Karen Sperling’s Blog

We’re obsessed with landscapes. We love to travel to them, we love taking photos of them. We love seeing others’ photos of them, and we love reading magazines and web sites about them.
Thanks to digital cameras and computers, we are quickly adding new skills to our landscapes obsession. No longer content with just taking the photo, we’re interested in transforming landscape photos into paintings.
What is it about painting landscapes that people enjoy so much?
Maybe it’s the ability to relive the experience we had travelling away from home. When you paint a photo of a place, you can revisit the location and memories of your journey there.
Or maybe it’s that painting from photos is a way to add your personal point of view of the subject and your response to it beyond what the camera sees. Of course photography is a form of personal expression. The angle, the exposure, the composition of the photo, even the experience level of the photographer will affect the photo and will result in different photos by different photographers of the same location. Add brushstrokes, color and tones and the photo is raised to a new height of expression of the individual photographer’s own thoughts and feelings that he or she brings to the subject, turning the photo into art and the photographer into an artist.
Here’s how Stephen Levine, a photographer in Hawaii, sums up why he paints his landscape photos:
“I’ve been a landscape/nature photographer for 30 years, but my inspiration comes from Georgia O’Keeffe and 20th century woodblock artists like Hiroshi Yoshida, Tsuchiya Koitsu and Kawase Hasui. For a long time photography was a hobby, and I accumulated yellow and green boxes of slides that filled a larger and larger corner of a closet. About six years ago I was juried into a gallery and began to focus more and more on my art to the point it is now my “mainstay” and clear passion. With Corel Painter, I have complete control over the image and with my own printers I can ignore photo glossy and photo matte papers and print on art papers and now rice paper. I see Karen Sperling’s work as a bridge to the view of the world as I feel it and want to portray it, using tools that I have confidence in handling.”
It’s our obsession with landscapes that led Corel Painter Master Karen Sperling, who wrote the original Painter manuals and four published Painter books, including the bestselling Painting for Photographers, to create the Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes for turning landscape photos into paintings in Corel Painter.
Karen is a lifelong photographer who has her own closets full of landscape photos taken on travels throughout the United States and Europe.
“I’m a member of the Obsessed with Landscapes Club. Me and landscapes go way back. My dad loved to travel and take photos along the way. By the time I was eight, our family had travelled from our home in New York by car to California twice, stopping everywhere in between. In college I lived in London for a year and photographed my way through the British Isles and Europe at the advanced age of 19. I don’t know, Dorothy, is there really no place like home?” says Sperling.
The videos on the Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes provide art lessons in addition to the software steps for transforming landscape photos into works of art in Corel Painter.
Sperling painted all the paintings in the videos from her own photos, including one she took in Idra (Hydra), Greece, at the age of 19.

The DVD, like all of Karen Sperling’s Artistry instructional materials, is geared toward both photographers who never studied art and artists.
Photographers can learn such important art theories as how to tell if a photo is a good candidate to be turned into a painting; how to choose colors; and how to maximize the use of tones to create masterpiece landscape paintings from photos. Then photographers learn how to apply the art theories by following step-by-step instructional videos for painting photos in various styles in Corel Painter.
“Thinking you can paint just because you own Painter without studying the art concepts is like thinking you can play the piano just because you own one,” Sperling says. “You need music lessons to play the piano and you need art lessons to paint in Painter. I also believe it’s not as scary or difficult to learn the art theories as many people think it is. I don’t think you have to go to art school to paint in Painter. All you need to do is to study my materials—I include the art theories you need to know in addition to all the Painter steps.”
Artists, meanwhile, can either skip the art lessons or view them as a brushup and then learn from the software tutorial steps either to paint photos or to paint landscapes from scratch.
The Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes is compatible with Painter versions X, 11 and 12 and includes:
91.24 minutes of tutorial movies
• Art Lessons analyzing the art, style and techniques of famous landscape artists including Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, John Constable, George Inness, Vincent Van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, J. M. W. Turner, John Robert Cozens, Edward Hopper, John Sell Cotman, Thomas Girtin, Frederic E. Church, Granville Redmond, Thomas Gainsborough and Jack Wilkinson Smith.
• Instructions for painting landscapes from photos in an oil style

• Instructions for painting landscapes from photos in a watercolor style
2 Bonus tutorial movies
• Instructions for turning seascape photos into paintings

• Instructions for turning cityscape photos into paintings

All paintings and photos are by Karen Sperling.

