The Benefit of Using Mini Reference Photos

'Change in the Air'          8x10         pastel       ©Karen Margulis
available $145

 I like mine small. Very small. In fact I like them so small that I can hardly see them especially with out my readers. I'm talking about reference photos. I am not anti-tablet or iPad but I do prefer a physical reference photo. But I want them small! This is my guiding principle when using photos.

The less you can see the more you are free to interpret what you do see.

Contact sheet of reference photos

That is why I like my reference photos small. I only want to see what is important. I can see the big shapes or maybe a color that excites me. I can see patterns of light and dark. Seeing the big shapes of light and dark form the bones of a strong painting.

I may not be able to see the tiny details but that actually allows me to concentrate on what is important. I won't get caught up in painting detail too soon. It won't allow me to put in more detail than is needed!

The reference photo used for this painting 3x2 inches!

Painting notes:  8x10 on Walllis warm mist discontinued paper. :(  with an assortment of Terry Ludwig pastels.

NEW ON PATREON TODAY! I have posted a new video demo of an intimate autumn landscape. This video is available to patrons who pledge the $4 a month for expanded content. Have a look: www.patreon.com/karenmargulis

The Joy of Revisiting Old Subjects

'Jewels of the Meadow'         11x9        pastel        ©Karen Margulis
available $150

Do you remember photo albums? Perhaps you still print your photos and put them in an old school album. I haven't done that in years! Instead of albums I have been making books with my photos when I get around to it. I love the books but there is something special about looking at memories in a photo album.

I am finding all kinds of treasure in my studio clean up. Today I came across a photo album of a family trip to Nantucket and Maine. It might be the last 'real' photo album I put together. It was the last family trip we took before the kids went off to college. We would take a big road trip every summer and saw much of the USA together. For this last trip we let the kids decide where to go and they chose to return to Maine.

an old school photo album! That's us in the photo on the left.

 I flipped through the album enjoying the memories of a wonderful trip. There were a few photos that I had already used as painting references. But it had been awhile....12 years ago when I was new to painting! In fact one of them was probably the first wildflower painting I ever tried. I decided to revisit this old friend and paint it again.

Reference photo for today's painting

• It was fun to see that I enjoyed the same point of view in my old photos....looking up through the grass! I was able to relax and enjoy this subject and put to use the things I have learned over the last 12 years.

• I knew that I needed to override the information in the photos this time to create the illusion of depth. I made the distant trees lighter and cooler than they were in the photo. I adjusted the greens in the grass using lighter duller greens in the distance.

• I had fun designing the placement of the flowers to create a visual pathway back into the distance. When I first painted this scene I was very literal and copied the flowers exactly as they appeared in the photo.

•  I was also able to use new and better supplies. I didn't have the wonderful Yi Cai pastel paper or the selection of pastels that I now have. A combination of Terry Ludwig and Diane Townsend pastels made painting a pleasure. I was able to achieve the marks I wanted because of my tools. 

closeup detail

Even though I have painted this scene before there are many more photos in this album that I have not yet painted. Looking at them brings back great memories that I would love to paint!  

Do you have an old photo album filled with treasures? Would they be inspiration for new paintings? 

painting notes: 11x9 on Yi Cai sanded pastel paper with an assortment of Terry Ludwig, Diane Townsend and Nupastels for the grasses.

A Tip for Working with Reference Photos

'Greeting the Morning'           8x10       pastel       ©Karen Margulis
available $145

I was excited to get home to have a better look at my pictures. I just spent a wonderful week in Chicago visiting my kids and grandkids. It was all about quality Grammie time but I did manage to get some reference photos of some of my favorite places in the area. There are several parks and gardens that I like to visit and this was the my first summer visit. The wildflowers were starting to put on a wonderful show! I took hundreds of photos. Now what?

I usually work from my reference photos in the studio but I am old school and like to use printed photos. I don't enjoy working from my iPad because the photos are too bright and in focus. I can see every detail in perfect clarity. You might think this would be a good thing but for me it isn't.

If I see the detail I am tempted to paint the detail. I would rather interpret a bad photo than copy a perfect one. This allows me to make the subject my own.

inspiration from my trip

 One of the first things I do when I return home from a trip is print out a few photos. Since I take so many pictures I don't want paper copies of all of them.

