This is the last installment of our Digital Goes Painting project. Maybe I should mention that this picture of me was a spontaneous snapshot taken by a friend who was just testing a lens, which he then handed over to me – raw files and rights – to use as I wished. I chose it for this project because it’s the only picture that I have ever agreed to have taken and actually liked.

The other week my friend texted me that she had started on this picture but wasn’t sure I really wanted to see it. She said she wasn’t good at portraits.

I said I would definitely want to see it, and she sent me a pic of the black & white painting in the bottom left, still in the making. It only had the head to the left and some of the black bubbly stuff. I was very intrigued and was looking forward to the final work of art.

Then a week later she sent me a step-by-step of the painting on the right, asking me what my shirt colour was. I said black, but she insisted on using colour, so I said dark blue or green were my favourites. Then came the final painting, and again I was amazed.

I love both versions, and I think especially for someone who claimed she wasn’t good at portraits she captured my facial expression perfectly. I expressed the wish to buy both paintings off her. A very happy ending to a fun project.

 

Project four of five – one of my personal favourites out of my everyday details picture collection. I was actually wondering when I sent this to my painter friend whether it was mean, because if I had to turn this photo into a painting I would very likely give up right away. My original seems pretty messy to me, even though it was kind of an arranged mess in the photograph.

When I received the painted version, I was once again very astonished as to how accurate it all seems even though it’s not a detailed 1:1 depiction of the single photographs within the photograph.

The whole painting was done without a single brush stroke – I was even more in awe when I heard that. The background was done with a sponge, and the single photographs were made by pushing the paint with a piece of wood.

 

This is the third installment of our Digital Goes Painting project. The original photo of the cake and cookies was taken by me last year at a food photography workshop, and my friend’s painted interpretation focuses on the cake.

Not being a painter myself, the result is quite surprising, because in my head I saw a completely different painting, imagining a sea of white. Probably better that I stick with the camera 🙂 .

This photo is currently my favourite travel picture, taken on my trip to London in December 2018. I loved how the colours turned out, and again I couldn’t imagine what my painter friend would make of it. It looks like there are thousands of details, plus all the colour, but the painted version looks way simpler while still capturing the gist of the photography quite accurately.

This is the first take my friend did on our Digital Goes Painting project. She sent me pictures of the first steps of painting, and I was immediately in awe. Not having any painting talent myself, I wouldn’t know where and how to begin, so it was very interesting to see she had started out with the background – including the lighter bit that would make the water in the vase – and then the flower heads, without the stems.

Could you imagine something like that hanging side by side at a showing? I’d be interested to know.

A new category on the blog, one that will show pictures that require a little explanation.

The first contribution to this category will be a series from a collaboration project. I have a friend who paints, and she recently approached me asking if I’d be interested in an experimental project.

She wanted to translate some of my photos into paintings. “Great,” I thought, “because I won’t have to do anything but supply the photos.” Until she said she then wanted me to take pictures of our respective works, but in an “unusual way”.

I chose to ignore the latter part for the time being, because I haven’t laid eyes on the paintings yet except as digital files. My friend also has applied for exhibition space at her local town hall, and the plan is to exhibit our project there as well. Having said that, the next open slot is in June. 2021! Phew, a lot of time for me to come up with an unusual way of taking pictures of our combined works. I’ll have to think really hard as I still haven’t got a clue how to approach this part of the project.

To start off this collaboration, we agreed on me sending her my favourite pictures from this blog’s categories: Everyday Details, Food, Nature, Travel and People.

I will be posting each separately under this category, and if I ever get an idea for the last step I’ll update the posts.