3 sets of bonus brushes
• Brushes that simplify the painting process and provide exquisitely rendered oil and watercolor style brushstrokes master crafted by Karen Sperling, based on her 20 years of experience working with Corel Painter starting with writing the software’s first several manuals.
The Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes is available at the Artistry web site.
“Welcome to the Obsessed with Landscapes Club!” Sperling adds.

# # #

About the Producer
Karen Sperling is the original Corel Painter expert. She demo’d Painter when it debuted at Boston Macworld in August 1991 after having written the first Painter manual. She went on to write the manuals for the next several versions of Painter and wrote several published Painter books, including her current bestselling book, Painting for Photographers. A Painter Master listed at Corel’s web site, Karen produced the Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 1: Portraits and the Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes. She has created two bonus CD’s featuring her own custom Painter brushes, one for painting portraits and the other for painting landscapes. The book, DVD’s and CD’s are available at the Artistry web site http://artistrymag.com/.
Karen has taught and demo’d Painter for 20 years all over the United States at just about every venue there is, including the national Professional Photographers of America (PPA) convention, local PPA affiliates and PPA schools; WPPI; American Film Institute; Macworld; Seybold; and SIGGRAPH. Karen’s commissioned portraits and paintings are held in private collections around the world. Her abstract art has been exhibited in New York’s prestigious Chelsea section and during Art Basel Miami. Her portraits and fine art are available at her art web site http://karensperling.com/.

Tags: Corel Painter classes, seminars, workshops, Corel Painter classes, seminars, workshops reviews, Karen Sperling's Corel Painter brushes, Karen Sperling's Corel Painter brushes reviews, Karen Sperling's painted portraits, Painting for Photographers DVD (Corel Painter), The process of art (Corel Painter) by Artistry
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Painting by Karen Sperling from her photo. Painting steps: Landscapes DVD

We’re obsessed with landscapes. We love visiting them, we love taking photos of them. We love seeing others’ photos of them, and we love reading magazines and web sites about them.
I’m a member of the Obsessed with Landscapes Club. Me and landscapes go way back. My dad loved to travel and take photos along the way. By the time I was eight, our family had travelled from our home in New York by car to California twice, stopping everywhere in between. In college I lived in London for a year and photographed my way through the British Isles and Europe at the advanced age of 19. I don’t know, Dorothy, is there really no place like home?
Thanks to digital cameras and computers, we are quickly adding new skills to our landscapes obsession. No longer content with just taking the photo, we’re interested in transforming landscape photos into paintings.
I always thought there were more people interested in turning portrait photos into paintings, but since I announced my landscapes DVD, I’ve been hearing from way more people who want to paint landscapes.
What is it about painting landscapes that people enjoy so much?
For me, it’s the ability to relive the experience. When I’m painting a photo of a place, I can put myself back in that place.
A friend of mine suggests that painting from photos is a way to add your personal point of view of the subject beyond what the camera sees–to add your personal response to the subject.
I think he’s onto something. If 12 people line up and take the same photo of the Grand Canyon, it’s different from 12 people taking the photo and then painting it. I see it in my Artistry Retreats all the time. Everyone paints the same photo that I give them with the same art theories and Painter steps that I show them and then everyone’s painting from the photo is different! It’s because everyone has their own form of expression and their own thoughts and feelings that they bring to the subject.
That’s what makes paintings art, that’s what makes anything you create art. Art is the expression of the artist.
I know most of you reading this don’t think of yourselves as artists. Here’s a little secret that you’ll find comforting. Yes it takes learning the art theories and software steps that I include in all of my DVDs, books, tutorials and classes to paint from your photos, and yes, it does take practice. The secret is, the art almost comes by itself. Sure, it’s good to have a statement and philosophy and point of view if you’re going to create art that you want to exhibit. But even if you don’t go that far, even if you want to just paint your photos as a hobby, or to show at the local library, or give out as presents at Christmas, as you paint, your own personal expression will come out naturally by itself. I did all of the paintings at my web site as part of tutorials, never intending to create artistic expression, and yet, after painting for 10 years, you can definitely see my hand in all my art, purely unintentionally. You can’t help but express yourself when you paint, and I think that’s the magic that excites people about painting. I think eventually, developing as an artist means developing a point of view. Certainly I’ve done that with my abstract art that I’ve exhibited in New York and during Art Basel. But while you’re learning the skills and art theories, you can enjoy the self expression through your art without much effort–it happens by itself!
As I say in my Painting for Photographers book, if you think you can paint photos, you probably can. I’m seeing more and more how people with an interest in painting landscape photos are turning it into a passion by studying my instructional materials.
Welcome to the Obsessed with Landscapes Club!

