Painted Cities and Towns

Some of you who follow my other blog, Diary of a Person Being Human, or who follow me on Instagram @frieda_mouse, will know that I have been turning my attentions to transforming some of my photographic images into digital paintings. I’ve been having so much fun with it, that I have already created an ample body of work that I would like to try to sell, if that’s at all a worthwhile idea. But, in a world where everyone wants to self-promote and make money, but nobody wants to spend it, I might be a little hard pressed to do so. The problem is, photographic art has become too mainstream, so nobody knows where to look anymore. Nor is it particularly novel below a certain age and maturity, especially when the lure of visual data is everywhere these days. It is not a good time to be an artist, at all, though I’m sure some may disagree.

Anyway, here are a few samples of my recent efforts. I have many more, but perhaps I’ll reserve those for another post. If you should be interested in purchasing prints, or if you’d like me to convert a photographic image into a painting, you can contact me via the comments, or email me directly at phistreetphotography@gmail.com.

18 thoughts

  1. Again, oh wow~!

    Especially I like numbers 2 (blue bottle), 6 (big yellow flower on green leaves), (oh … that helps, dwell the mouse on an image and up comes a label): Venice Cannaregio, art nouveau lamp shade, Venice hidden gem 1a, DC sunflowers & hot house.

    Which isn’t to decry any of the others; boom boom! )))

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    • Thank you, Argus!

      Your compliments are welcome encouragement! The ones you picked are among my favourites too. Though, I have to admit that while I’m working on each painting I get all dreamy eyed over them – then I tend to snap out if it once done, and compare them to the growing collection. Some certainly capture the imagination more than others when corralled. 🙂

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  2. These are excellent examples of an art form that I have to confess, I am not particularly fond of. A couple of them are outstanding … the parking lot and the Van Gogh feel to the back-canal in Venice take the prizes for me. You are so right that now is a time when the world is overloaded by wannabe artists doing stuff and out-marketing others more worthy of the title. My youngest daughter has just graduated her Batchelors in Fine Arts at one of the best schools in Britain. The graduation exhibition was breathtaking … full of challenging and innovative work. But most of the graduates will go on to do work that is not in the Art world. It makes me sad in one way and happy in another that we do have opportunity for people who are untrained. Anyway. To you. What about Etsy? I should have thought you would find a market for your work there. I know it’s Art not Crafts but it’s a thought. You are worthy of hanging on strangers walls. That is my highest praise 🙂

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    • Thank you Osyth, you are most kind and most generous with your wonderful compliments!
      I used to share your sentiments with regards to abstract impressionism. Though I have grown to embrace it.

      You must be very proud of your daughter, and I am certain she will go on to achieve great things.
      Unfortunately art in all it’s many forms is a very self indulgent pursuit, whether it’s music, writing, photography, painting. You often end up having to earn a living doing other things because opportunities to become a household name are few and far between. Much of it is dependent on luck, and often dependent on who know, and who you happen to meet along the way. Gaining exposure and endorsement is the trickiest part of being an artist, and the part that requires the hardest work. It is simply not enough to be prolific, or even talented. However, the margins narrow yet further when so may people these days are vying for the title of ‘professional artist’.

      I’ve had a shop on Etsy for years now. Though it has been sitting quietly since I moved to the States. I used to make couture jewellery, and I did the odd portrait on commission, though I spent most of the time marketing rather than producing or selling work. Unfortunately Etsy is not the place for high art, or its requisite price tag.

      Thankfully I don’t need the income anymore, so I can pursue my art in all its forms purely for posterity. The lure of fame for any artist is of course part of the prize, though it is hard won. 🙂

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      • I am very proud of her. Her sister is embarking on her foundation course this September and has a place to read Illustration. They are such different disciplines … it will be interesting to see where each lead them. Their father is a sculptor and graduated The Slade with Anthony Gormley when God was a boy. Although he has had some success as a sculptor, he has mostly pursued music (flautist) and makes most of his income selling rugs and Kilims. It is the most fickle of worlds and I admire anyone for having at it. It is, of course, in the soul and unignorable for the true artist. I follow a blogger called Lindy Whitton (Australian – Tasmania, I think) who does a lot of work on commission … that’s my best steer. I do think people should be exposed to your work even if you don’t need the money!!

