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

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