Why do you paint landscapes/want to paint landscapes? Let us know in the comments below!

Tags: Corel Painter classes, seminars, workshops, Corel Painter classes, seminars, workshops reviews, Karen Sperling's Corel Painter brushes, Karen Sperling's Corel Painter brushes reviews, Painting for Photographers Book Reviews (Corel Painter), Painting for Photographers DVD (Corel Painter), Painting for Photographers book (Corel Painter), The process of art (Corel Painter) by Artistry
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Creating the paintings from photos in Corel Painter for the Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes has meant a lot to me from a personal standpoint.
All of the photos that I turned into paintings for the DVD represent some of the most extraordinary times in my life and it was a joy to paint them and to create tutorial videos with them.
New York City

I took the photo that I used for the basis of the cityscape painting from the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. I lived in Manhattan for many years before moving to Los Angeles, where I currently live, and one of the many things I loved about living in New York was my Met membership. I went to the museum every week and during the summers they opened up the roof for cocktails, art shows and concerts. As extraordinary as the artwork was in the museum, it was breathtaking to be up on the museum’s roof at sunset. You’d watch the sun go down while the city lights came up and there wasn’t a better show anywhere in the city. I took this photo without a tripod and with a film camera. It wasn’t the greatest photo in the world, but with a crop it became a great candidate to be turned into a painting. The video tutorial on the Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes tells you why and shows the brushes that I used to create the painting.
Southern California

Since moving to California, I’ve loved driving around taking photos and turning them into paintings in Corel Painter. I took this photo near Bakersfield, CA during the height of the wildflower season a couple of years ago.

Greece

I spent my junior year of college in London and had the privilege of visiting many beautiful places throughout the British Isles and Europe and as far away as Greece.
I was lucky enough to have been given a half-frame camera as a going away present. Long before digital cameras, half-frame cameras exposed half a frame of film at a time, so a roll of 36 exposures actually yielded 72 pictures. While it wasn’t as economical as using a digital camera today, shooting with a half-frame camera made film more affordable on a student’s budget. I took a ton of photos as a student living abroad and this photo is one I took in Idra (Hydra), Greece. Not bad for a 19-year old! I took the photo pulling into port on a boat from Athens. How great to relive the memories by painting the watercolor painting based on the photo. All the brushes I used in addition to the art theories and Painter steps are included on the Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes.

Santa Barbara, California

I took this photo a few years ago while living here in California. It’s from one of those days that I just got in the car with the camera and took a ride. What fun to have it for the seascape painting tutorial on the DVD.
I know using the tutorial videos, art lessons and brushes on the Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes to turn your own photos into paintings will give you the same kind of enjoyment that it gave me. The art lessons in addition to the Painter steps go a long way toward opening up the creative doors for you to discover your own style for painting from your photos and to rediscover the wonderful places you’ve visited–through art!
Click here for more information about the Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes and to order.

