istockphoto

Uploading photos of my paintings to istockphoto.com may turn out to be a better idea than i expected. I only have a couple in istock's Vetta collection, but they're earning a nice little income.

I've probably earned more from them on istock than if i'd sold the originals. Especially the little 5x7 inch painting. That wouldn't have earned >$50 by selling the original. And i haven't incurred any shipping charge.

By taking photos of a painting's progress, i can also avoid the issue of ruining a painting by continually trying to improve it. Jackie always says, "leave it alone!" But i'm not completely satisfied, and it turns out worse than it was. By capturing it along the way, some pre-finished version might be quite sellable on istockphoto.

I suppose people are buying from istock so they can print and hang for their interior design.

Torso

I painted this from a photo i liked. But first I manipulated the photo in photoshop until it was quite abstract. Then i painted from the manipulated photo.

Because i used a long sheet of paper, i think the proportions are a little too elongated. I might squish the height of a photo of my painting if i upload it to istockphoto. Or maybe not?

Bodhi Tree continued

I've added some more squares, trying to fill out the tree's foliage a bit more. Trying to keep a careful eye on balance. It's at the point where it won't give up the stains via my wet lifting technique. So not much can be removed, only added. I think it's pretty much finished. Unless i walk by it and see a gaping hole out the corner of my eye.

I like the painting. Don't "love" it. Perhaps i'll like it more when it's framed with a white matte?

Bodhi Tree continued

Lastnight I worked on the same sheet of paper that seemed ruined on Sunday. I tried to add colour blocks to represent the big areas of leaves on a tree. I wetted the paper and lifted the old paint and painted in the new yellow or blue. I thought this piece was beyond repair, but now i'm quite liking it again.

I think there is too much negative space around the tree in the sky area, but i plan to crop over that area with the matte from the frame i have in mind.

I'm not sure if it's done now? I think i'll have to walk by it and glimpse it, or put it upside down to see if it seems balanced.

The actual painting doesn't have as much pop or saturation as this photo. But it may look better in the photo and i'm going to upload it to istockphoto, so i didn't dial down the colour saturation to make a truer representation of the painting.

Bodhi Tree

I've been asked by Joanie to make a painting. Cool!

Unfortunately i've been having a hard time getting something to be happy about. I initially wanted to do something drippy and fill in all the negative white space thereafter. This is crazy intensive for a big piece. But i spent some time trying it. When i got to the sky space around the tree, i really liked the little dots created from lifting the wet paint with a dry brush. The sky was a similar look as another painting Joanie liked.

So i thought i'd try to extend this wet and lifting technique into the dripped tree area. Perhaps i did it too much? But it wasn't turning out. Unfortunately painting doesn't have an undo button, so i just had to keep going forward. I even got a pallet knife involved with some scraping.

I think this piece of paper is beyond ever reaching a satisfactory state and i'll have to start with a blank sheet again.

Good, Bad, and Ugly

I haven't been painting recently and thusly not posting here. That's the bad.

The good news is Travel Alberta emailed me asking if they can use some of my flickr pictures in their online magazine City Spice. They're going to compensate me with MEC gift certificates. Sweet!

The ugly is my plan to try out the recently discovered time lapse photo feature on Jackie's camera and record a painting session. The lawn needs mowing firstly so hopefully i can get to painting thereafter tonight.

Malaise

The previous post was a speech i gave at Toastmasters. When i did a rehearsal for Jackie, she didn't like it because she says my time management skills suck. It's more like, sometimes i don't feel like doin' stuff. The Toastmasters club seemed to like the speech though.

I think the really true thing from that speech is that you're not going to be world class at something unless you do it full time. Laziness and what i called "lifestyle" eat up too much of the rest of the day.

The art auction is over. The unsold pieces just have to picked up along with the cabbage and write a cheque to the Alberta Cancer Foundation. So i haven't been as inspired to paint.

Sometimes i wonder if i procrastinate doin' stuff because i don't have much to do? That does sound crazy. I wonder if dr. Phil knows what that's about?

Maybe laziness is a function of nutrition? Yesterday i only had a couple packets of instant oatmeal. That probably reduces the old metabolism to that of a hibernating bear.

Maybe i need to set up a reward for achieving some targets? That does sound childish. I'll run it by Jackie Chan and see what she thinks. Better pick up a basket of apples on the way home tonight too.