last August as a reference for this painting, a view of the setting sun from Obear Park, here in Beverly, MA. The photo was posted on March 28.) This afternoon, I was still not happy with the way the light rays above the cloud formation were lining up with their reflections in the water. This time, I turned the canvas (and the reference photo) sideways, and looked hard. Then I used a brush and my T-square to correct the placement, making some adjustments in sky and water. Then I returned the canvas back to its upright position, and worked a little bit on the sky, but mostly worked on the water in the foreground, added marks to suggest gentle waves on the water's surface. Then I worked on the land mass, using shades of dark blue and purple. I used some brush strokes to suggest buildings on the shore. And then it was time to stop for today. Although there are small changes still to be made, I think this is getting pretty close to finished. Good thing, to, because I plan to use this image to publicize my art show (coming right up in May), and I need to e-mail a digital image of this painting later on in the week.

Accountability (For the Big Screen)

Accountability (For the Big Screen)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

This is digital art, an illustration that I created from (digital) mixed media. I made the original version back in 2005. I started with everybody's standard photo of the Hollywood sign. Then I used Painter to do some cut-and-paste and hand-lettering to change "Hollywood" into "Accountability". (The point was that "accountability" had become an icon.) Since 2005, this image has served as a profile picture and as a logo on a web site. This morning I had to get it ready "for the big screen": not as in Hollywood silver screen, just a power-point presentation at a conference. This wasn't an easy task because the image was at such a low resolution that it would look too blurry in a slide presentation. So I opened the older version in Painter and after some trial and error, came up with a quick solution (quick so as to be done before the flight to the conference). I used the selection tool to sharpen the image of the sign and the hillside, and then I posterized that same area. Then I softened the focus of the sky, to get rid of pixilation markings. Despite my standard complaining about "the role of the artist in American society," I've grown fond of this image. And as they say in Hollywood, it's good to be famous.

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting Day 8)

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting Day 8
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Today I worked on this oil bar painting. I am using a photograph that I took last summer as inspiration and reference. (The photo is posted here on March 28.) Today I kept going with issues of placement and perspective, and again worked mostly on the lower part of the painting. I started by turning the painting on its head, like yesterday, to compare some of the shapes with those in the photo (also turned upside-down). I made a few corrections to some of the shapes to correct the perspective. Then I turned the canvas (and photo) right-sight up again and started to work on the water. I went to the printout of the reference photo and drew some pencil lines on top of it, tracing the angle of the waves on the water's surface, to better understand where the lines went and how things connect. Then I used my big old T-square and a brush to lightly paint similar lines in the foreground of the canvas, to set up an analogous spatial relationship. With that structure in place, I drew in more lines to begin to suggest the surface of the water. I had to stop at that point, but I am beginning to feel like I am getting somewhere with this.

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting Day 7)

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting Day 7)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

This is an oil bar painting in progress. I am working from a photograph that I took last summer of an amazing sunset, seen from Obear Park in Beverly's Ryal Side neighborhood. (The reference photo is posted here on March 28.) Today it was a real struggle to find any time to work on this at all. Since time was short, I decided to focus on placement of the reflections in the water. I also decided to turn the canvas upside down (and turned the reference photo upsidedown as well.) Sounds like a crazy thing to do, I guess, but I usually do that at least once in the painting process. Well, of course it is easier to paint the bottom part of the canvas that way. But the real reason I do it is that it is also a great way to check what I am actually seeing against what I think I am seeing. With the canvas upsidedown, I took my big T-square and worked on getting the reflections of the light rays in the water to line up with the corresponding rays of light above the cloud formation. In the process, I worked a little bit on both areas. And then I had to stop. But I am glad I made a little bit of progress today.

Boston Sky (Digitally Modified Photo)

Boston Sky (Digitally Modified Photo)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Today's adventure was a late afternoon trip to Boston for dinner with a friend who was staying at the Westin near the seaport and the ICA. The light was good and the view of the Boston skyline was great, so I used my iPhone to take some pictures during a walk from the hotel to the restaurant. When I got home tonight, I cropped this composition out of one of the photos. Then I used Painter to apply some color overlays and some selective posterizing to get the effect that you see here.

