How to Turn a Photograph into a Painting: Part 1

Most of my inspiration for paintings these days comes from pinterest. As you can see below, the painting on the top obviously has some resemblance to the photograph on the bottom while still being a unique piece.

 I will show you three easy tips I use for using photos to make good paintings.

Tip #1
Find the essence of the photograph.

Is it the light? Is it the actual objects in the photo? Do you love one part, but wish another part could be a little different, maybe brighter, smaller, different? Decide what is important and what is not. Leave only the parts you love. A painting is never going to be as detailed as a photo. I loved the cabin, but did not really care for the stark,cloudy whiteness of the picture. I kept the general structure of the cabin and tossed the rest in my planning.

Tip#2
Change it

After you have stripped down the photograph to the bare essentials, you have to build it back up again. A cabin cannot be floating around in the middle of the page by itself! I decided it could be nestled in the woods, like my Great Aunt Sophie's house I remember growing up. I love color, so I added more color with a pebble walkway, evergreen trees, and a multicolor shingled roof. Also, attic windows are awesome so I added one of those too. A blue sky and blue tinted snow cheered the scene right up and make it a cheery hideout from the cold.

Tip #3
Tell a story about the piece

Finally, make a painting pop with a story that captures the viewer. I added a shovel, firewood, and smoke from the chimney to make sure that the viewer could know it was a neat and orderly cabin that had a roasty toasty fire welcoming them inside.

As you can see, the finished product, while like the photograph in many ways, is still unique and different. For a while, I felt guilty when using other people's photos for my artwork, but now I stick to Austin Kleon's Steal Like an Artist tips as shown at right. When it all comes down to it, it is impossible to find something truly unique. Everyone got their idea from someone, who got it from someone else... etc. I always try to show credit where its due and hope others credit me as well. Not to be preachy, just don't want to encourage everyone to go out and copy others' stuff without proper respect given.

The other side of this, is the gigantic relief of not having the pressure to find that one thing that no one else has ever done before. I find that most folks don't like things too off the beaten path anyhow. Just off to the side enough to feel like you found something new. They don't want to travel through the yet unseen parts of Alaska, they just want to discover the half-hidden path off the side of their campsite to the gigantic blueberry path. (And it was amazing!)

I have a few more examples of this, but they are all currently being scanned so I won't get them back for a few days. Maybe I will make a part two so you can see how I applied this to a few other paintings.

Also apparently google + is smart enough to make this for me using AutoAwesomeness.

Winter Mukluk Project

I am so excited, just finished my new winter boots! I use this pattern. It took me about 3 months to purchase materials, cut out, and make.

They kept my toes toasty warm in the 10 degree F weather for a trip to the bookstore and grocery store. I plan to make some awesome liners for them soon but for now i am layering on the socks!

I used 4-5 oz Scandinavian elk leather. I'm not sure what the Scandinavian part means, but oh my, the leather was thick and soft and pliable! It was perfect.














I widened the bottoms a little bit because they seemed like the pattern was too narrow for my feet. I didn't adjust the uppers or anything else, just the soles and insoles were widened maybe a 1/4 inch at most around the ball of the foot.

I attached the insoles with Eco Flo Tanner's bond Leathercraft cement. I just bought this at Hobby Lobby. It is a runny Elmer's glue like substance, but it seems to stick the leather together just fine while still allowing flexibility. (The wooden hammer is mostly just looking badass, I used it to help press the leathers together, but probably didn't need a fancy tool to do it)

I stitched them together with artificial sinew, also bought at Hobby Lobby. I have used this in the past and think it works well. 

 

At left is a picture of the completed basic pattern. I wanted them to be Iowa weather worthy, which requires some waterproof soles! After looking around for a bit, I found this awesome Etsy store called shoeology and purchases the Miracle Mold soles.I followed the directions in the video posted from the etsy site. The right picture is the soles that I attached. 

 

I oiled them using leather oil to make the outsides soft and waterproof.Here i have complete one of the boots so far.

 Tada!!

Quart Size Crockpot Wild Rice Soup

My little crock holds just over 4 cups of water... or soup at a time. Finding a recipe suitable for such a small one was rather difficult, so after looking at several recipes for mass amounts of soup, I came up with a recipe of my own!

My recipe involves making a white sauce at the end, so even if your crock is small, you can make about 6 cups of soup at the end.

Ingredients for crock pot:
3/4 cup wild rice
1 diced onion
2 cloves minced garlic
2 chicken bullion cubes
2 small chicken thighs or 1 small breast
1 cup frozen veggie mix --carrot, green beans, corn and peas mix, or similar
1 1/2 bay leaves
1 tsp sage
1 tsp thyme
2 cups water

Add all ingredients to crock pot. Cook on high for 2 hours (or until you have to leave the house or something) and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Add water if it starts to look dry. Try to keep the crock pot mostly full without letting it bubble over.

Ingredients for white sauce:
1 1/2 TBS butter
2 tsp flour
2 cups milk

Melt butter in a stockpot on medium heat. When butter is melted, mix in flour, stirring quickly and constantly so that flour is not scorched. As soon as all is combined, mix in milk. (I used 2%).

Add the soup to the white sauce you just made and heat through. Add salt and pepper to taste.