Monday, September 22, 2008

Silver Bowl of Cherries - SOLD

Click on image to enlarge.

6"x 6" Oil on Ampersand Gessoboard.

Oooh..cherries. These where my first to paint and much harder than expected but a pleasant challenge. I was never completely satisfied with my darkest reds. Maybe after painting cherries several more times I'll get closer to my satisfaction.

This still life is a much more contemporary than my recent works. It was inspired by this strange silver bowl purchased at the local thrift store. I've seen many silver bowls like this and even own some, but this bowl is lined with a lime green enamel finish. I love the touch of green it adds to this black and red painting - just enough additional color to create interest and relief from all that red.

Note: the background of this painting is solid black at the top and on this monitor there appears a light modeling effect. I'm noticing that when I have an image prepared in photoshop, once uploaded to blogspot, the image on my blog looks faded or lighter. I've begun preparing my photos for the blog to look darker than they are so that they will load more visually correct. Even then the image may appear too light. I wonder if others are experiencing this.

8 comments:

Debbie said...

Marilyn, I LOVE your cherries!, and the silver bowl with all it's reflections is just beautiful!!! This is a wonderful painting. I'm sure it'll sell fast!!!

Anonymous said...

Breath-taking!

I know you moving your images to Ken's computer to blog ~ are you looking at the photos on the screen there before you uplaod them? They may just appear lighter on his screen in general.

Is one of the computers a laptop? I won't edit my pictures on ours, because the contrast & brightness levels change so much with just a slight tilt of the screen. If the pictures look good on a stand-alone monitor, don't worry about it.

Marilyn M. King said...

Debbie, I thank you very much and hope so very much (the selling part)!

Tiffany, the image looks good on my computer after I've worked it in photoshop. Then I upload to Kenn's system (which is the same model as mine) and the image looks lighter. Then the image appears lighter still when uploaded into the blog. I'll just live with what I get, but just wondered if anyone else gets lighter photos when uploaded to blogspot. Just curious. Oh, and thanks for the enthusiastic kudos.

Anonymous said...

Another sumptuous painting from you Marilyn. I love the green enamel that sets off the cherries even more.

On the photo issue--there are so many things that could be affecting your photos, some of which have already been discussed. Weird about them getting lighter in blogger though. I've never heard of that.

I do know that I've seen color shifts in my work from Photoshop to the web, though. I think it has something to do with my color profile in Photoshop's working space, which is different from the web colors. One thing I've started doing is to use the "Proof Setup" feature in Photoshop (in CS it's under the "view" menu) and select Windows RGB, which I seems to mimick that shift I see on the web. Once I see how the proofing has shifted the colors, I can make adjustments to the web image if needed. This may not be your issue though. The blogger part has me stumped.

Anonymous said...

I look at this and then I sigh. I see the dedication that you put into your paintings.

Marilyn M. King said...

Jennifer, I understood your first paragraph, the rest, not so much. Thanks for the praise and for the good suggestions on photoshop. I think I need to get the instruction book out to even see what the "proof set-up" is. I've never learned much except what Kenn has shown me and a little experimenting. Remember, I'm an old woman.LOL

Rick, I can't picture you sighing, but I can picture you being dedicated when you are painting, especially when you are standing behind that board! And when you catch those crabs and teach them to stand still so you can paint them and when you make your own canvases and when you take yourself out of your comfort zone to try oils. And when you travel up and down the beach road to catch that next striking view to paint..... That's dedication all the way!

Anonymous said...

Marilyn, Sorry if I've confused you. I know only enough Photoshop to be dangerous, so any attempts to offer you additional information will be like the blind leading the blind. You'll be much better off consulting your manual. LOL!

I am Tyler Nilson said...

You really give life to your work. the first word i think of when i see your still life's is "crisp".. you made me hungry for cherries. i'm going to the store!