Truth is Stranger Than Fiction

I am writing this post on the 48th anniversary of the John F. Kennedy assassination. Being interested in history I am sometimes inspired by it enough to get an idea for a painting. Here is a painting I did, as a student, after hearing about some historical parallels between the Lincoln and Kennedy administrations.

                  “Lincoln and Kennedy” 10x15 inches, oil on board

Truth really is stranger, (and I think much more interesting) than fiction - even the fiction of crazy conspiracy theorists where the Kennedy assassination is concerned.

There is a super piece on the New York Times web site about just that. CLICK HERE and watch the video of scholar and writer Josiah Thompson explain the real story of a figure seen on the Zapruder film, who "wing nut" conspiracy theorists have pointed to for years as being one of the shooters that day - The Umbrella Man.

It’s a great comment on how we as Americans view this historical event on a very different level than other events - And  how truth really is stranger than fiction!

JoeWinklerArt.com

Shooting New Cookies

I’ve been busier than I’d like with graphic design work lately and can only take a moment to share one of the new Holiday paintings I’ve recently done. Here is the re-worked cookie painting that a patron has been clamoring for.

                             Cutouts, 5x7 oil on canvas

Scroll down to the previous post to see the first version of this little painting. A few differences here and there, but basically the same composition, which is what my buyer wanted. Frankly I’m tired of looking at it, but it will be used on the JoeWinklerArt.com holiday card for this year. Sorry to spoil the surprise if you’re on my mailing list, but such is life in the information saturation age that we live in.

I photographed this painting last weekend along with a few others and the resulting electronic files I get are always pleasing.

I almost always shoot my paintings prior to varnishing them because there is less glare that way. I always shoot my work the same way which is with my Canon G-10, out of doors, in open shade, using a tripod, and placing the painting on an easel.

Next, I always set the white balance to cloudy, and use the lowest ISO I can, and the fastest shutter speed I can. Then I’ll put the camera in self-timer mode so the picture is taken without me touching the camera, and freeing up my hands to position any reflectors and things.

And last but not least, I always make sure to shoot a RAW file as opposed to a JPG, which gives me a nice huge, information-packed file to process up really right, big, and good on my computer.

Oh yeah! - Getting back to the graphic design work I mentioned, click here for the electronic version of the latest newsletter I designed for a local hospital client!

Now on to the next crisis...

JoeWinklerArt.com

Random Note and a Photography Sidebar

Here is one of my holiday paintings that was just purchased by a family member.

                             "Cutouts", 5x7 oil on canvas

I just finished an updated version of this for another buyer who really wanted an original of this composition. I don’t have a picture of that one yet, but I will soon. I refined the brushwork a bit and “fixed” a couple things. I don’t plan to make a habit of recreating existing paintings though. I like to come up with new compositions.

Photography Sidebar:

Many folks have a digital camera but don’t know how to use it. Some people have a digital camera and know how use it, but cannot create visually pleasing compositions. Perhaps you are one of the former or the latter.

Being a graphic artist and oil painter, how could I not own several cameras, and shoot a bunch of imagery? Like many other folks I had tons of images sitting on my hard drives and archive disks. So what I did recently was begin processing and uploading all my best images to my new Flickr Photo stream.

Every once in a while I plan to feature one of my photos here, talk about my work flow, and about what makes a good composition and why. So please click here to check out my photos on my Flicker Page and let me know what you think!

JoeWinklerArt.com