Hello 

Have you ever taken an out of state workshop? If you haven't, you should take it upon yourself to one day try one. As a workshop student and now an instructor I totally recommend a 2 to 5-day workshop away from your home state. The excitement of spending a couple days away totally concentrating on painting and meeting others that have your same interest is rejuvenating and many times  inspirational. It's also great learning how other people handle watercolor, giving you ideas and ways to possibly use in your own style of watercolor techniques. 

This week I travel to Utica, New York to the Central New York Watercolor Society do a 2- day workshop and on the 3rd day attend a meeting and event where I do a presentation and demonstration....So much fun!

In today newsletter, I talk about reference photos and smart-phones.

November 13th, Lucy Tonyan, Gary Wigman, and myself will be exhibiting some of our new works at The Palette and Chisel Gallery. Click Here for More Info or scroll down

NO CLASSES this Thursday in Libertyville or Saturday at The Studio in McHenry!

Here's to out of state workshops!

David

I can remember back when I was in art school and how much it cost to get all my film developed every time my friends and I would go out on a photo shoot or I would take a trip. When the age of digital photography came into effect, I was flabbergasted and couldn't believe I could take as many photos as I wanted and not have to pay to get prints made. It changed so many things for the artists and not just for their art but also for their promotions and sales. Now most of us have a smartphone with cameras built right in and we have apps that can change and help out those pictures. These phones are a great tool for the artist and can be of such great help in so many different ways for an artist. Below I will list some of the ways that the smartphone camera has helped me as an artist.

1. One never runs out of film. 
    With SD cards now having so many gigabits of storage you can shoot thousands of images. The only thing       you have to worry about is that your battery will hold up to all the pictures that you take.

2. Photo editing right on your phone or tablet
    After you shoot your photos there are so many wonderful apps that can help you if you didn't get the exact         image that you hoped for. Websites like Instagram even let you edit right after you take the photo.

3. Always having a camera with you

    If you carry a phone with you wherever you go then now you also have a camera. This is so convenient for       the artist, one never knows when that one shot will appear where you need to capture the shot.

5. Getting good action shots

    I paint a lot of city scenes and back when I would take shots of the city with my camera people would look         away or try to get out of the shot. These days I disguise my photo taking by pretending to be on the phone         and aiming the phone directly at the people walking toward me. They never flinch and I get a shot of them         walking naturally towards me, making for great action shots that look natural and not posed.

6. Video for when a still shot just doesn't work as well

    Most of these smartphones also have a video camera built right in. 
    If you are at a location where you feel like you would take thousands of shots in a single area, why not take       a video of the area and later you can watch and go frame to frame and pick the perfect still photo.