You may have noticed that I have put up only a few paintings on my website for some time now. That is because I have was busy renovating our house, and devoted my time to studying. Some of the classes I've taken are not related to art, and some are. The classes have ended now, so I am really eager to paint a lot again.
Oil Painting Class
I've studied a way to paint with oils that isn't as laborious as my usual manner. Basically that means that I blend the colors on the palette, but don't use any black. So I have painted, but most of my early efforts are not up to my standards, so I will not show them. Under the Chestnut Tree is painted in this new manner, which I'm going to use for larger work. For smaller paintings I'm going to continue to paint with pastels, or, if I use oils it will be in the manner of Monet.
Photo and Camera Classes
I got this nifty little camera, a Sony Alpha 7 II, which is a full frame mirrorless camera. I wanted to be able to use its full potential, so I tried my preferred method whenever learning something new -- I read about it... Finally, I came to my senses, and enrolled in several excellent classes which assigned us homework and provided critique of our pictures. It was difficult, challenging, and great fun. I now am able to use the camera when it is set to manual, and know a few tricks. And somehow I ended up with no less than 4 different lenses. Somebody has said that "you date your cameras, but you marry your lenses". We'll see, but I sure love the Zeiss.
Here are some landscape photos I shot for class:
Maybe not prize winners, but very much better than what I could do before taking classes.
Part of what we learned had to do with composing still lifes. As that was relatively easy for me, I could focus on how to frame the shot, depth of field, focus, etc.
Below, the top photo has directed light, controlled by me.
The other two were shot in the classroom, next to huge north facing windows. I -- of course -- worked with light/dark contrast (figs and sherry) and analogous color (tea and lace) which is in a range from off-white to rich tea russet.
Time for some drama:
The mask is backlit with a weak blue light illuminating the shadows in order to get the violets. I couldn't resist forming the bands of the mask into a suggestion of eyes. Note that while the mask is in the vertical center, one large 'eye' is lighter while the other is darker = asymmetry as a subtle effect.
The "Slainte" picture (Scottish, single malt, Whisky, true nectar) is focused on the glass. The light in the photo baffled the teacher, until I revealed that the objects were on a glass table and that I had put a flashlight shining up through it and through the glass in order to bring out the facets of the crystal and the amber of the liquid. This setup might become a painting, painted from life and not the photo. However, I was able to 'fiddle' with the camera so that it captured basically what and as my eye sees. I couldn't do that before class.
Then we had to get creative:
Top left is (obviously) a winter scen, taken from a terrace overlooking Stockholm. During summer, this is an outdoor restaurant. But when the photo was taken, it was in a sad shape. One lamp post has lost its head, and the other is leaning considerably. The photo was meant to depict a story, and I thought of "if you have too much of the creature (drink) taken, you will lose your head".
The phalaenopsis (orchid) is an example of a high key photo, that is, the shot is pushed towards the light end of the scale, in other words a bit overexposed, deliberately so.
The bottom two pictures are what is called "creative photography", and are shot with a longer exposure during which one zooms manually. One can also rotate the camera, or move it around to get fun effects.
When I paint landscapes, I usually sketch a bit, and then take reference photos and work on the actual painting in my studio. That is one important reason why I wanted to learn how to take better photographs.
*) The headline of this blogpost is an allusion to Robert Heinlein's Have Spacesuit -- will Travel. I hope to have delicious adventures with my camera, and the cool lenses.