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      • Again, you’re very kind, Osyth. Thank you for the encouragement.

        Art is indeed a very fickle thing, and as wonderfully self-indulgent as it is, I happen to think it is a very vital glue in disparate societal structures.
        As much as I bemoan the opportunities for artists these days, I do secretly love that these things have become so much more accessible, and that folk across the world are able to express themselves so freely and creatively.

        I was a flautist many moons ago. I trained under the tutelage of Bernard Cash, who was then first flautist for the RPO. I received a scholarship to train and play for the London Schools Orchestra at the time – when the ILEA still existed, but owing to circumstances I wasn’t able to. It wasn’t meant to be.

        I think, as an artist and a creative you end up with a lot of fingers in a lot of pies, and all you can do, as you say, is have at it for as long as you can.

        My daughter too is very creative and artistic, though not at college age quite yet. At the moment she’s into film making and editing. I’m excited to see how her artistic expressions evolve. I agree though, art is in the soul. My Dad was a very talented artist – though he hasn’t produced anything in years, so I grew up with the smell of turpentine and oil colours. I was hooked from a young age.
        One of my biggest regrets was having to give up my art studio and silversmithing workshop when I moved here, hence the Etsy shop gathering dust. I’ve had to completely rethink what I do and how I do it.

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      • Fascinating back-history you have … no surprise. Rethinking the artistic pie is never a bad thing. I think so long as the spirit is allowed freedom it guides us at some level. ILEA … that takes me back!!!

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      • I have two ex-husbands but the one I’m with is a keeper even when I try to trash things because that’s what I do like a brattish toddler. The first is a writer (you might like his ‘Eric is Awake’ being a Londoner and smart. The second is the artist. Both are very talented. Now I am married to a very talented astrophysicist with a global reputation. Do you see the pattern … I hide. Big em up, represent their interests (husbands, brothers, children, friends, bloggers) and then I don’t have to reveal my own hand in case it hurts. It’s a work in progress 🙂

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      • I tend to believe that like-minded artists of like ability gravitate toward one another, even though the expressions may be different. I was under the impression however, that your blog was a way of extending that illusive and very talented hand of your own. Mystery is a good thing when it comes to any art, and you are a very good story teller. 🙂

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      • Maria, thank you for understanding. I just probably need to do a little more. But yes, there will always be mystery. I don’t want it any other way 🙂 And the first sentence of your comment? Well, then I must be pretty damned talented to attract a following like you 🙂

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  3. I am completely in the dark as far as this medium is concerned. They are all lovely and I especially like the ones from Venice.

    With so much technological wizardry available even to ”muffins” like me, if I cared to actually learn about it certainly does suggest that Art as a saleable commodity can not be easy in this day and age, ( if it ever was?) as you point out. I suspect the hands-on raw skill of old will become a dying art if you will excuse the phrase.

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    • Thanks, Doug.

      Actually, I’m not sure that the more traditional method of applying paint to canvas is a dying art at all. There are probably more ‘traditional’ artists than there ever have been in the course of history. There really weren’t that many to begin with.
      Painters of old were an elite few, often landed gentry, and very well connected. These days any old bod can pick up a paintbrush and knock out a painting, and call themselves an artist, in fact, it’s actively encouraged from a young age.
      Digital painting is just another medium, though its no less skilled. I don’t think it’ll be replacing other forms of art any time soon, anymore than Photoshop has really made a dent in that respect.
      I’m also a traditional artist, it’s what I trained in, but you need space and air for canvases and oil paints – not conducive to a tiny little apartment. 🙂

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