• I load them all on my iMac in the Photos program. Then I scroll through and click on the photos that catch my eye. I try to choose 10 to 12 photos. 

• I then print them as a contact sheet using regular inkjet paper. Each photo is about 2x3 inches.

• I cut the photos apart leaving a small border and put them together in a labeled envelope. I try to keep categories of photos together.

• Next I shuffle through the photos. Usually one will speak to me and that is the one I use!

• I will usually go through the pile of 10-12 photos for a week or so until I feel like I have exhausted the subject for the moment. The photos are then filed for future use.

close up of the flowers

TIP:  Try Paper photos!  I enjoy scrolling through photos on my phone and tablet but there is something about holding the photo indoor hand that brings me closer to it. It is easier to hold a small paper photo to study it. I like to take my time to make thumbnail sketches from the paper photos. It is also easier to clip a small paper photo to my painting board. I like leafing through paper photos when I am looking for inspiration. I like to feel and touch of paper over the brightness of a screen.

A Tip for Working From Reference Photos

'Just Add Green'             9x12        pastel        ©Karen Margulis
available $125

I have over 50,000 photos on my computer. They are all mine. I love taking photos almost as much as I love to paint. So I only use my own photos when I paint. I have plenty to choose from. When I am looking for inspiration I will scroll through my folders until something speaks to me. It could be a marsh...it could be a desert or maybe a flower. I then choose a few more and print them out on one piece of paper. I make the photos contact sheet size (about 2x3). I cut them amoart and use these photos as inspiration.

No I don't use an iPad or tablet or computer screen to view my photos. I prefer my badly printed tiny photos. I don't want to see every detail in bright glorious color. Instead I want the freedom to interpret the photo. I can't see details only big shapes in my photos. That allows me to use the photo to transport me back to the place and time. I can then put my memories to work to help me interpret the photo.

TIP: Whether you work from tiny photos or big ones on a tablet it is important to analyze the photo before you start painting. Study the photo and look for things that can be eliminated or changed. Look for things that aren't true to life but are just the result of the camera. Make notes. Don't be a slave to your photo instead let it gently guide you.

my reference photo

I used the photo above for today's painting. Here are some of the things I changed.

• The sky is overexposed so I added more color to the painting and made it a soft blue sky of a slightly overcast day.
• I changed the colors in the grass to give more depth. In the photo it is all the same color and value. I changed it and exaggerated a change of colors to add depth to the scene.
• I changed the flow of the creek to direct the viewer into the distance.
• I changed the distant buildings and added a few tiny suggestions of houses in the distance.
• The flowering bush was great but I spread it around a bit so it wouldn't be so isolated.

How to Use a Bad Reference Photo

'At the Edge of Forever'                 11x14                  pastel              ©Karen Margulis
sold

I'm not sure what possessed me to use this reference photo. It was a bad reference photo. It was beyond bad. It was downright terrible. It was underexposed. It had so little color it might as well have been black and white. There were several bushes and tree limbs in awkward places and a jumble of docks and boardwalks. I couldn't make heads or tails of them and without my glasses I couldn't even see them.

I decided that the photo is so bad it is good. It is actually a great reference photo if you have a different attitude towards reference photos. I actually prefer bad photos. Bad photos free me to interpret the scene in my own way. I can only improve upon it!

There are two important considerations when using poor reference photos:

• The photo needs to have good bones. It has to have some possibilities. I ask myself if the photo has good shapes? Interesting arrangement of shapes? Interesting color? Is there enough information for me to use even if I have to change some things? And am I comfortable making the changes?

• The photo has to be mine. If it is mine then I am able able to recall the moment the photo was taken. I can call up all of my senses and use my memories to infuse my painting with authenticity.

Take today's bad photo. It is my photo. I very clearly remember the place and time I took this photo. It was a special week in a wonderful place with my best friends. We were only at this spot for an hour but I remember it as if it was today. 

