Artist Statement

 

Painting:

I love to paint  ‘en plein air’ using oils  because I can respond directly on the canvas with the color and lines based on my inspiration and emotion of the moment.  But working in oil paint can limit how far I can go ‘en plein air’.  The oils are slow to dry not allowing for the finishing touches that I prefer to add.  So to this end I work in the studio from memory or photographs to complete the painting as I envisioned. I create studio work from imagination or from my personal photography.  I would never use anyone else’s photograph and I have visited every location and stood in the exact location of every painting I’ve created with the exception of imagined locations.

Photography:

As a photographer in the field, I can have control over the process of taking the photograph with the equipment I chose and the control settings on the camera but little control over the artistic aspects during the image capture with the exception of a few filter choices and shutter speed choices.

My creativity and artistic input mostly starts after the images are downloaded to the computer.  This is where I can control what I want to portray in the image. I am able to infuse the image with the emotional content that I experienced while being at the location where I took the photograph.

To this end I work with many adjustments available to me. I first adjust the global color balance and the global contrast of the image to my taste. I then focus on individual colors and work towards making them the exact tonalities that I desire. Similarly, I adjust contrast so that it reflects the feeling of open, glowing light or of deep, mysterious shadows, according to my memories of the original scene. I also, may use filters to enhance the image, to bring out different aspects for aesthetic purposes.

My goal is not necessarily to create an image that represents something that exists, as is, in reality, in the “real” landscape,  but rather to create an image that is believable, an image of something that one can consider to be possible, even though it may not have looked exactly like the photo at the time I took the image.

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