Preparations

One of the details when preparing for a show is documentation. Professional artists need a way to keep track of what they have done. This means some visual reference, a coding system and somewhere to store the information. Once I have completed a painting I take a photo of it. This does not have to be terribly fancy. As you can see I pin my watercolours to a board which I have prepared with cork backing covered in a neutral gray cloth. The neutral gray helps the camera focus on the painting without distracting tonal values. The lighting comes from full-spectrum bulbs I installed in my studio for general use. I position the tripod in front of the painting so the image fills the lens and I proceed to take a series of shots. My camera, although small, has an automatic as well as a manual capacity. I take four photos at four different settings in both capacities so I end up with eight pictures from which to choose for communications and display. Digital photography is wonderful. So adjustable. Having taken the visual references I transfer them to my computer for cropping and colour tweeking. Occasionally nothing has to be changed… Not often. Where do I store all this? On my computer, in my external hard drive, on my website. I like having eggs in several baskets! Life is good.