Last blog of the decade

WOW - where did THAT decade go.

I had a few things to say yesterday but . . . . GONE.

We're taking Blake in to the vet today for a spa treatment (meaning nail clipping and grooming and a rabies shot) and I'll brew my End of the Decade Stout today. Sorry Aduba - your IPA went belly up - I think it was the last of the evil bugs beer.
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So I'll ask your honest opinions on some photos. I've been playing around with some new software to see if I should purchase it. The problem is I have to remember it's just another tool in the photo tool kit and I should not lean on it.

The 2nd problem is I am now obsessed with Impressionism. More on that later. The new look/feel was applied to some older photos.

Rainy Day in MadisonI went to the library to get the book "Encounter With Tiber" by Buzz Aldren and while there I saw some huge books of Impressionist paintings . I've never taken any art classes and have no formal training so these books were an eye opener. I LOVED it and realized all the art that catches my attention is Impressionist but I had not realized it.

Moonrise

Any art majors just bear with me here if some facts are not 100% correct. it's only been one day.

The whole Impressionists era was actually partially due to the invention of photography. In the 1860's the "rules" for painting was that you must paint Historical subjects, religious themes, and portraits and if it was not of those subjects you were not allowed to show your work. Also the times were that the images were suppose to be life-like . . . like a photograph. with photographers now taking REAL life-like images like snap shots of normal life, this was intriguing to some artists

Radical's like Monet and Renoir felt they wanted to so something else. To NOT take "photo paintigns" but create something that was more "feel" then realism. it's how they felt when looking at something and not an exact copy.

Since their painting were rejected by the art gallery people they decided to have their OWN art show with thier radical paintings. They painted landscapes (oh my god) and went En plein air ("in the open air") to paint which was unheard off. They could do this because of the invention of paint in tubes!

Well - there show had mixed reviews. The public seemed to like the work but critics were offended.

Critic and humorist Louis Leroy wrote a scathing review in the Le Charivari newspaper in which, making fun of the title of Claude Monet's Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant), he gave the artists the name by which they would become known. Titling his article The Exhibition of the Impressionists, Leroy declared that Monet's painting was at most, a sketch, and could hardly be termed a finished work.

But - I digress . . . .

So I was looking at some photos I had and to be honest not many could be worked into something painterly with this particular process. The QUESTION is, if I made these into canvas products would they be sell-able or does it seem more like a gimmick.

Just a few not, not convert EVERYTHING but another look/feel on certain images.

Comments?

ANYWAY- have a very very safe New Year celebration tonight and get out your winter coats again. Gonna get cold.

Cheers / Peace

Rod