Since most of us have a camera on our phones we have the ready ability to take a picture at a moments notice. As an artist I am constantly looking for and challenging myself to pare down a scene to see how it might translate into a painting which means I have thousands of photographs and as many ideas.
On one of my trips not too long ago I had a comment from a fellow traveler who said “It’s interesting to see at what you aim your camera”. It’s not always the standard tourist’s scene at which I’m looking. I often will look for line, form, color and how they all come together or how I can make them balance to become a well planned painting.
My dad was an artist and used to keep what he called his “morgue file” which included mountains of photos, ads, magazine tear outs etc. These were all well organized, of course. With the computer it’s much easier to keep them in order instead of what he had to manage but I did learn from the best.
This is a photo I to
ok in Honfleur, France. The autumn morning was crisp with amazingly beautiful light. It took my breath away. The picture doesn’t do it justice but you get the idea of form and line. These photos are the standard “ooooh, look at that” photos from a traveler’s point of view but in the next two images you will get a glimpse into where I’m going with this. Try squinting a little when you look at these.
This is an example of some of the changes I made in Photoshop Elements. You still can make out the subject but you see more of the form.
Here we have another morphing of the last photo that gives it more of an abstract quality. Nothing recognizable here but now you can see splashs of color, form and line. It can become whatever you want from here out but the starting point was the harbor.
The featured photo is the opposite side of the harbor and can also be used as inspiration. In the next blog I’ll continue with this thought.