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting Day 6)

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting Day 6)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

This is an oil bar painting in progress, a picture of the sunset over the water. I am working from a photograph that I took last summer, a picture that I took last August of an amazing sunset. The vantage point was Obear Park here in Beverly, MA, looking west. (The reference photo is also posted here, March 28). I am still refining the basic composition, but today I also started working on the colors and shapes in the cloud formation and in the sky. I added some subtle diagonals to the cloud formation, and modified the colors to make the rays of sunlight seem to blend into the sky. It is a challenge to paint this scene because it needs to look amazing and believable at the same time!

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting Day 5)

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting Day 5)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Here is the oil bar painting I have been working on as it looked today, which is day 5. I am trying to paint an amazing sunset that I saw last summer from Obear Park here in Beverly, MA. I took photos of the sunset in August, and I am one of them as inspiration and as a reference as I paint. (The photo is posted on this site as well.) This morning I kept going with the basic layout of the canvas, concentrating on perspective. I started by taking out a ruler and measuring some shapes on the photo (printed out from the computer) and comparing the relative measures to the canvas. Then I took a triangle and pencil and drew lines on the computer print-out of the photo to get a better handle on the perspective, especially the direction of the rays of light above the cloud formation. Then I took a white oil bar and drew similar lines on the canvas, drawing right over the painting, and also drew white lines indicating changes to some of the other shapes. Then I painted in the revised shapes, worrying more about value than color, and covering up my white guide lines as a worked. There is no point worrying about the details before I have everything in the right place. I have more work to do but I needed to stop, not only because I ran out of time today (which I did), but also because I want some of the darker paint to dry before I add lighter colors to the canvas.

Wedding Luncheon 1943 (Digitally Modified Photograph)

Wedding Luncheon 1943 (Digitally Modified Photograph)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

This is a digitally modified photograph of my parents on their wedding day, April 4, 1943. This was the at the lunch (at the Vail Hotel) following the wedding. In the original image, an oversized group shot of the luncheon and the guests, you can hardly see my parents, in the top corner of the photo. The original photo is great, but I wanted just my folks, so I scanned the image in and cropped it. Then I opened the image in Painter and went to work. I had to do some cut and paste to cover up a large woman's hat that was covering part of my dad's coat. Then I did some selective color overlays and posterizing till I had what I wanted: which is this, just my parents, newly married, on their wedding day.

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting Day 4)

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting Day 4)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

This is an oil bar painting in progress. I am painting a scene that I photographed last summer, a view of the sunset from Obear Park, here in Beverly. (That photo is inspiration and reference for this painting. I posted the photo here last week, in case anyone wants to see.) So this is the painting as it looked on day 4 (which was April 2). I am still working getting everything in the right position. With the small amount of time that I had to work yesterday, I concentrated on moving the cloud formation and light rays further down on the canvas to make room for some diagonal streaks of clouds in the sky. I also modified a shadow in the water to create a diagonal line that will eventually align with a ray of sunlight in the sky, as in the photo.) I still have lots of changes to make, but once I am happy with the composition, I can focus on color, value, and depth.

April Fool's Day Snow (Posterized)

April Fool's Day Snow (Posterized)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

I used Painter to make this posterized version of yesterday's post, a picture of the snow on April 1. Although this photo has been digitally modified, it really did snow here yesterday. No joke.

April Fool's Day Snow

April Fool's Day Snow
Originally uploaded by randubnick

No foolin', it really did snow here last night. I took some pictures this morning. I took this photo through a window, a snow-covered branch against a snow-covered roof. Later, I used Painter to sharpen the focus and clean up a few distracting marks. While I was at it, I created a posterized version, which I plan to post tomorrow.

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting Day 3)

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting Day 3)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

This is an oil bar painting in progress, inspired by a photo that I took back in August at Obear Park here in Beverly MA (posted here a few days ago). I didn't have a lot of time to paint this morning, so I just worked on revising the composition. I focused on the sky, moving the cloud formation down further, and then making room for a streak of light near the top of the canvas by moving the yellow streaks of light down and making them smaller. I wasn't worrying much about color, just shape and composition.

