Photographing my Work

Every artist knows that you need to have good, high quality photos of your work if you hope to attract any attention online. This applies to:

Your website.
Blog.
Social media.
Physical mail such as postcards.

We all know this, yet it's hard to get good advice. I am no expert, so I'm merely passing along what I've learned from scouring the internet and talking to professional photographers. So, consider this post a quick source for where to find some useful information, via the following links:

https://expertphotography.com/photographing-artwork-tips/

https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/photographing-artwork

In the photo at the top of this post, you can see how I followed the advice. I bought two Neewer softboxes from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017D7W57S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) which cost $90. They were well worth the price: very bright daylight-style bulbs, can go up to 7 feet high, and they have an opaque covering over the front to diffuse the light.

Then I set up the lights at either side, at an angle of roughly 45 degrees. Some of my paintings are very reflective, so I adjusted the position of the lights as necessary, until it reduced the glare on the surface of the painting.

I have a digital SLR camera, but it's nearly 10 years old, so in the end my Galaxy S10 phone had a better camera. AS you can see in the above photo, I also have a ring light with a camera holder at the centre. This meant I could fix the camera-phone in position, set the camera to shoot on a timer, then step away to reduce any camera shake.

Result: good, high quality photos which I am already using to update my website and to put together an online exhibition.

Finally, here is a setup I used to shoot some ceramic sculptures:

Restoring my Printing Press

I've just finished restoring and assembling my large etching press -- a six week process involving lots of rust removal, scrubbing with steel wool, and repainting. Here is a photo of the same kind of press from the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative: And here is a short YouTube video of me testing the press, making sure the motor still works after nearly seven years of lying in storage:

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Brancusi in Plastic

Artist Mary Ellen Croteau is showing these columns made from recycled plastic cartons and lids in the window of the Columbia College bookstore on Michigan Avenue. They are a playful homage to Brancusi's "Endless Columns", with a serious environmental message for our times: Image copyright Inhabitat.com and Mary Ellen Croteau Mary Ellen also runs a wonderful experimental art gallery in a window space in west Chicago, called Art on Armitage . I will be exhibiting a mixed media piece there during August 2012.

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How to etch a linoleum block

Linoleum as a material for printmaking has been used for nearly a hundred years now. Normally, you cut an image out using special gouges similar to woodcut tools, cutting away the lino around the image you want to print. This is called relief printmaking, because if you look at the block from the side, the material that remains stands up in relief from the backing material. You then roll ink with a brayer over the surface of the block, place paper over it, and either print by hand or run it through a press. You can do complex things this way (for example, reduction linocuts), but the beauty of the process is that it is quick, simple, and direct. Incised lino block, from me.redith.com Etched lino block, from Steve Edwards A few years ago, I saw some prints that were classified as coming from etched linoleum blocks, and I loved the textures I saw in them. In the last few months, I've been trying to use this technique in my own studio, learning about it as one does these d

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Praeterita

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