Let's Hear it for the Zebras

Behind the Scenes — Making Prints

Have you ever wondered how an oil painting becomes a print? Short answer: You take a really good picture of it. The long answer: first, I have an excellent camera—Canon EW-88C—for capturing colors and shades, subtle color variations and paint textures accurately in high resolution. Second, I use overhead, easel track and natural light to ensure the print doesn’t have flares or light or dark areas that aren’t part of the original painting. Finally, I might alter the image slightly in Photoshop to even out any lighting effects that won’t resolve themselves naturally.

Where this gets tricky is when I’m photographing a large painting like “Oasis”, because fitting the entire piece into one camera shot, with consistent lighting over the entire surface, is not easy. The painting is 40”x60” — too big to photograph in my usual studio space — so I moved my easel and the painting to the foyer and illuminated it with large halogen lights placed “just so” so they don’t create unwanted glare areas. Which you can see they are definitely doing right here! This would be easier if I had a photography studio, or an extra large digital scanner, but I don’t so I improvise. Here’s another picture showing the lighting set-up:

Look at all that glare! I eventually worked out the lighting angles and got a nice digital image for prints. Oasis is currently available at CODA Gallery. And, I’m pleased to note that it received Honorable Mention in the 2024 Richeson75 Animals, Birds, and Wildlife International Competition. Here’s a work-in-progress detail:

I first painted the abstract pattern in the background:

Then the birds and the white acrylic “frame”:

The zebra was painted next to last — check out his stripes still sketched in on the washed canvas — then finally the scattered blades of grass.

Here’s the final, glare-free, digital image:

Another Zebra Star

My painting “The Paint Job” received the Springville Museum of Art Exhibition Award in the 17th International ARC Salon Competition. The annual ARC Salon, conducted by the Art Renewal Center, received over 5,000 entries in this year’s competition, so this recognition is both exciting and humbling.

ARC’s announcement of the salon winners is a feast of amazing representational painting and sculpture. And you can vote for two of my paintings—The Paint Job and Love Potion No. 9—for a People’s Choice Award if you’re so inclined! You need to create an account, then just look for me under “H”.

The Springville Museum will be devoting a "Featured ARC Artist" gallery wall to my work in their Founders Gallery for about a year. I could not be more honored by this award — Springville is an an outstanding museum and a longtime promoter and contributor to the arts in Utah — if you can, clear some time for a visit.

In the meantime, here’s a fun series of work-in-progress pictures. For this piece, unlike with Oasis I painted the zebra first and the background last. I like how the progression implies the meerkats did all the work putting themselves into the painting, and I just chipped in at the end to add some squiggles.