Tags: Corel Painter classes, seminars, workshops, Corel Painter classes, seminars, workshops reviews, Karen Sperling's Corel Painter brushes, Karen Sperling's Corel Painter brushes reviews, Painting for Photographers Book Reviews (Corel Painter), Painting for Photographers DVD (Corel Painter), Painting for Photographers book (Corel Painter), Photoshop CS5, The process of art (Corel Painter) by Artistry
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Styles and tastes in art come and go, but artists throughout time have enjoyed painting landscapes, and today more and more photographers are experiencing the excitement of turning their beautiful landscape photos into exquisite paintings in Corel Painter. I’m sure the reasons that photographers love to capture scenic vistas with their cameras and then transform their landscape photos into artwork are as varied and numerous as there are photographs. For me, the joy in painting landscapes stems from the reliving of the experience of visiting a locale through studying it while painting my photos of it. For me, viewing reality through the prism of art gives me a deeper understanding and appreciation of my experiences.
I’m including many techniques, exclusive brushes and custom brush settings on my new Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes that I know photographers will find interesting and useful in turning their own landscape photos into works of art.
In addition to tutorials for painting oil-style paintings

and watercolor-style artwork

there are also bonus tutorials for painting seascapes

and cityscapes.

The Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes has my secrets for turning photos into paintings in Corel Painter based on my 20 years of experience writing about and teaching the software, including writing the first several Painter manuals.
Here are just three of the tons of secrets, tips and techniques that await you on the Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes.

Secret Number 1
The Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes has art lessons that will show you what you need to know to paint landscapes like how to choose colors and how to know if a photo is a good candidate to be turned into a painting.
You’ll learn techniques that master landscape artists throughout time have applied to painting their classic landscapes. Included are discussions of artwork by such artists as

Paul Cézanne

Claude Monet

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

and Edward Hopper.

One example of the many art concepts covered is the idea of choosing the subject or focal point of the painting. The subject is the area of greatest contrast between light and dark. The secret about the subject or focal point in a landscape is that is doesn’t have to be an object, it can be the horizon line, which opens up many possibilities when choosing a photo to turn into a painting that you might not have considered before. The DVD has examples of traditional landscapes and discusses the location of the focal points so that you can more easily define the focal points in your own landscapes, which in turn will lead to better results for your painting efforts.

Secret Number 2

The Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes has many insights for using the brand-new Painter 12 version of Corel Painter. The DVD also includes information for versions Painter X and 11, so the DVD is compatible with all recent versions of Painter.
For instance, the DVD shows you that in Painter X and 11, adjust Tracing Paper opacity by clicking and holding on the Tracing Paper icon in the image window’s upper right-hand corner and choosing a percentage. In Painter 12, adjust Tracing Paper opacity by adjusting the slider in the Clone Source panel.

Secret Number 3

Come closer to the monitor, I don’t want anyone else to see this secret. The biggest secret about using Painter is that I take a lot of the work out of it for you. Included on the Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes are the brushes I created to paint the paintings in the tutorials on the DVD. Why didn’t I just use the brushes directly from the software? I did, I just adjusted them to get the effects I got. I could go into all of the settings adjustments and not provide the brushes, but it’s my experience that most people aren’t interested in adjusting brushes, they’re just interested in learning to paint. So I saved all the adjustments to the brushes and provide them on the DVD. The above image is the sky from the seascape bonus tutorial on the DVD and I include all the brushes I used to get this interesting sky. Pretty cool, huh?

I had a blast painting the landscapes on this page and I know you will, too. Oh yes, on the DVD are all the photos from all the tutorials so that you can use them to follow along with the steps, or of course, you can use your own photos as well.

I think you will be amazed at the results you get with your own photos. A little art knowledge and my cool Painter brushes and tutorial videos will go a long way.

Click here for more information about the Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes and to order.

And get ready to experience the joy of painting landscapes that many centuries of artists have experienced before you!