Since I can recall it so vividly I am able to make the changes to the photo to better reflect my memories. It was a bit chilly and overcast but bright at the same time. I remember the trees dripping with moss. They had layers of subtle but beautiful colors.  The docks and boardwalks are not important. I remember the trees and their colors and reflections. Here is how I went about interpreting the photo:

The underpainting done with a turpenoid wash on Uart paper

I decided that a turpenoid wash would be a perfect underpainting technique. This would allow me to start the painting with bold and rich color. The drips would help me suggest moss and reflections. I chose to use a creamy yellow in the sky and water which would be the base for the soft glow I wanted.
Once the underpainting was dry I began with the pastel, darks first then the sky and water and then the trees. I spent time working on the negative spaces in the trees trying to give them interesting shapes.

Have a look at your reference photos....don't throw away the bad ones. Spend some quiet time recalling the moment....paint that moment!

Three Problems Found in Reference Photos

'The Other Side of the Island'             8x10            pastel             ©Karen Margulis
purchase this painting $125

Photos can inspire wonderful paintings. Photos can also lead to bad paintings. They are loaded with things that can create problems if they are copied into a painting. Sometimes they are obvious but sometimes they are sneaky. I am always on the lookout for these potential problems.

There are three things that I have found to cause the most problems in a painting. The photo below is a good example of all three!

Bad color, too sharp and needed elements

•  Photos don't always capture true and accurate colors. Often the typical point and shoot camera set on auto doesn't capture the subtleties of the colors in the landscape. Green is a typical example. Often photos of green landscapes show the greens to be the same color and value from the foreground to the background. If we copy this color it can lead to a flat landscape with no depth or atmospheric perspective. Photos also sometimes don't get proper exposure for the darks and lights in the same picture....this leads to overly light skies and shadows that are too dark. My photo has all of these issues...lack of true colors, no change in the greens, darks too dark and lights too light.

• Cameras record things as they are, not how we see them. The resulting photos often have detail and clarity everywhere. In reality our eyes focus on only one thing at a time the rest is out of focus (we don't even realize this unless we stop and focus on one thing and try to see what is around it)  If we paint everything in crisp sharp detail it doesn't feel natural.  If I want to have depth in my paintings I have to over ride the photo and make sure things in the distance have less detail than things in the foreground.

• Photos often include elements that don't translate well in a painting. There are often things that are better left out. I call these things 'half trees'. These are objects that appear unnaturally on the edges of a photo...maybe half or less of a tree or bush, or maybe an overhanging branch.  I ask myself if the element needs to be in the painting (hold my thumb over it) If it does I make sure I put in more than half. Most of the time I leave it out.  My photo has a branch coming in on the left and a big weed sticking up from the bottom. I don't need either element.

first version of the painting

Painting Notes: 8x10 on gray canson. I started the painting with colors close to those in the photo. I found them to be too dull I didn't get as much depth as I wanted. I did leave out the branch and weed! I decided to spray the painting with workable fixative and add another layer of more intense colors.

Studio Tip for Organizing Reference Photos

'A Quiet Spot'               11x14               pastel                ©Karen Margulis
available $155 click here to purchase

 It's time to get organized!  Being organized allows me more time to paint. One of the things in my studio that is in need of organizing is my stacks of reference photos. I print out my photos on copy paper and file them by subject in a photo box. But they get messy so quickly and I never want to take the time to file the photos I have taken out. By the end of the year (yes I let it go for a year!) I have piles and piles of photos ...too many to go through. It  makes it hard to decide what to paint and I waste so mush time mindlessly flipping through photos.

This year I am starting a new system. I prefer using small 3x5 and 2x3 photos that I print myself on cheap inkjet paper.  These little photos were too small for my big box and they were getting lost.  I was thrilled to find small plastic document envelopes by a company called Doc-it.  They are perfect for organizing small photos. The envelopes measure 5x7 and come in clear colors. Mine have a string tie but one of my students found them with snaps. They also come with a label though I just use a piece of artists tape for my labels.

I found my envelopes in my local grocery store. Here is a link to a source online

These envelopes are inexpensive (under $1) so I can have one for all of my favorite subjects. I will be filing these plastic envelopes in a box with cardboard tabs with the subject category. I'll share a photo when I get to this point.  This system will allow me to narrow down my painting ideas without being overwhelmed by too many choices.

