I like to paint and I like to photograph things.  And I sell reproductions of both my watercolor paintings and photographs.

But people sometimes look at my paintings and say something like...."wow, I really thought that was a photograph".  I never know quite how I feel about this.  Was that a compliment?  Does my work just replicate (in paint) what a photo can do better?  The painting vs. photography issue is, of course, an old one and "photo-realism" in painting has often been awarded second hand status.  Technician vs. artist, etc.   And in the new world of digital photography things get even more blurred.  With a good camera and minimal photoshop skills you can take a nice photo and then "create" a watercolor painting!  Actually, its "easier done than said"!  

In spite of all this I'm still interested in the relationship between painting and photography and I've been experimenting lately with this "mixed-media". 

Here's an example:

I recently did a watercolor painting of river stones, in black and white tones.  I dropped a few "real" partially dried leaves on the painting and then took a photograph of the combination.

Here's the result:

I like how the shadows add color to the b/w painting.  I'm working now on adding "real" objects to a watercolor painting of fallen leaves.  

One often hears the expression “Now that’s a perfect photo-op”!  To overstate things a bit, Sunday, October 30, 2011 was maybe one of the best "snowstorm photo-ops" since the Civil War, which apparently was the last time an early Nor’easter this big hit New England.  Nearly 3 feet of snow in some places!  On the day before Halloween!

Unlike almost 3 million people who lost power due to the storm, I was lucky.  I did not lose power… only cable & internet.   So it was pretty hard to feel sorry for myself when the sun came out on Sunday morning.
I got up early, grabbed my camera and went outside.  The first thing I saw, just outside my front door, was a bed of roses…covered in snow.   I shook them off a little, took a few pictures and went for a walk.

As I walked to the park, tree limbs were scattered everywhere... pulled down by the weight of the snow on the leaves.   In late October we are so used to seeing the leaves blowing across green grass, not stuck in snow and ice.  

Even the green leaves got stuck in the snow before their time.  





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Leaves and limbs are not quite as pretty, however, when they fall in the wrong places. 

Tonight is Halloween.

I guess you never know whether nature will bring a "Trick or a Treat" (or both)!





P.S. 
Internet service is back.  It was nice being “off-line” for a few days!