I've Added 'Fine Art Reproductions for Interior Decorating' to |Fine Art & Illustration|

If you scroll under my original portraiture and illustration in the Fine Art gallery, you can now see some pieces I've created for the purpose of interior decorating. These are painstakingly faithful reproductions of Japanese fine art pieces from Edo period Japan (re imagined as tapestries) that I've made to add an air of verisimilitude to a Japanese inspired interior. Authentic Japanese antiques are faaaar out of my price range (and The Old Plum is in the MET!), so this was a pretty good compromise for the Japanese art freak on a budget. They were an epic ordeal to make, being gigantic, so here they are- since no one but me and friends would see them otherwise.

The reproductions were created using fabric paint and gold glazed cotton, which was then sewn to a heavy satin border, bag lined and hung. You can see some 'making of' photos in my Fabric Painting 101 tutorial. Counter-intuitively, these mere reproductions were intensely difficult to create- harder than my originals!

Hand Painted Reproduction of Kano Sansetsu's 'The Old Plum' 142cm x 63cm

Reproduction painting before wall mounting.

Reproduction painting after mounting on wall.

Hand Painted Reproduction of 'Early Spring' by Miyata Shizan 30cm x 115cm

Reproduction hanging before mounting on wall (left), and shown on wall with tapestry hanger (right).

I learned a lot by having to so intensely examine the work of these masters, and for such long periods of time. I can completely see why fine art students for hundreds of years were once trained via the method of reproducing masterworks. If you're not a formally trained artist (I hate the word amateur), you could try this technique to hone your skills and have some direct interaction with a Master you admire. I went to art school, but this method of learning seems to have largely been abandoned, and I don't personally know anyone who learned this way. Shame really, not only does it improve your skill and give you a deep appreciation for artists who came before, it's kind of humbling to be hands-on confronted with how badass they were.

Painting a Portrait with Corel Painter, an Animated .GIF of Stages

Corel Painter is a program you can use to create 2D art that imitates analog mediums like oils, watercolor, charcoal, etc. The brushes, mixing palette, paints, and tools imitate the physical feel and qualities of their analog counterparts. I used a self portrait for this example, this painting was an experiment and I had no model. This is pretty much the reason why painters paint so many self-portraits!

It's been a convenient tool for when I want to play around with a new technique and can't make a monetary investment in too-expensive supplies. The ease and immediacy of digital painting has helped encourage a more spontaneous output for me, and willingness to take risks I wouldn't have with physical paints. It's an upfront investment, but it has paid for itself in a very short while. I'm using version 11. The program currently goes for roughly $400/ £300/ €400 new, though it's readily available for much, much cheaper on ebay.

This is an animated gif: watch to see transitions.

Different stages in painting a portrait.

The finished portrait.

As an art student during the very early 2000's, digital painting was just starting to be A Thing. It was predictably controversial among older artists, but it was readily adopted by the young students who had a more pragmatic view of technology. I don't know that digital painting is anywhere near getting the level of respect granted to traditional mediums in the fine art world (could it?), but it's absolutely pervasive in popular art. It has upsides and downsides. But, so does traditional media. Like paint and canvas's prohibitive cost, for example!

When you first start using Corel Painter, you will likely find it a bit overwhelming. So many tools and brushes and functions. But you can get to painting pretty quick, actually. Mastering all of it's tools takes time, like anything else. One thing that does drive me crazy, though: the hotkey commands are all just sliiiightly different from the Adobe Suite. It's maddening going back and forth between those programs unless you change the key mapping.

Good luck to you!

Fabric Painting 101, Illustrated

I put this tutorial together for the benefit of artists and fashion designers who are interested in incorporating painting into their work. Inexpensive and readily available French fabric paints are a wonderful way to combine your two favorite disciplines in a durable and beautiful way.