What I've been up to these days...

365 Photo Project

I posted a while back about getting a new camera for taking shots for photo reference, of family events, for fun, etc. I've been working at taking better photos with my camera because I want to, it's fun, and it gives me another skill and we can all use those, especially in these hard economic times right? In order to help me focus on that I decided to commit to doing a project 365 for photography. I started back in November and have been pretty good (until the last couple weeks anyway). I've added some of the photos to my etsy shop and a couple of them have even been put into treasury lists, yay!

Here are a few of my favorites:

Ominous Crow
I have learned a lot about crows over the past year or so. The more I learn, the more I respect them. Great and intelligent animals!

I have grown to LOVE squirrels. Due in no small part to this little guy who visits me frequently. (S)he hangs out on the tree outside my office window.

Isn't he the cutest!?

I both want to hug this guy and run away at the same time. He looks HUNGRY!!!
Taken at Wild Animal Safari in Pine Mountain GA. I love this place!

Wild Animal Safari in Pine Mountain GA

The Fungi Convention at Wills Park

This guy flew straight at me the moment I got my camera ready!

The next four images are some of my attempts at HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography. I've been seeing HDR images around and have fallen in love with them. Being a graphic designer/illustrator, as well as a fine artist, HDR seems to be a natural direction for me. I love the illustrative quality of HDR photos with their saturated color and wide range of value. I'm having fun learning about it am trying to get better at it. I've has some horrible results but am pretty happy with how the ones below turned out.

Mushrooms

Horse Stables at Wills Park Equestrian Center

Creek at Wills Park

My Riley. It's quite challenging, I've found, to do living beings in HDR. To get the full value range, you take 3 shots (some people take more) then merge the photos together. If the subject moves the HDR comes out blurry. This is the reason for the not-so-ideal expression I captured here, it was the only pose he was still in for all three shots.

Sophie

The portrait of Sophie has gone home! The painting finally dried enough to scan and package up to send off.

Clubs/Networking

A few years back I was looking for an artist group where people would get together to paint and socialize. It happened that one was starting up at about the same time I was looking so I checked it out. It turned out that the group was more about how artists could sell their work, or at least that was my interpretation at the time. While that is a fantastic thing to get together and help each other with, I just wasn't "there" at that point. My goals have changed a lot over the years so I recently decided to give the group another try and I now think it's going to be a perfect fit. Also, they were talking about adding some group events such as plein air painting around town, etc. which sounds incredibly exciting to me! I plan on joining and I look forward to being a part of this group's future.




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Sophie!

Sophie sounds like quite a character and I was so happy to get to paint her! She seems to go just about everywhere with her people from the beach, to camping trips, to taking rides on a motorcycle! Such a little cutie who's obviously very loved!

Here are the photos of the finished portrait:

Sophie - Detail

Sophie
Oil
16x16

Below are the work in progress photos:

Underpainting

This is the wild and crazy color phase!

In this round I added more detail, lightened up the background, put some of Sophie's natural coloring in, and added more definition to her body.

Here I simplified and lightened the background up a bit, both of which makes  Sophie stand out more. I also added the final touches here and there, refining it until I was happy with it. For this phase, I leave the painting sitting where I will pass by it frequently. Each time I pass, I have an initial reaction and I may or may not see something which jumps out at me which I want to tweak. Once I get to the point where I walk by and nothing jumps out, I photograph it and sent off for approval!

Once Sophie dries, I will paint the sides, apply a certificate and hanging wire to the the back, scan it in, wrap her up and ship her to her new home!


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Major and Tula Portraits

Tula

18x18

Oil

Major

18x18

Oil

Above are a couple of portraits which I've just finished and delivered today. The puppy on top is Tula, a very sweet Rhodesian Ridgeback. On the bottom is Major, an equally sweet German Shephard.

Below are photos of the work in progress and details for each portrait:

TULA

Tula - Final

Tula - detail of eyes

Tula - detail of nose

MAJOR

Major - Final

Major - detail of eyes

Major - detail of nose

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GREAT Photography! Jill Luecht!

My last post was a little about my new dSLR camera and my attempts at taking reference photos. I thought I'd post today about a friend of mine who's a professional photographer and takes FANTASTIC photos, Jill Luecht.

Jill also uses a Canon! :)

Jill is a natural light, on-location, lifestyle photographer as well as a photo editor. You just have to check out some of her photos! She has a facebook page here where she posts about what she's currently working on. She also has a web www.luechtphotography.com where she tells more about herself and the services she offers along with an etsy shop.

How sweet is she!?

