Photographs of Pictures

[rebeccmeister]

First, thank you, purpurin, for the advice on how to take better pictures of paintings. For the moment, I'm not all that interested in taking good pictures (just in complaining when they don't turn out well), but someday I'll be a more diligent photographer. :)

Anyway, here are


Salt Spring Island

Kitten

Prickly Pear

Alcove

Woman
I had a hard time getting the lighting right with this picture. Oh well.

Comments

[katdawgger.livejournal.com]

im so buying the first one

[mopsie2002.livejournal.com]

wow I love them!

[boolean263.livejournal.com]

Those rock! They must make you very popular with the guys. (:

But seriously, they're really good! They're quite realistic, without sacrificing an artistic flair. I like them all, but I think the last two are my favourites. Great shading and capturing of the way the light falls in Alcove, and neat colour choices for all of Woman.

Where/how do you paint these? Do you set up an easel right there like the cartoons on TV would have us believe all artists do, or do you work from photographs? Your own photos or someone else's?

[mopsie2002.livejournal.com]

Alcove was my favorite. :)

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

I'd prefer to paint from real objects, but all of these were from photographs--either pictures I took myself or pictures from magazines (don't tell the magazines or I'll get in trouble for copyright infringement! (: ). I've been taking a painting class on Tuesday nights at the local community center, where they have a room with tabletop easels. Hopefully I'll eventually get around to getting myself a real easel so I can paint at home on occasion. Of course, that requires having free time for painting!

Anyhoo, the Salt Spring painting and the pricly pear painting are photographs that I took myself. The funny thing is, a lot of people like Alcove, but it's my least favorite, mostly because I have no real personal connection to the subject matter. But the lighting certainly *was* interesting--quite horizontal!

[purpurin.livejournal.com]

Nice paintings. Nice photos. Good on both fronts.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Not bad for quick snapshots, eh? (: Thanks again for the advice!

[jwatriss.livejournal.com]

They're all amazing. Inever knew you had it in you... you never showed me anything up here, all I got was an inherited sketch book.

Big fan of the top one... it's hard to get rippling water to turn out well.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm not big on shameless acts of self-promotion...and I didn't really get into painting that much until this year. I took one painting class at Tufts, but I don't think I was in quite the right space yet. I let sytharin take care of most of the artistic sensibilities in the family. (:

Yeah, I was pretty happy with the rippling water. Water's one of my favorite subjects (big surprise), and there are some certain qualities that I'm hoping to eventually paint. We shall see...

[jwatriss.livejournal.com]

Well, congrats on being in "the right space" if you're there, and congrats on being happy with the rippling water. Drawing, painting, etc, is one of those things, that if you're actually "into" it, it's hard to find satisfaction sometimes, ismply because there's always one or two nagging things, and there's never really a general contentment with how something turned out.

Anyway, happy friday, and hopefully I'll be able to get around to that spice rack pretty soon :)

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Ehh, well, painting, like many things, is all about process. I could keep working on all of the above paintings, really, but at some point things usually go from "making improvements" to "making mud." And that's where learning how to stop comes in, eh?

I'm glad you brought up the spice rack--I was going to bring that up again, because my housemates are starting to grow impatient. It's really their fault that there's no room in our kitchen, though, because they keep buying more and more kitchen implements. Don't get me wrong--I like kitchen implements. But there comes a time when one should stop and just improve on the existing stuff.

very impressive

[annikusrex.livejournal.com]

... seems like you've absorbed some southwest influences, n'est-ce pas? my favorite is 'kitten.' you really capture a shared mood, which is so hard. alcove is nice too, sort of walker evans meets diego rivera. a crude description, but i might be able to think of something better soon.

Re: very impressive

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Hee hee! I'm glad you like "kitten." The facial expression is somewhat enigmatic. The actual title is something along the lines of "Mona Lisa's Anti-Christ." I don't know if I can fully explain that one, aside from the odd smile and the presence of the kitten. It's the sort of painting that forces you to look and then look again and then keep looking, and it inspires an odd sensation in the pit of one's stomach. What is he reading that's making him smile like that? Smut? A funny joke? Is he smiling at some other thought?

Anyhoo, that's enough reflection on my own painting. Ha. And yes, I must agree that I've absorbed some southwest influences. Fortunately, not all of the anti-culture ones have seeped into my paintings. I'll have to elaborate on that subject more at some other time...