The Client Experience

It's awesome when someone sees and loves my vision when it comes to my artistic style. My artist's statement is always evolving. I draw inspiration from an amalgam of styles. I love the impressionists, surrealists, academics and French romantics. 

I've heard people say they don't like the early academic and romantic painters - too staid, too boring. I always wonder if someone who feels that way has ever stood in front of an original painting by one of those early painters.

I think the academics and romantics had an other-worldly talent for painting life the way they saw it. Every detail captured thus so. And they did it with a paintbrush!

The first time I went to Paris and stood in the Louvre in front of The Raft of the Medusa by Gericault I was stunned by the grandeur and detail. I had studied the piece in art history in college. But the scale was still surprising. The painting is huge!

The painting was meant to stun. Gericault painted it when he was 27. It was an un-commissioned work. He spent a lot of time researching the event of the shipwreck. He even interviewed two survivors. 

The men in the painting are life-size and even bigger. 

The agony and pain of the moment are etched in every line. The tempest swirls around the men as they hope for rescue. The painting is so powerful, you feel as if you can step right onto the raft.

The event itself was a tragedy and a scandal. The painting was a bit of a scandal when first exhibited in 1819 in the Paris Salon. It received mixed reviews. Gericault died at the age of 32 without knowing what a famous work the painting would become. 

I've always been astounded by the detail captured by the early painters. The realism is photographic before photography existed. 

I dabbled in sketching a lot when I was younger. I still sketch a little now and then. But I was never a painter. But I strive to capture a painterly look within my photographs. I also love pushing the boundaries for a more surreal look. 

I think when someone says they find the academics boring, it's because they want to see conventional boundaries pushed. I understand that. It's what drove Picasso. 

Did you know Picasso could render a perfect academic-style painting before he was 10 years old? All of his different periods and styles were him pushing past conventional boundaries of which he quickly grew tired. 

The Long Way Around

That was the long way of saying, I love when a client sees how my vision works in my art. I have a client right now that loves my beach photos. But she also loves my more painterly photos wherein I push the boundaries of a regular landscape photo.

In the above photo, I played with a subtle blurring of the line between reality and imagination. Or, as the impressionists said, a blurring of reality, but what the eyes see in passing.  

Look at the ocean on a sunny day. There's some reflection of the clouds and the surrounding environment in the water. But it's hard to discern. It can be argued that light is the most important aspect of photography, though one part of photography doesn't live without the other. Light, composition, subject matter - they're all important. 

In the above photo, I was intrigued by cloud reflections in the water. They could hardly be seen in the photograph or in real life.

I love playing with light and noticing the interplay of light with the surrounding environment. 

I played up the reflective aspect of the water for a more painterly look, mixing the clouds with the white water of the surf.

I sent my client about ten photos of the beach. They were different times of day, in changing light conditions, and with differing amounts of creative editing. I can't wait to see which one she chooses. 

Fine-Art Photos as Home Decor

It's so much fun helping people choose one of my fine-art photos for home decor. It gives me so much pleasure to know I've given someone else joy in their daily surroundings. 

My client loves the beach as much as I do. She wants something serene for the bedroom.

I love going through a large group of photos with a client and then narrowing them down, little by little. 

It's hard work. But it's such a great feeling when you hit on the one that lights the client up.

I've been slow in adding photos to the website, but I'll be adding more inventory soon. 

Are you looking for something to brighten a room? Take a look through the galleries. And don't forget about the Augmented Reality (AR) feature. You can hold your phone up to a wall and see how the painting looks on your wall in different sizes. 

Hope you have a great weekend!

See you between the raindrops!

xoxo,
Susan