Sunday, March 4, 2012
Betty's Beach - animated landscape
Here's the stages of my latest oil painting, Evening at Betty's Beach, as an animation. Click to see it a bit bigger.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Google privacy and you
A short deviation from art for a moment...
Today sees the implementation of Google's new privacy policy - a policy seemingly aimed at intruding on your privacy, as opposed to protecting it.
In short, if you have a Google account such as a Blogspot blog like mine, or a Youtube account, then virtually everything you do whilst signed in to your account (and most of us are likely signed in automatically) will be tracked and logged by Google so that they can influence your search results and deliver targeted advertising to you.
It doesn't seem like much of a problem on the face of it, but it is a significant change in policy. I'm among those who don't see this sort of thing as a benefit. It already frustrates me that Google search results are tailored based on search history.
If such things concern you, then you can go to http://www.google.com/history and see some of the information Google has on you. You can remove all history while you're there and this will, in theory, also "pause" history tracking for all but your Google searches.
If you are deeply concerned about your privacy, you could close down your Google account but this will, of course, delete your Blogspot blog and Youtube account completely.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Just for fun
Terry Miura set a "simplify" challenge on his blog.
The main thrust of the challenge is to simplify a photo Terry posted and produce a painting using any medium.
I chose Photoshop.
I had intended to save the image in stages - but forgot so this is all I have.
My process was to crop then convert the original image to greyscale and use that as my starting reference. I wanted to warm the scene up a little so, using a Wacom pen and tablet, I "underpainted" in a warm sepia tone. I then switched the reference photo back to colour and finished my painting from background to foreground.
I painted in the large shapes first with little concern for absolute accuracy. The rough shapes were initially tightened by working back into the negative shapes, painting the road around the cars for example, then strengthened by the addition of mid-tones and highlights. I finished with the brightest highlights, including the "pure" colours of the traffic lights and vehicle tail lights.
No tracing is involved in the process. The two images sit side-by-side, with the photo kept small to avoid getting bogged down with detail. As you can see below, I took liberties with several aspects of the scene. I was more interested in capturing the feeling than producing a replica.
There's about half an hour to 45 minutes work in this. I used a standard Photoshop stipple brush (and forgot to change the angle jitter setting) for this one. I usually use a custom brush from Chris Wahl but was almost finished before I realised what I'd done (I work zoomed out, so the stippling doesn't show).
My digital process almost exactly matches the way I work with oils - but I don't have to wash brushes when I'm finished - and I don't ruin another shirt or get paint on the carpet!
The main thrust of the challenge is to simplify a photo Terry posted and produce a painting using any medium.
I chose Photoshop.
(Streetscape after Miura. Digital. © Andy Dolphin)
I had intended to save the image in stages - but forgot so this is all I have.
My process was to crop then convert the original image to greyscale and use that as my starting reference. I wanted to warm the scene up a little so, using a Wacom pen and tablet, I "underpainted" in a warm sepia tone. I then switched the reference photo back to colour and finished my painting from background to foreground.
I painted in the large shapes first with little concern for absolute accuracy. The rough shapes were initially tightened by working back into the negative shapes, painting the road around the cars for example, then strengthened by the addition of mid-tones and highlights. I finished with the brightest highlights, including the "pure" colours of the traffic lights and vehicle tail lights.
No tracing is involved in the process. The two images sit side-by-side, with the photo kept small to avoid getting bogged down with detail. As you can see below, I took liberties with several aspects of the scene. I was more interested in capturing the feeling than producing a replica.
There's about half an hour to 45 minutes work in this. I used a standard Photoshop stipple brush (and forgot to change the angle jitter setting) for this one. I usually use a custom brush from Chris Wahl but was almost finished before I realised what I'd done (I work zoomed out, so the stippling doesn't show).
My digital process almost exactly matches the way I work with oils - but I don't have to wash brushes when I'm finished - and I don't ruin another shirt or get paint on the carpet!
Friday, February 24, 2012
Summer Shadows - landscape in oil
Here's my latest painting.
(Summer Shadows. 40x30cm oil on board. © Andy Dolphin)
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Summer Shadows - animated landscape
While looking at photos of my last painting, brilliantly titled "Farm Track", a cropped version of it caught my eye.
I liked the cropped image so much, I grabbed a hand saw and cut the top and bottom off the original!
Not really.
But I did cut and prime myself a new board and created a whole new painting using the cropped horizontal format. I've made an animation of the stages and will post the final image as soon as I can get a properly lit photo. The animation image is about 2Mb so it might take a little while to load.
To do this painting, I cropped the original photo of the scene and painted from that without referring to the previous painting at all. I wanted this to be a painting in its own right and not just a copy of the previous painting. Now that it's done, I think it's turned out faithful to the first painting but quite different in the detail.
I liked the cropped image so much, I grabbed a hand saw and cut the top and bottom off the original!
Not really.
But I did cut and prime myself a new board and created a whole new painting using the cropped horizontal format. I've made an animation of the stages and will post the final image as soon as I can get a properly lit photo. The animation image is about 2Mb so it might take a little while to load.
(Summer Shadows animated stages. © Andy Dolphin)
To do this painting, I cropped the original photo of the scene and painted from that without referring to the previous painting at all. I wanted this to be a painting in its own right and not just a copy of the previous painting. Now that it's done, I think it's turned out faithful to the first painting but quite different in the detail.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Farm Track (Evening Shadows) - landscape in oil
Here's three stages and a close-up of a painting I did yesterday.
This draws on all the experience I've gained doing outdoor sketches in the last couple of years, combined with my love for farm tracks, grasses and trees.
I am really pleased with the way the abstract brush strokes fall together to create a believable scene that I think would be familiar to a lot of Aussies.
The title is temporary. If you have a suggestion for a better one, feel free to let me know in a comment.
UPDATE: I've settled on "Evening Shadows" for the title. A few minor adjustments were made later but I didn't get a photo. Sorry.
Initial under-painting.
Half-way there.
(Evening Shadows. 40x60cm oil on board. © Andy Dolphin
SOLD )
SOLD )
Detail
This draws on all the experience I've gained doing outdoor sketches in the last couple of years, combined with my love for farm tracks, grasses and trees.
I am really pleased with the way the abstract brush strokes fall together to create a believable scene that I think would be familiar to a lot of Aussies.
The title is temporary. If you have a suggestion for a better one, feel free to let me know in a comment.
UPDATE: I've settled on "Evening Shadows" for the title. A few minor adjustments were made later but I didn't get a photo. Sorry.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Scattered Showers
My latest painting shows summer showers passing over the Porongurup Range.
(Scattered Showers. 70x37cm oil on board. © Andy Dolphin)
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