Question for you:  Do you use paper photos or do you paint from a tablet, phone or computer? There is a great discussion on this subject on the Pastel Society of America's Facebook Page. Head over to Facebook to read all the opinions and advice. If you are on Facebook I'd love for you  to 'like' my art page. You can like my page right here on the blog...look for the like box on the right!

Painting notes: I used my planning sheet to decide on the format and design of this painting. It is on Uart 500 with an alcohol wash. I used a variety of Terry Ludwig pastels.

Finding the Right Reference Material for Painting

'Wandering'          12x18                pastel            ©Karen Margulis
painting available here $165 

 I used to spend hours on what should have been a simple task. Finding and preparing my reference photos for my paintings was a process. First I would spend hours going through online sources. I used the Wet Canvas Reference Image Library. Then I would narrow it down to a few and print them out....at least 5x7 on photo paper. They had to be big so I could see the details.

Not anymore. Not only did I waste ink and paper printing out large photos, I did myself a disservice. I wasn't painting things that meant anything to me. I was painting things that looked nice or looked easy enough for a beginner. My paintings lacked something....they lacked Me!  I now work only from my own reference photos and my paintings have become my own.

I encourage my students to work from their own photos but the biggest question I get from them is "How do I know what to take pictures of?" Great question for all of us who work from photos and the answer requires some contemplation on our part.

My tiny reference photo and the underpainting....alcohol wash

It seems like the answer is easy. Just go out and take pictures of things you like. First you really have to figure out what you do like. You may have a lot of different subjects that intrigue you. But stop and think about what really gets you excited.....when you see it you immediately want to paint it. It doesn't have to be a thing, it can be a quality or maybe a certain mood. It can be intangible but you need to identify what that something is.

The things that cause us to stop and pause are a clue to our passions. These are the things we will paint the best. These are the things we should look for when collecting reference photos.  Here is a good rule of thumb.....if something makes you stop, if it makes you smile,  take a picture if you can...or remember it and sketch it. Try to record it and take note. These are clues to our personal vision. Gather these clues and use them when you paint.  Here is a quote that reminds me to do this:

"The things you are passionate about are not random, they are your calling"

                Fabienne Fredrickson

Some artists prefer to work only from life. I do as well but I also enjoy working from my photos. I remind myself that they are clues. They are not meant to be copied. In this way they help me. I took many liberties with today's painting. The photo reminded me of things I liked. I made the painting my own.

Choosing the Sky Color in a Landscape Painting

'Autumn Warm Up'             8x10            pastel             ©Karen Margulis
sold

 Which comes first, the sky or the land?  Do I choose the sky color and key the land to fit? Do I paint the land and then choose a sky color to work with the land?  When working from photos I have the freedom to interpret the  landscape however I see fit.  I could make it sunny or perhaps I want a moody feeling. This is why I like bad reference photos.

Bad reference photos give me permission to make changes.

A bad reference photo often has problem with the exposure. Often the lights are too light or the darks are too dark. Especially when there is a big contrast. Cameras don't always do a good job exposing both the lights and the darks in the same scene.  I don't mind overly light overexposed (blown out) skies.

my bad reference photo with an overexposed sky

When the sky is overexposed I can choose the sky color to suit the mood I would like to portray. If I want to be true to the photo I can recall what the sky might have looked like. There are always visual clues in the photo to help. Take the photo for today's painting. The brightly lit distant marsh suggests late afternoon. The sky would not be cloudy or even overcast. It would have warmth and perhaps be a soft gentle blue.

I decided to use a pale blue with some light warm peach and yellow at the horizon since the sunlit grasses were going to be a warm orange-yellow. This ensures a relationship between the sky and land.

• Whether you choose the sky color first or develop the land first make sure there is a relationship between sky and land. I usually make sure to relate color in land and sky. I want to be sure I don't look like they would be two separate paintings. 

How to Have Fun Painting from Reference Photos

'Wishes Do Come True'          12x12           pastel             ©Karen Margulis
painting available here $150

 Reference photos don't need to be perfect. The day I figured that out, a whole new world of painting possibilities was opened for me. Like many I always tried to find a great image to use for a painting....the composition, colors,  lighting all had to be just right. The photo had to be large and in focus. Looking back, having perfect photos actually stifled my ability to be expressive with my painting. I was all consumed with copying the photo...exactly. It often resulted in a stiff and boring painting.

