Paintings? Patrick, I thought your were a photographer!?

 

Well, truth be told, deep down inside I am primarily an artist. When I was a child, I drew with a pencil and a piece of paper - avidly. When I was in high school, it was pen and ink, oil paintings and black and white photography. I guess you could say I was an art class junkie! In college, I spent a great deal of time with both color and black and white photography. I wish I had a nickel for every hour I spent in the darkroom developing my own film and prints in high school and college!

Darkrooms, photo chemicals and light-sensitive papers are a thing of the past. My skills as a painter may have started back in high school, but that is one area of my creativity that has been dormant for a long time. Today, my artistic energy is spent in the world of digital photography and graphic art - I spend an unbelievable amount of time on my computer keeping up on the latest developments in digital imaging. It is my passion and an incredible creative outlet. Sometimes, I feel like a kid with his first set of crayons!!

I am very weary of photographers who offer 'paintings' or 'renderings' of their photographs. Given my art background, I have never been happy with 99% of the painting tools other photographers use on the computer - they simply do not look like paintings to me. Usually, most photographic-based computer paintings are made in a program called Photoshop using a series of "filters". With a filter, you simply open an image in Photoshop, hit a button, and the program 'renders' a static effect on the image. It may sound complicated, but it is quite simple - the whole creation takes about 30 seconds! The process has all the creative input of typing the words "no creativity" on the keyboard - and other photographers charge thousands of dollars for these pieces!! I just can't feel good about that kind of 'smoke and mirrors' art.

 

At the same time, I have seen so many paintings commissioned for thousands of dollars that simply don't look like the people they portray. The lips, the eyes - there is just something that isn't right. It is the chance you take with an artist creating an image on a blank piece of paper - the perspective, or the dimension of the piece is simply 'off'. They are good, but just don't capture the essence of the subject.

 

 

My latest discovery and subsequent adventure in digital imaging is a painting that is actually made with a digital paintbrush ! I transform my beautiful photographs into breathtaking paintings - either oil or watercolor! Each piece is carefully chosen from my best photographs, optimized for large format printing and then the painstaking process of 'painting' the piece using a digital paintbrush and graphics tablet starts. Many hours later, I have a finished proof. Every single brush stroke you see in any of my pieces was made by my hand, not an 'effect' on the computer.

 

The wonderful attribute of my pieces is their accuracy. My paintings start as photographs - only my best photographs. My pieces have all of the creativity, brush strokes, texture and appearance of a painting - with the accuracy of a photograph! Give me a call - I would love to show you one of my pieces in its full size and detail.

Usually it takes about three printed artist proofs to get the final painting finished to my satisfaction. Once that happens, I have the final image printed either on canvas or watercolor paper using the best printers and archival inks available. Once the final painting is finished, it is then treated with a high quality lacquer to preserve and protect the appearance for generations to come. Canvas pieces are then stretched on a frame and the finished painting is presented.

 

Paintings are a service I offer to all of my clients. Newlyweds, families, car owners - just about any person who likes to look at beautiful things appreciates these pieces. I take great pride in my paintings, and most importantly: I feel good about offering these pieces of art to my clients. Take a look at my samples below, give me a call, or send me and email and let me know what kind of art I can create for you. I am limited only by your imagination..

640x570