Postcard from Benevento

 

This is one of my favorite digital paintings of Italy. Also one of my earlier works. In looking through my past blogs, I realized I never shared this one here. In fact there are other paintings from Italy that have never appeared here, but you will see them in the coming months.

Benevento is a fair sized city of 66,000 people and is located about 30 miles due east of Naples in Southern Italy. But, its roots go back a few thousand years. According to one legend, it was founded right after the Trojan War, long before the rise of the Roman Empire. It has had a few names over the years: originally Maleventum or still earlier Malowent and Maloenton.

In the heyday of the Romans, its name was Beneventium and was an important city along the famous Roman Highway, the Appian Way. Some of that highway has been excavated and can be readily seen near another beautifully preserved Roman monument, the Arch of Trajan.

In 214 BC, it was the site of a famous battle in the Second Punic War against the Carthaginians (the Romans won that one). So as you can imagine, the town is living monument of Roman History…including a magnificent amphitheater used today for theatre, dance, and opera performances.

As I often tend to do, I wandered around town and came upon this street. It was built by the Romans two thousand years ago…another example of the staying power of Roman architecture and construction. 

The arch on the right is obviously Roman, however part of the building in the back was added on to the Roman foundation during the Middle Ages…a not uncommon event all over Europe. Still, the street is charming and made for a quality painting.

It reeks of mystery…such as where the Roman arch leads to and how the street wanders down through another arch. Where does it go? And can you imagine the long history of this street? It almost boggles the mind with possibilities. 

If you are a long-time reader, you know I am in love with most things Italian and Roman. I wish I could spend the rest of my life there exploring the fascinations of that great country and the history of the Roman Empire. But, alas…

PS – My apologies for being absent from these pages for a couple of weeks. I was inundated with house guests and all the turmoil that they bring. Things now are returning to normal and I will get back to my regular schedule.

(To see a larger version of this painting, just click on the image)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com

If you subscribe to this blog by e-mail and wish to purchase a print or send a free e-mail greeting card using this image, click this link to the main Postcard Blog Site.

Postcard from Astoria

Lately, I’ve been back to dabble in digital painting. I’ve done a lot of pure photographic work in the last few years, as you may have noticed here, but only occasionally with paints (if you can call it that). But something I saw on TV recently reminded me of how much I love taking a few of my photographs and experimenting to give them a painterly look.

Here is one example, and I won’t claim it is my best work ever because it isn’t…but it was fun to play around in Corel’s Painter software and come up with this one. It is an old-style riverboat steamer near the mouth of the Columbia River in Astoria, OR. Be sure to click on the image to see a larger version, so you can see the depth of the brush strokes.

One of the reasons I enjoy digital painting is it allows me I great deal of latitude for artistic expression…meaning I can give a whole new meaning to a photograph.

With the advent of digital cameras, every one is doing photos these days. And that is just fine. Many are never retouched. Artistic photographers (including me) love to take their original images into the digital darkroom to breathe life into their final output.

However, I do sometimes give them a different slant…I turn the photos into paintings. Very few photographers do this, nor have the know-how. I’ve spent many years trying to perfect this particular craft. I took many of my paintings on the road to art shows all over the west and did quite well for several years. Now, of course, I photograph and paint for fun…to quench my insatiable desire to create beauty. I pray you enjoy them.

(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com

If you subscribe to this blog by e-mail and wish to purchase a print or send a free e-mail greeting card using this image, click this link to the main Postcard Blog Site.

Postcard from Yosemite

Spring

In the spring

Trees grow and sing.

In the gentle breezes

Of the wind.

I like to lie

Beneath a tree

Thinking of many things

That spring allows me see.

 

Robins building cozy nests

Sports, once again, outdoors

Squirrels scampering up trees

Playing tag with one another.

Flowers beginning to peek their sleepy heads

Out of the ground.

 

Silver raindrops plopping into the pond

While fishes awake to the noisy sound.

Kites flapping their tails in the wind

Reaching up to the blue sky above.

I like to lie

Beneath a tree

Thinking of many things

That spring allows me see.

By: Susan R. Stein

 

(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)

Postcard From Oakland

I call this photo, “Where Buildings Meet.” It’s a classic case of viewing a three dimensional scene in two dimension…with the help of a telephoto lens. What makes it interesting is the two building have similar architectural style…only one has blue windows, the other almost black.

Of course, the windows are in fact the same…its just that one is angled just right to reflection the blue sky and clouds…and the other isn’t. But the black windows show a marvelous reflection of the Oakland Tribune Tower.  

The majority of the architectural photos I do are in black and white…and for good reason. But this one had to be done in color. While the lines and form are very simple, the reflected colors give it life. Simplicity rendered complex by the colors…but still quite austere.

Oakland has rendered some wonderful architectural images…even more so than its sister city across the bay…although that may not always hold true as I go back to San Francisco to look for more. Oakland is far less busy the SF, so its easier to move around and look for interesting architectural features.

Architectural photography is new to me…meaning I have only been concentrating on it for the last few years. But I am quite pleased at some of the results. I hope you like them also.

(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com

If you subscribe to this blog by e-mail and wish to purchase a print or send a free e-mail greeting card using this image, click this link to the main Postcard Blog Site.

Postcard from San Jose

Sometimes a photographic image is just made for painting…meaning it is a decent photo, but when I turn it into a painting or sketch, it gives it a whole new life. I don’t necessarily understand it, but it is true.

Look at a sampling of works by the great Impressionist painters, Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Degas, etc. Then ask yourself if it would make a good photograph. Sometimes, yes…sometimes no. But, the key to understanding the Impressionists is they were the first modern painters to take ordinary scenes from daily lives and turn them into great works of art.

Prior to them, painter’s subjects were often heroic images from past times or the Bible, or from mythology. A bit of an oversimplification for sure, but generally true. The Impressionists changed everything…not just painting, but the way we look at life. They opened the world up the whole world for painters…and photographers.

It is difficult to photograph a heroic scene, or one from the Bible, or Greek Mythology. Yes, we have photo journalists that photograph wars and historic events. But we also have a plethora of photographers who make photos as art. They may be of beautiful places like a national park, or street scenes, or building and architecture. No matter…these images become art thanks to the vision and philosophy of the Impressionists.

Now, back to this image. I took it on the campus of San Jose State. The building and this courtyard were there when I attended college back in the 60’s but I never went inside. I did in July.

The courtyard stuck me as quite lovely and peaceful. So I photographed it as a subject for future painting or sketch. I often do that. While the original photo does convey those same feelings, I think this sketch does it better. My opinion, of course.

The technique is digital soft pastel. It is the first time I used this particular technique. I often experiment with new methods and new tools. It’s part of the makeup of an artist…trying new things to see where it takes them. I enjoy this part of my life, and now that I am retired from the everyday, work-a-day world, I can do what I damn well please…and revel in the results…well mostly. 

(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com

If you subscribe to this blog by e-mail and wish to purchase a print or send a free e-mail greeting card using this image, click this link to the main Postcard Blog Site.