I don't search for the perfect reference photo anymore. I am FREE!  I prefer blurry photos with washed out color. I am free to move things around, change colors, add and take away elements to make a better painting. It is so liberating.

Today I tried something with reference photos that really allowed me to have fun and reach inside my own imagination to create the painting. I combined two unrelated photos. Give it a try for your next painting! Here are some tips:

The reference photos I used for my paintings. Thank you to my  friend for the photo!

'Dandelion Wishes'           6x6         pastel  sold

 I wanted to use a photo that a friend shared with me.  I usually work only from my own photos but I loved the feel of the meadow with the distant mountain. To make it my 'own' I printed out one of my dandelion photos from Iceland. I loved the  light in the dandelion picture and I imagined what the painting would be like as a field of dandelion puffs rather than the daisies in the first photo. I put the two ideas together.

• Choose elements in the photo that you want to keep and choose elements from the second photo that you wish to add. I liked the distant trees and mountain in the first image so I expanded these and added the dandelion puffs.

• Pay attention to light source and direction of light and shadows whenever you are making changes. You can change the time of day/lighting just make sure you are consistent and that it makes sense. Ask yourself "Where is the light source? Are my shadows going in the right direction? Does this element look like it is in the same place or does it look out of place?" 

• Rely on your imagination and your experiences to tie your images together. You don't need to copy something to say something...Use your own Words!

Painting notes: Both paintings done on gray Pastelmat paper with a selection of soft pastels, mostly Terry Ludwigs and Great Americans. No underpainting.

Why You Should Use Your Own Reference Photos

'Maybe Tomorrow'                  18x24             pastel           ©Karen Margulis
available for purchase $350

They came to this spot every evening at precisely the same time. They had been coming for 30 years. They used to walk hand in hand now they arrive every night on a golf cart. They park and they wait. They wouldn't miss it for anything. Even if the sky was dark and gray, heavy with clouds they still came.  "Sometimes the most dreary of days ends in a beautiful sky when the sun sinks behind the trees" he told us.

So they came and they waited.  We decided to come one evening. We had been told this was the best spot on the island for the sunset. Even though it was gray and dreary we thought it might be worth a try. That's when we met them. And they told us that in their travels around the world nothing could match the sunset from this magical spot....home for them.

We didn't get a sunset that evening but we did make a memory. We met people who appreciated the quiet beauty of day's end even without a spectacular sunset. This painting is my tribute to that evening.

close up detail....a variety of marks

I have a photo of this evening....the non sunset. The photo reminds me of the hour we spent standing at the edge of the river, batting away the mosquitos as we waited along with the regulars and a friendly tabby cat.  When I use this photo as a painting reference  it allows my painting to have a story. It means something to me. It evokes strong feelings and memories.....feelings I can express in the painting. Only I can tell this story.

When you use photos that you didn't take....borrowed from image libraries or magazines or friends....you don't know the story behind the photo. You can copy it maybe even interpret it in your own way but you can never feel it the way you would if it was a photo of your very own memory.

Your paintings deserve their own story. Make a commitment to use your own photos.

Today's painting was the end of session 18x24 demo I did for my Wednesday morning pastel class. Thank you to a great group of artists!  (Uart 600)

How to Deal with a Common Foreground Challenge

'Some Distant Island'             8x10          pastel             ©Karen Margulis
available for purchase $135 here 

Foregrounds should be easy.  It's the rest of the painting that requires the work and thought. All we need to do is put in some grasses and stuff and we have our foreground!  Wrong!  Foregrounds can be challenging.  If you have too much stuff you can create a barrier or fence keeping the viewer from entering the painting. If you don't have enough stuff you have a boring space that can take away from the rest of the painting. It's a balancing act.

A common foreground challenge occurs in a landscape with grasses....marshes, meadows, prairies, fields.  Often the reference photo shows a dense area of grass....lots of blades of grass marching across the foreground forming a fence of grass.  See my photo below.

If we fall into the mode of copying the reference exactly as we see it we might end up with a solid band of grass across the bottom of the painting.  If we take it even further and paint many blades of grass we might end up with a fence of grass.  This fence is a barrier. It makes it difficult for the viewer to move into the painting to see what is behind the fence.