Tags: Artistry Bonus CD, Corel Painter classes, seminars, workshops, Corel Painter classes, seminars, workshops reviews, Karen Sperling's Corel Painter brushes, Karen Sperling's Corel Painter brushes reviews, Painting for Photographers Book Reviews (Corel Painter), Painting for Photographers DVD (Corel Painter), Painting for Photographers book (Corel Painter), The process of art (Corel Painter) by Artistry
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Creating makes you more creative.

In other words, when you are creating, you get additional ideas.

This happened to me while finishing the watercolor painting for my Painting for Photographers Landscapes DVD.

It hit me like a ton of variants–I could include exclusively on the DVD all the custom brushes I created to paint the watercolor painting, something that hadn’t occurred to me until I was actually painting the watercolor. After writing about and teaching Painter for 20 years, I know that most of you would rather just paint than fiddle around with brush settings. Since I absolutely love making the brush adjustments to get just the right look and texture, I’m happy to put all my settings into custom brushes for you.

Here’s the painting that I just completed.

Painting by Karen Sperling.

Here’s part of it up close:

Detail of painting.

And this is the source photo:

Photo by Karen Sperling.

Getting your paintings to look like this isn’t just a matter of using the right brushes, it’s also a result of applying art theories that I’m including on the DVD. In the art theory demonstrations are examples of watercolor paintings through the ages and a description of the watercolor characteristics that you can use when painting your own watercolor landscapes from photos, including how to choose focal points and colors.

I shot the photo in the last century during my junior year of college. I lived in London for that glorious year and took the photo during a holiday in Greece. It was really fun to work from a photo from so long ago and to give it new life as a watercolor. I know you will find the same joy turning your own landscape photos into paintings with the oil painting and watercolor-style techniques I demonstrate in the tutorial movies included on the Painting for Photographers Landscapes DVD.

There’s still time to get in on the introductory price for the Painting for Photographers Landscapes DVD in advance of the July 31, 2011 completion deadline.

I’m very grateful to everyone who has preordered so far. Painter has a relatively small audience and as a result, there are no development funds or seed money for creating instructional materials. I therefore rely on my audience to help support my instructional materials by preordering. The Painting for Photographers Landscapes DVD is the third project that I’ve developed with the help of preorders. The first two were the highly acclaimed Painting for Photographers ebook and Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 1: Portraits. When you preorder, you provide seed money to help fund the creation of instructional materials that will help you to turn your photos into paintings in Corel Painter. Not only do you help to generate Painter instructional materials by preordering, you also benefit from a special preordering discount in addition to a free issue of my bestselling Artistry Tips and Tricks ezine.

Visit this page for more information about the Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes!

And have fun getting more creative when creating landscape paintings from your photos with the help of the Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes.

Next on the agenda for the Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes: Painting seascapes in Corel Painter.

Photo by Karen Sperling.

Tags: Corel Painter classes, seminars, workshops, Corel Painter classes, seminars, workshops reviews, Karen Sperling's Corel Painter brushes, Painting for Photographers DVD (Corel Painter), The process of art (Corel Painter) by Artistry
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I have received a lot of enthusiastic responses for my third, crowdsourced project, the Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes, and I thought I’d show everyone what goes into creating a DVD like this.
I created my book, Painting for Photographers, and my first DVD, Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 1: Portraits with the support of preorders, and now the Landscapes DVD is my third crowdfunded effort.
Many people requested a Landscapes DVD with videos showing how to turn photos into paintings in Corel Painter, so I guess I knew there would be interest in one when I announced it, but I didn’t realize how much!
Here are just some examples of the feedback I’ve received:

Karen,
I’m excited to pre-order the Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes. I already own the Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 1: Portraits and found the instruction clear and concise. Best of all it has improved my technique greatly (and results). I so enjoy turning photographs into paintings and your DVDs (and Artistry Tips and Tricks) have helped me break the “photographers” mindset (i.e. trapped into details) by being more “painterly”! You are not only a talented painter but a wonderful instructor and fantastic inspiration. Given how much I have received from your other instructional materials it was a no-brainer to pre-order the Landscapes DVD! I’d give your material “two thumbs up”!
Bob

Karen Sperling approaches teaching Corel Painter as both a gifted artist and fine educator. I found the initial Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 1: Portraits to be complete, fun to follow along, and I picked up lots of general art tips in addition to learning specific Painter techniques. I’m looking forward to the second DVD in this series, Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes.

