Explorer

This is the photo I used as reference. You can see that the day was overcast.

I thought the painting was finished when Tom took this photo. Then I realized that I had brightened the painting enough so the lone tree should have a shadow. I also decided to deepen the blue in the sky.

Before I painted the shadow, I made a set-up using props I had on hand...a wire tree I use to teach students how tree branches grow out of the trunk, and Play Doh for the rocks. I set the props up on a table easel, a handy canvas behind them and a sheet of copier paper in front. I set a spot light on the scene and took a photo with my Finepix JZ300.

I took this photo outside in bright sunlight with my little JZ300. If I print the picture on matte photo paper it comes out close to the original but it shows up dark on the computer screen.

If I brighten the painting 5 stops and increased the contrast by 5 stops using Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8, the painting looks closer to the original on the blog.

I brightened the painting by 10 stops, keeping the 5 stop contrast increase. Now it looks more like the original on my computer when I am not on the internet. It is frustrating to reproduce a painting in another medium. And then there is the matter of an individual's eyes. Every person sees differently. What seems close to the original to one person does not seem close to another person.

Now I am reconsidering the composition. Do I want to finish the right side? My goal is to accentuate the lone tree. I was tremendously impressed with its tenuous hold on the sheer rock. If you have an opinion, I would like to have it. I am putting this painting aside for the time being and will work on something else.