What can we do to avoid the fence?

• We need to give ourselves permission to make changes to the reference. Just because the grass is across the bottom in the photo doesn't mean we have to have it the same way in our painting.

• We need to find a way to invite the viewer into the painting. We can create an opening in the grass....a subtle break up of the solid shape of grasses to allow some of the water to flow down. This peek at the water acts as a path for the eye....it invites the viewer into the painting...calling them to follow.

• This path for the eye can be obvious like water or a road or it can be suggested...more about that tomorrow.

This painting is 8x10 on Uart paper with a tonal alcohol wash underpainting. The foreground was created by applying pastel and spraying it with workable fixative...repeated a few times until I got the shapes and detail I wanted.

A Tip for Making Reference Photos Better

'The Field Where Dreams are Made'              11x14          pastel        ©Karen Margulis
click here to purchase $175

 The photo didn't do it justice.  It didn't capture the colors in the grass. It certainly didn't capture the emotion I felt when I came upon this magical place.  This is one of the reasons painting from photos can result in paintings that don't have the magic in them.  Copies of poor reference photos can easily result in poor paintings.

So what is a painter to do?  What if you can't or don't care to paint  en plain air.  What if you take bad photos?  I actually like bad photos because they allow me to interpret the scene with more freedom. But sometimes it is nice to have interesting photos that help this process along.

Why not alter your photos and make them magical?

Look at the photos above.  The top photo is the original photo. It is dull and washed out. It would make a boring painting if I copied it. The photo doesn't make me say 'Wow' which is how I felt when I took the photo.  So I decided to play with the photo and make it more interesting and painterly.

I used the Snapseed app on my iphone.  I love Snapseed. It is very easy to use and you can save your manipulated photo along with the original. I increased the saturation making the pinks more vibrant. Then I used the 'grunge' feature which softened the image and made it appear more dreamy. I love to grunge my photos!  Now the photo is more like my real impression of this dreamy place.

I didn't intend to use the manipulated photo to paint from. I like to play with Snapseed just for the fun of manipulating photos. But it occurred to me that the new photo would make a great reference photo. And it did! See how it simplified all of the grasses?  I plan on doing more Snapseeding on my reference photos. What a great way to move away from copying bad photos!

My first layer (block-in) on Canson Mi-Teintes dark green paper 

The finished painting

 

How to Get More Mileage from Reference Photos

'Big Blue'           12 x 12        pastel       ©Karen Margulis
available in my etsy shop $175

It is so simple. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner. Why can't I remember to do it more often! It is a simple way to make one photo into many paintings!  

Use white artist tape to mask your subject

I saw Desmond O'Hagan tape his photo at his IAPS demo.  I thought it was a great idea but forgot to try it myself. It worked perfectly for my Great Blue Heron painting. I wanted a square format and decided I wanted to focus on the heron's head. I couldn't fit his long body on the paper without making him too small.  The tape idea was perfect.

My subject masked with white artist tape

Imagine the possibilities!  Often we have photos that have several areas of interest. When we try to put all the goodies in one painting it often fails. It is usually better to make several paintings instead of one that is overloaded with information. Taping your focus area will help remind you what the painting is about.

Sometimes a photo will have small gems hidden in an otherwise boring or cluttered photo. Desmond was painting a very busy city street scene. Instead of painting the whole photo he masked off a smaller area which was much more interesting than the entire photo.

Taping a small area of a photo gives you the added bonus of simplification! You can't fuss over details that you can't really see.

• I use white artist tape because it is easy to remove without damaging my photo.

Today's painting is 12x12 on Uart with no underpainting or block-in. I used mostly Terry Ludwig and Diane Townsend pastels.

The Secret to a Good Painting

'Winter Morning III'          6x6         pastel           ©Karen Margulis
sold

 The Secret to a good painting is a bad photo

That might be an over-simplification but a bad reference photo can actually free you up and allow you to be more expressive.  After all you won't want to copy a bad photo....you can only make it into a better painting!

This is great news for us artists who are not photographers. We don't need to get the perfect shot. We only need photos as Memory Joggers. In yesterday's post I wrote about how I use reference photos. click here to read.  My secret is to work ONLY from my own photos.