-Michael Fleming

When it comes to Corel Painter, there is only one real source…Karen Sperling. Each book and DVD are beautifully done. They teach as well as amaze. This is the way to learn the system and improve your technique.

I decided to pre-order Karen Sperling’s Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes partly because I love her work and have learned a lot from her. I also pre-ordered because I have experienced that there’s no question she’ll follow through and deliver a product well worth the price and well worth waiting for. Pre-ordering is not something I often do, but with Karen it was a no brainer for me; it helps her get the product out, and it helps me by promising me very helpful tutorials.

Hi Karen,
Thank you so much for taking on the development of a second Painting for Photographers DVD. When I saw that you are creating one on Landscapes I immediately knew I wanted it. I have the first DVD on Portraits and the Painting for Photographers book. I am new to Painter and they are my go to resource for learning how to use the Painter program and how to create paintings from my photos. Your lessons on art theory have me looking at my photos with a “new eye” (not only the ones I already have but the ones I am taking as well). I pre-ordered the first DVD and the book and now I am pre-ordering the second DVD because I know it will be well worth it.
Valerie

I’m having a great time creating the Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes.
I start by looking through the tons of landscape photos I’ve taken during the previous century and this one, some of which you see above. Of course, not all will make it onto the DVD, but it is fun to view them and to choose which ones will make good candidates to be turned into paintings. Included on the DVD is information about how to make those decisions based on art theories.
Next, I create an outline to devise what I will cover in the DVD’s movies.
The DVD has three main tutorial videos–one each covering art lessons, painting oil-style landscapes and painting watercolor-style landscapes. These movies contain demonstrations of Painter steps, brushes and tools for painting landscapes from photos. The DVD has three additional bonus movies–one each showing how to paint cityscapes, how to paint seascapes and how to use landscapes as portrait backgrounds.
After the outline is complete, I write a script and design a storyboard with everything I say and show.

I like to streamline the demonstrations on the DVD. I don’t like videos where the speaker says “uh” a lot and moves the cursor around aimlessly making my eyes follow around aimlessly. It takes longer to completely write out a script and a storyboard and to rehearse before making the movie and doing the recording, but it pays off at the end with as seamless a movie tutorial as possible.
Next are the movie creation, the recording and the editing, which I will cover next time.
I’m moving full steam ahead and I appreciate everyone’s kind and enthusiastic support.
The Painter audience is a very small one and there are no development funds, seed money or corporate sponsors to help me to develop my instructional materials, and though I’ve had a great reaction so far, I can always use more help. If the Painting for Photographers DVD Volume 2: Landscapes sounds good to you, please consider preordering. Your card will be charged and the funds will be used to get the DVD done sooner. As a thank you for preordering, you receive a 25% discount off the cover price and a free issue of Artistry Tips and Tricks.
Click here to preorder.
And now, Mr. Demille, Painter is ready for its close-up!

Tags: Painting for Photographers DVD (Corel Painter), The process of art (Corel Painter) by Artistry
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Many professional photographers and hobbyists think they’d like to create paintings based on their photos, but the thought gives them pause because somewhere along the way, they ran into people who discouraged them, either directly or indirectly. “You have to be an artist to paint” these negativity spreaders often say. “You’re not an artist, you can’t draw a straight line,” is another frequent disparagement. “Your [insert brother, sister, mother, father, aunt, uncle, cousin, neighbor--whoever fits] can pick up a pencil and draw without any schooling,” is another denunciation of the would-be artist.

All these dissuaders aside, as I say in my book, Painting for Photographers, if you think you can paint from photos, you probably can. I believe anyone can turn an interest into a passion with study and practice, including learning to paint photos.
You don’t believe me, I can tell. You’ve heard too much negativity over the years to accept my assurance that if you think you can paint, you probably can.