Jill currently lives and works in Germany though she does visit the US and when she's here she's generally available for photo shoots. With Christmas coming up I can't help but think what a great gift her photography would be!

Not only does she takes great photos but she can make great photos out of the rest of our lousy ones! So if you take photos over the holidays which you really wish you'd done a better job with, she can make them look like you did! How great is that!? There's nothing worse than thinking you got that perfect shot then realizing it didn't come out quite how you'd thought. It's not very likely you're going to be able to call everyone back to the scene for a reenactment to retake the photo. It's nice to know there's another option out there.

Jill does photo editing for businesses as well as for individuals, you can see examples on her Facebook page and website she does a great job of making something great out of something blah. I also found some of her work here and now I'm really wishing for one of those cupcakes! :)

As a graphic designer I work with photos a lot and if you can't tell already, I'm a huge fan of Jill's!


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I love my new camera!

I simply LOVE taking photos. I took my first photography class in high school and I really enjoyed it. At that time it was all traditional photography with the rolls of film, the dark room, chemical baths, etc. I took my next class in college. As an Illustration major, the importance taking reference photos was frequently stressed. It was still film at that time and I got a Pentax K1000 for the job! I loved my Pentax! Still do, actually, though film isn't very practical anymore so it's been mostly collecting dust for the past 10 or so years while I've gone through a few small point and shoot digital cameras.

While point and shoots do a good job for the most part and have gotten more and more convenient to carry size-wise, I have been longing for a dSLR for quite a while and I finally got one this summer! I narrowed my search down to two cameras, a Nikon d7000 and a Canon 60D. I finally settled on the Canon and I love it! I also love my Tamron 18-270 lens which some may argue doesn't have the quality as shorter focal length lenses, I simply love the convenience of only having to lug around one lens. Also, it fits quite nicely in my snug form fitting case so when I'm playing the tourist I don't need to heft around a camera bag!

Canon 60D with Tamron 18-270 lens and my Mickey Mouse strap purchased at Disney for my Pentax back when I was in college.

LOVE this case by USA Gear which I found on Amazon! It has a small zipper section on the back for carrying things, I use it for money, license, etc though I think it's meant for extra memory cards and such.

This is a photo from Canon's site. One big reason I picked this camera over the Nikon is that flip out screen, on the left, which can be closed with the screen facing inward to protect it. I have screen protectors on everything I own and this feature allowed me to not have to worry about this one. I couldn't be more happy with it!

Here are a couple of my favorites from a trip to a winery a few weeks ago. I will very likely be painting from a few of these.

Very funny and frisky cat at the winery

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Cool Bees Outdoor Fall Market

Custom Portrait Samples 

Last Saturday was the outdoor market at Cool Bees and the weather was just perfect! Well...perfect until the wind picked up and started sending my artwork sailing to the ground. The "perfect" lasted most of the day though so I can't complain!

Me at My Tent

I had a great time meeting people and several very nice people stopped by to talk to me about my artwork and about having a portrait done. I was able to meet and chat with some of the other vendors and get to see what they were selling. Over all it was a wonderful day and I think I might do it again.

Another benefit of participating in the market was that I was forced to get my business cards and brochures done. As you may know, I'm also a graphic designer and have my own business, Bendt Design, so that helps quite a bit. Though, as the saying goes about the shoemaker's son having no shoes...well, I'm also last on my own list so I needed a little nudge. I'm very excited to finally have these done! You can download a brochure by clicking here or on the graphic to the left if you'd like to see it!

Business Cards - 2 sided

My New Portrait Brochure - Download Here

I also learned a few things about how I might set up differently next time. First off, I'd have table clothes, that would have helped everything look a bit tidier. Secondly, I'd have all of the portrait examples up front instead of splitting them up between front and side.

I also learned a few things about tents. To answer my own question, which I had before the event, "yes, there is a difference between them". I got an amazing deal on mine ($54! WOO HOO!) which is officially more of a sporting even tent. As the wind picked up and my tent wanted to go with it I realized that the people with "Festival Tents" didn't have as much of a problem as I did. There are vents in the top of those tents which allow the air to pass through vs to cause lift off. Of courses, festival tents are much more expensive then the one I got so unless I start participating in these regularly I'm not sure that I'll be getting one. Another thing which the seasoned folks around me did was to tie weights to their tent legs, a trick which seemed to work quite well.

Prints Hanging in Cool Bees

A final benefit of participating in this event is that I got myself organized! I now know what I have and where it is! I have added many more originals to my etsy shop and also have some originals hanging in Cool Bees Artwork and Gifts! That means more room around here for new paintings! Yay!

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