So often I hear artists say they don't have any of their own photos. So they use magazine images (not a good idea) or royalty-free images. Both of these solutions aren't as good as using your own photos. If you didn't take the photo then you can't replay the scene in your mind.

Everyone can take a good reference photo....because it doesn't have to be perfect!

'Winter Morning IV'         6x6       pastel
sold

Think of reference photos as snippets of information that can inspire a painting. Maybe it is a color or the light and shadow pattern or maybe an interesting tree. Snap a photo. It can be used in a painting. Here are some tips:

• Smartphone camera:Any camera will do. In fact I most often use my iphone camera. If you have a smartphone, get to know it's camera. It is usually always handy for a quick photo.

• Cheap Digital camera: If you don't have a smartphone get a small digital camera and keep in in your bag/purse/pocket when you go out. So many good inexpensive cameras are available. The trick is to get one small enough that you won't mind keeping handy.

• Automatic: There is no need to get involved with all of the settings (unless you want to of course) Most cameras do an excellent job on auto....besides you don't need perfect photos!

• Ipad camera:  Don't forget about your ipad camera. Sometimes I see something interesting and the only thing close enough is my iPad....I get the shot! Don't have an iPad? Now you have a good excuse to get one!

• Printing photos:  If you aren't comfortable with uploading and printing photos don't worry!  I often work right from my camera/ipad/phone screen. The photo is small but even better for me to be expressive. You can't get bogged down with details that you can't even see! Today's paintings are from the photos on my phone.

• Walgreens: If you do want prints but don't want to fuss with the computer you can email your photos from your phone and Walgreens will print them. Some stores have photo kiosks which allow you to use your camera's SD card to print photos. Other store offer these services but I am most familiar with Walgreens.

So get out there and take photos of the things that inspire you. They will lead you to your best work.

Today's paintings are on black Artagain paper by Strathmore. If you are looking for something to do this weekend and would like to try painting a winter landscape consider downloading my Winter demo for $6. Avalailable in my Etsy shop Here

My Top Tip for Painting from Reference Photos

'A Great Day for Sledding'              5.5 x 5.5            pastel on Canson         ©Karen Margulis
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 I love painting from photos.  Most of my paintings are done from reference photos. My students all paint from photos. I do love to paint from life but I am not a plain air purist. I rely on photos.  I  see students struggle with their paintings and most of the time part of the problem is caused by the reference photo....relying too much on the photo for their painting decisions.

Have you ever heard yourself saying "I put 'x' in the painting because it was like that in the photo"?  

Photos have their own issues and if we copy what we see in the photo we often create problems in our paintings...color, value, composition problems are easily transferred if we try too hard to paint what we see in the photo.  Read on for my tip for avoiding this potential problem.

reference photo used for this painting

ONLY USE PHOTOS THAT YOU HAVE TAKEN YOURSELF AND USE THEM AS A MEMORY JOGGER

Think of your photos as if they were video thumbnails. You look at a photo which is simply a moment frozen in time. You took the photo so you were there. You experienced the scene with all of your senses. If you look at the photo you can turn on the video....replay the scene. Try to remember the colors you saw, the interesting shapes, the sounds, the warm or the cool, the breeze, the smells. Allow the photo to take you back. 

Now when you are ready to paint look at the photo and  try to pull out the things that you recall. These are the things you want to put in the painting. Everything else isn't as important. Allow yourself to simplify or rearrange the elements in the photo to best express your scene.

 How did I use this tip for today's paintings?

'The Top of the Hill'         5.5 x 5.5           pastel on Canson
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• I took these photos of kids sledding on my street after our Atlanta snow storm.  I stood back and watched so the photos aren't that clear. The kids are tiny, the colors washed out and the photos are filled with clutter like cars, houses and telephone wires.

• I looked at the photo and I replayed the video in my head. I heard the laughter, the crunching of the ice. I felt the cold air and the warmth of the sun on my face.  

• When it was time to paint I looked at the shapes of the trees and hills and decided how to rearrange them to make an interesting composition. I pulled out some of the color I saw and enhanced it. 

• I put the photo aside and allowed the painting to develop from my memory. I made it personal and not a copy of a bad photo.

You don't have to be a good photographer to work with your own photos! Tomorrow I will post more about gathering your own reference photos.