JaneCzPainting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Summer Rose” is a collaborative portrait created by Clay Blackmore  and me.  I love working with Clay!   We laugh, we sing, we chase dogs around the neighborhood…seriously, we have incredible times together and this was a typical shoot for Clay.   It was my turn to set up the shot and by the time I had it set up and ready to go, Clay had already taken ALL of the pictures – including this outtake, which I LOVE for it’s natural sense of freedom, color harmony and beautiful subject.

I said, “I’m painting this one,” and Clay said, “Please don’t! Everyone will think I’m a TERRIBLE photographer!” and I said, “And they’ll think I’m a GREAT artist!” So, out of the couple hundred fabulous images we did that day, I won out and painted Summer Rose.

Everything we do revolves around the decisions we make and that’s why it’s so important to learn the basics, learn the fine arts, learn the technology – and then keep on learning so you can fill up your bag of tricks with so many options that you have a variety to choose from to make your job easy and your images incredible.

This painting took just about an hour and a half:

  • A quick cut and paste of an arm from another image
  • A quick free transform of the body for a nice diagonal line
  • Auto painting with the Sargeant brush on the background
  • I used the pinch distortion brush to pull out the dress
  • Airbrushing some colors here and there
  • I used the pointed stump blender for the dress
  • I used the tiny smeary palette knife for the hair
  • Last but not least, a bit of detail work on the features of the face, including pulling the eyes more toward camera.

I used Photoshop and Painter, good image adjustments, retouching techniques and painting techniques. If I had to rely upon more limited technology, it would have taken me longer to paint and I would have struggled more to make it look the way I wanted it to look.

Things don’t have to be intense or complicated to be strong and beautiful. This classic approach with a modern twist is so simple, but the 4 foot canvas literally stops traffic because it just came out right.

Thank you, Clay for every time we get the chance to create together and especially for taking ALL of the pictures!

Jane Conner-ziser, August 2009