When a painting reaches its finished stage, I’m always excited to take the photographs. I do this outside with the natural light, but it’s not always possible as the weather has other ideas! Sometimes there’s a frustrating few days to wait for a break in the clouds, and lately when the sun has come out it’s very low in the sky due to the encroaching winter months. The result of this is that long shadows are cast from everything.
I usually place the paintings flat on a length of crisp white linen, but with the long shadows there’s nowhere to stand without an elongated arm looming over the painting!
This is when I use my old Inscribe easel, which I really dislike, as it has too many legs and a mind of its own! I trick it by turning the front section upside down and that seems to stop the legs from splaying out; and with a stone under one leg to level it, it’s good to go!
That is until cropping time when there’s usually a rogue shadow that I hadn’t spotted, like the cat’s tail, a bird feeder or a passing seagull!
At least my artwork doesn’t have glass to contend with - reflections must be a nightmare!
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