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting Day 2)

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting Day 2)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

This is a work in progress, an oil bar painting that I started yesterday. I am using one of my photos as a reference: a picture of the sunset that I took last year from Obear Park, here in Beverly, MA. (posted here on March 28.) I am not trying to create an exact copy of the photograph, but I am using it for inspiration and an aid to understanding what is happening visually in this scene. This morning I worked on this painting for about an hour, making some corrections in the basic composition that I roughed in yesterday. I changed the size and position of the land mass and changed the position of the cloud formation. I am not worrying too much about color and perspective at this point, just trying to get the basic shapes in the right place. It is easier to "see where I am" in a painting if I use strong colors and basic shapes at the beginning. The rays of light in the sky (and reflected in the water) are still large and exaggerated, but I will make them more subtle later on.

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting Day 1)

Still Amazed (Oil Bar Painting Day 1)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Today I started another oil bar painting, using the photo that I posted here yesterday as a reference. The scene is an amazing sunset that I photograph from Obear Park, here in Beverly, MA. This morning I worked quickly to rough in a general idea of the composition and to lay down a base for the colors, without trying to show depth, scale, or modeling. Even with that said, I already have a long list of things that I need to move, change, and adjust. I still find it pretty daunting to post a painting in such an early stage. But it is useful to do it, and it feels good to get this started.

Still Amazed as the Sun Set (Posterized)

Still Amazed as the Sun Set (Posterized)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

It's time to start another painting. (I have a show coming up in May.) I have been thinking about a series of photographs that I took last August from Obear Park, here in Beverly. It is a little unusual to find a location around here where can get a view of the western sky over the water. One night last August, the sky was amazing, and I shot a series of photos as the sun was setting. Today I picked this one out to use as reference for my next painting. But I needed to make some adjustments. First, I used iPhoto to light the shadows enough so some of the houses along the shore would be visible, because I want to include them in the painting. Then I used Painter to posterize the image. I posterized the houses with a high effect, but the sky and the water are posterized just enough to make the shapes and colors more obvious. Then I cropped the image for a square format because the all the paintings for this show are going to be 20 inches by 20 inches. So here is my reference photo. Nothing to do now but start painting.

Pink Lady Apples (Posterized Photograph)

Pink Lady Apples (Posterized Photograph)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Tonight I used Painter to posterize the photo that I published here yesterday, a picture of "Pink Lady" apples that I took with my iPhone camera. I used a strong posterizing effect to capitalize on the colors of the apples and the pattern of the colander.

Pink Lady Apples

Pink Lady Apples
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Yesterday I bought a bag of apples at the grocery store. They were on sale, and looked great. Besides, I liked the sign: Pink Lady apples, (also known as Cripps Pink, which was how the bag of apples was tagged.) "The Pink Lady" was a notorious night club in my home town, with a big neon sign on an old highway on the outskirts of Pueblo, Colorado. References to the infamous "Pink Lady" peppered the conversations among older high school students hoping to sound like they were 'in the know', even if they had never actually set foot in the place.) So the name made me laugh, which clinched the sale, and I bought the Pink Lady apples. Today they looked so good in the colander that I took a picture with my iPhone camera. Tonight I used iPhoto to crop this composition out of the original photograph.

Spring Fantasy (Stroke-by-Stroke Video)

Spring Fantasy (Stroke-by-Stroke Video)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Yesterday I posted a digital sketch that I made on the iPad using the Brushes app. I worked from my imagination and drew a bouquet of spring flowers. This is the stroke-by-stroke video captured by Brushes as I drew yesterday's sketch posted. Today I used iMovie to add stills of the final image to the video as well.

Spring Fantasy (Digital Still Life)

Spring Fantasy (Digital Still Life)
Originally uploaded by randubnick

Tonight I took a break and started a sketch on my iPad. I just wanted to get some practice in with the Brushes application, so I started a little sketch of a bouquet of spring flowers, working from my imagination. (No real spring flowers here north of Boston, where the weather today was cold enough for snow flurries!). Anyway, this sketch took a lot longer than I intended, probably because I made it way to complicated as I began. Finally I used blue on my digital brush to correct some of the lines and to help me see where things were. I liked the look of the blue outlining, so I left some of it in, and did more outlining using other colors. I liked the result, and here it is.