Paper Shadows #4

Mutterings of the Muses:

Simultaneously reminds me of the Footprints poem and a variety of snap-scenes in contemporary Korean film. There’s a sense of loneliness, juxtaposed with a strong companionship. These shadows have a great story to tell! Are they participants or merely witnesses of a crime scene? They do appear both on guard and defiant at the same time, as if waiting to be questioned as we approach them, but not willing to tell the whole story.

Join The Crowd When you design your world with The Artist’s Stuff: Prints, Fashion, and uniquely awesome Decor ideas!

What inspires an artist?

“All they see” is the first and most literal answer.

For me, that is literally hundreds of gallery & museum exhibits, thousands of books, and tens of thousands of images online.

When asked where to start a book collections, I almost always recommend these art bibles: Janson’s “History of Art” OR Phaidon’s “The Art Book” Both give a nice overview with good pictures. Once you’ve discovered what you are attracted to there most, you can then dig deeper into that area. I’ve recently decided to downsize my bibliography and simply suggest you use Google to find what you want, before jumping on a book. Art books, like art tend to be very subjective.

You can visit the ever growing collection of images on my Pinterest account, and f you have the time, feel free to visit my GoodReads library to see a fraction of the books I’ve read; at least the ones I remember and can still be found.

The Materials: Just suggestions on your progress to making masterpieces!

You could use the free “ MAC Photos” program or Picassa and possibly get the similar results, but Photoshop offers you the flexibility of presenting yourself as a pro photographer, like no other program. There’s a reason it’s considered the best of the best, after all. So, this allows you the possibility of selling this service to others and funding more of your creativity

You may choose to get an iMac for the bigger screen, and I couldn’t disagree with the beauty of working with the 24” screen. I picked the laptop, because of the need to be mobile and the flexibility of multi-purposing it to use for client demos. Most of us have become accustomed to mobile device size screens and it is much easier to carry around, so I would jump on using the new iPad Pro, if you can get one.

My first DSLR camera was the EOS Rebel T3. There are vastly superior models now. Canon has a well-deserved reputation of having top rated cameras. It requires a little play time to master it, and that time will be lessened by defining a clear idea of what you want to do with it, then jumping on YouTube for the multitude of How To videos. If you want a smaller camera to carry around, try Canon EOS M10 Mirrorless Digital Camera OR go small & powerful with the Canon PowerShot Digital Camera with 3-Inch LCD & built-in wifi.

For me, the Canon PIXMA MX492 Inkjet Printer has been the easiest to use for cleaning and cartridge replacement. It works reasonably well with recycled inks and the wireless is easy to set-up. The Canon has worked best for me on ink usage. When purchasing printers, always consider the cost of ink replacement. For big reproduction lines, it is better to outsource. For scanning, they are as good as the camera in them. This is one reason I’m a fan of Canon products. It does do a nice job on printing photos on good photo paper, and the black print is crisp and clean, provided you do regular cleanings and keep it dust free.