What's The Point?

I mean, what do I focus on when I paint something?  I've been zeroing in on two things, shadows and reflections.  I love doing cityscapes.  I began doing cityscapes about six months ago, and I'm hooked.  I love going outdoors to shoot the photos - a lot more fun than setting up a still life in my basement.  I see people running around, going about their day, and I like to speculate about what they're doing.  I love looking for shadows among the buildings or reflections in windows.  Here's one I recently completed of a street in St. Charles, MO.  It's across from one of the galleries I'm in, Missouri Artists On Main Gallery.

                                                      Memories On Main, 11 x 14, $230

St. Charles, MO has a charming main street filled with interesting shops and restaurants.  Throughout the 19th Century, German settlers developed it as a wine region and it became a booming pioneer town. During the 20th Century, residents worked to preserve homes, stores and streets from every period.

                                                     Restaurant On Main, 5 x 7, $150

When you see cityscapes or landscapes, do you like to know where they are located - or not?

Photo Finish!

Well, I know it's an exciting title, but I just want to show you what my finished painting looks like next to the original photo that I took.  I've been very busy painting landscapes lately and I love it!  I went to our local botanical garden last month and took this photo:

It's a building named the Linnaen House after scientist Carl Linnaeus.  The doors open to a beautiful indoor garden filled with gorgeous, fragrant plants.  The pools in front of the house are what caught my eye.  I love painting reflections:

                                                   Garden House 5 x 7 by Susie Tenzer

I keep all of my photo references.  I'll post them from time to time, along with the finished work.

Photographing Still Life Subjects

I'm getting ready to start a new series of work, so I've been thinking about subject matter, color palette and composition.  For me, the photo's the thing - if I have a few great reference photos, I'm set!  I work from my own photos, so I'm learning about how to shoot great pictures.  My latest project was to make my own soft light box so I could shoot beautiful still life subjects.  My new favorite photo blog is Strobist.  There are tons of great tutorials on photography, written in an easy, funny style.  I made my light box from an old cardboard box, inexpensive muslin fabric and white poster board.  Here's how to make it:

It works great!  I have a Nikon point and shoot camera, not fancy at all.  I use either one or two desk lamps on either side of the box (you can adjust light for "tungsten"in your camera menu).  I'm practicing all sorts of cool shots - hopefully I'll take one that will be my next painting.

Flowers, Rain, Macro Camera Shots

I just bought a new camera, a present to myself for my 60th birthday.  Hooray!  I researched cameras for quite awhile.  Have you ever done that?  Wow, too much information!  Anyway, I narrowed it down to two, the Canon Powershot and the Nikon Coolpix.  I bought the Nikon Coolpix L120 on Amazon.  The reviews were great and it was about $50 less than the Canon.  The Canon has a GPS gadget which I think is a waste.  I actually don't care where I am when I'm taking a picture.  But that's just me.  I found a coupon offered by a local photographer ($35!) for a 3 hour class.  Four people showed up for the class at a beautiful park with flowers, water and a lovely building called the Jewel Box.

I learned how to use some of the settings, but the best thing I learned was how to do macro shots.  I thought I needed to get up close to the subject.  I learned I need to stand a bit further away, press the button down half-way and allow the camera to focus.  I never knew that!  I always  just pressed the button down all the way to take the picture, hoping for the best.  Pushing the button down half-way lets you see icons on the screen that tell you the shot is correct.  Here are two of my favorite shots from my lesson that day:

I'm having a great time learning about my camera!  If you're interested in photography, what type of camera do you use and what are your favorite types of shots?