Saturday, March 3, 2012

Painting Inspiration

As promised... some of my favorite photos for future artwork! Enjoy!


Awesome view of the Eiffel Tower... I actually used this photo for one of my credit card backgrounds!

Definitely would be time consuming but the colors in this photo are so great.


This photo from Kripalu in New York would make a great painting to a retreat room in the house....
you can almost hear the water lapping up against the dock.


A scene from my Cancun trip... this would actually make a wonderful pastel project.
Sunsets look incredible with the softness of chalk pastels.

Yes, another beautiful scene in Paris... sigh.
(Melissa if you're reading this I'm ready to go back!)

A beautiful view from a hill in Prague... also would look great if done with pastels.


Hope you are inspired!

Love,
Michelle

Take More Photos

Welcome to my first post! I have had this empty blog for awhile... trying to think of the perfect first entry but then I realized if I kept waiting I'd never have anything written.

I entitled this post "Take More Photos" based on my 2012 new year's resolution. I used to take tons of photos-- of friends/family and beautiful scenes but I stopped a couple of years ago. How sad! I have almost no documentation of what I have been doing! What that's Ferris Bueller quote? "Life moves pretty fast... if you don't stop and look around for a minute you might miss it." So true!

I use a lot of my scenic photos for painting inspiration. It has been awhile since I have painted something but I have folder on my computer of photos just waiting to be turned into artwork. My last painting was actually for a close friend of mine from med school. In our last year of school we took a two week trip to various European countries. We had a blast, and of COURSE got some amazing photos.

Here is a pic of Melissa and I.... not actually in Europe but we didn't have a ton of photos together because we were traveling alone for the most part.

Anyway, the pic that I based her painting off of was one from Paris. I went to Paris when I was much younger, like 9th grade or so, and Melissa had never been. We were so excited to go! And naturally I had no trouble finding a photo to paint.

This is a simple Metro sign but with the lighting at night I knew it would make a great black and white photo/painting. I love those black and white photographs were one part of the photo is in color... like a red rose on a piano or a bride's bouquet in a wedding photo. Photoshop creates some endless possibilities. I wanted to see if I could replicate this in Melissa's gift.

Below is the final product:
(Don't mind the paper towel in the background... I will try and get Melissa to send me another pic in the frame.) I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out... turning a color pic into a black and white painting wasn't the easiest!

Another painting that I did using a couple photos (this time not mine) was one of Citzen's Bank Park for my fiance's birthday a couple of years ago. He loved the gift but has been bugging me ever since for a Wachovia Bank Stadium painting! :) Here is CBP.... right before warmup since there are clearly no players on the field. My favorite part is the Philadelphia skyline.
There is a little bit of a glare but hopefully you get the idea!

I have some more photos that are in my "inspiration" folder... I think I'll share them in a separate post because this one is getting a bit long! Hope you enjoyed them and this post! :)

Love,
Michelle