No problem. Following are three specific ways for you to tell if you can learn to paint photos, based on my own experiences learning to paint and on my time spent teaching photographers and hobbyists for 20 years.

1. You enjoy looking at art and photography.
It seems to me that if you are bored looking at art and photography, then you might not be interested in learning how to paint or photograph. If, however, art and artists and photos and photographers interest you, then chances are that you are a visually oriented person and you have a basic interest in painting that you can develop into a passion with study and practice.

2. You are open to learning new ideas and new concepts.
Learning to paint isn’t hard, but it does take an open mind. You might have to look at things differently or you might have to replace certain ideas with new ones. You might even have to find yourself outside of your comfort zone. If you are able to open your mind up to new thoughts and ideas and you are interested in learning new theories and concepts, then you can probably learn to paint photos.

3. You are willing to put effort into learning new things.
Learning to paint isn’t hard, but it isn’t as easy as picking up a stylus, a brush, a pencil or any other mark-making tool and knowing how to paint instantaneously. It takes a certain amount of work to learn to paint, and if you are willing to put in the effort, you will probably learn how to paint.

Notice I didn’t say anything about talent. I think that talent is just another word that the discouragers like to throw around to keep people from trying to paint, or write, or make movies, or do anything creative. I think talent can be nurtured with knowledge and practice and I don’t believe that either you have talent or you don’t.
I believe that if you think you can paint photos, you probably can, if you are interested in art, if you have an open mind and if you are willing to put a little effort into the learning and the practice of painting photos.

So if you’re interested in learning to paint photos, but are being held back by the negative thoughts that you’ve accumulated over the years, then just put the negative thoughts out of your head and let me show you how to paint photos!

There is an Artistry Retreat in Los Angeles March 21-23, 2011.

There is another Artistry Retreat in Atlanta May 9-11, 2011.

In the popular Artistry Retreats, you learn the art concepts and Corel Painter steps for turning photos into paintings.

Professional photographers: After attending an Artistry Retreat, you’ll have the tools to create artwork from your photos to sell to clients, through galleries and museums and in other, less conventional, ways.

Hobbyists: Following the Artistry Retreat, you’ll have the fundamentals to create nice paintings of your kids, grandkids and travels.

Click here for more information.

Can’t make it to the Artistry Retreat? Then learn the art concepts and Painter steps with my bestselling Artistry Bundle, which includes the Painting for Photographers ebook, the Painting for Photographers DVD and the Artistry Bonus CD.

Click here for more information about the Artistry Bundle.

If you think you can painting photos, you probably can. Don’t let other peoples’ negativity hold you back any longer. Proving them wrong is much more fun, I’ve discovered.

Tags: Artistry Bonus CD, Corel Painter classes, seminars, workshops, Corel Painter classes, seminars, workshops reviews, Karen Sperling's Corel Painter brushes, Karen Sperling's Corel Painter brushes reviews, Karen Sperling's painted portraits, Painting for Photographers Book Reviews (Corel Painter), Painting for Photographers DVD (Corel Painter), Painting for Photographers book (Corel Painter), The process of art (Corel Painter) by Artistry
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I have just finished one of the best images and the best issues of Artistry Tips and Tricks that I’ve ever created. If I had just finished making a movie, I would be doing a press junket and celebrity interviews about my accomplishments.
Laboring in the tiny world of Corel Painter tutorials, as is usually the case, I do good work, and it goes unnoticed.
This is a shame, not because I need to be heralded for my good work, which wouldn’t be such a bad thing, but more important, because people who are interested in learning how to paint are unaware or skeptical about my tutorials because they haven’t seen the kinds of publicity that they see surrounding, for instance, the release of a movie.
So here, without further ado, is an interview that I’d like to see with me that I think would be interesting to you if people interviewed original Painter experts about their latest releases.
Q. We have with us today Karen Sperling, who wrote the original manuals for Corel Painter when the software debuted 20 years ago. Congratulations on your ebook Painting for Photographers, on your Painting for Photographers DVD, on your Artistry Bonus CD and on this latest issue of Artistry Tips and Tricks.
A. Thanks very much.
Q. First we’d like to show our viewers the painting that you did for the latest issue of Artistry Tips and Tricks:

Painting by Karen Sperling.
::Audience applauds wildly.::

Photograph by André Hôte.
::Audience applauds wildly.::
A. Thanks very much.
Q. The painting is beautiful!
A. Thank you!
Q. This is a digital painting?
A. Yes, I painted it by hand in Corel Painter using the photo for reference.
Q. You mean you cloned the photo?
A. No, it’s a misconception that you can copy the photo and it will become a painting. I paint the painting from scratch using the photo’s composition as the blueprint for the painting, but I paint the brushstrokes and choose the colors myself, in a manner similar to painting with traditional materials.
Q. What was the inspiration for this painting?
A. I just finished painting a traditional oil portrait from scratch from a photo that I took. Up till now, I have concentrated on teaching photographers and hobbyists how to paint from their photos, and I’m now branching out and offering photographic and painted portraits to my own clients.
Q. I think we have a detail to show the audience of that oil painting.

Detail of painting by Karen Sperling from her photo.
::Audience applauds wildly.::
Q. That’s a beautiful painting, too!
A. Thanks. In painting the oil painting I thought that one of the things that made it so pleasing to look at was the appearance of brushstrokes and I wanted to try to get that same appearance in a digital painting.

Detail of painting.
Q. You nailed the look of traditional oils in your digital painting.
::applause from audience::
A. Thank you.
Q. How do you know if the painting is going well as you’re painting it, or don’t you know?
A. That’s a very good question. I try to keep in mind the art theories that I teach in my tutorials and classes, and make sure the painting is following these art guidelines. Usually if I am not happy with the way the painting is going, it’s because I’ve strayed from the guidelines, and to get back on track, I add something based on an art theory.
Q. Can you give an example?
A. Yes, for instance, you want the face to be the area of greatest contrast of light and dark to make it the subject or focal point of the painting. If the face doesn’t have the greatest contrast, then something feels wrong in the painting. Giving the face more contrast in relation to its background will solve the problem.
Q. And you cover this sort of thing in your Artistry instructional materials and Artistry Retreat classes?
A. Yes, I like to make sure that people studying with me have specific, concrete steps and methods to follow for painting instead of empty catchphrases like “paint with feeling.”
Q. That’s interesting, so you have to be an artist to know if your painting is coming out well?
A. No that’s just it, I supply the art guidelines that you need to know. It’s a myth that either you can paint or you can’t. Painting is an acquired skill, and I teach the art concepts and software steps that lead to the skill.
Q. That’s all you need to be able to paint like you, the art concepts and the software steps?
A. There is one more ingredient and that’s practice. I’m no doubt better at this today than I was when I first started painting 10 years ago in 2001.
Q. You haven’t been painting all your life?
A. I’ve dabbled with painting all my life, but I never thought I was an artist, which is why I relate to everyone who comes to me and says that they want to paint but they’re not an artist. As I say in my book, Painting for Photographers, if you think you can paint, you probably can. If you have the interest in learning, you probably can do it.
Q. Did the photographer whose photo you used for the painting like the painting?
A. Yes. Here’s what he said:
Hi Karen,
Somehow I thought you would end up being tempted by my little neighbor Sirsha picking raspberries in my garden.
I love the way the painting came out. Good job with the painting–great colors! I especially love the way the skin, cheeks and lips have come out in a most delicate fashion. The rest works great also but possibly less difficult to achieve and more forgiving.
I like the tutorial, with all the useful tips in there. I went briefly over your very interesting and relevant explanations on focus and the whole development of the picture. It is not just because it is from a picture of mine, but it is timely since I am these days trying to catch up with old photos to turn into painterly images, and it becomes more thrilling when need knocks on the door.
All in all an undeniably interesting use of these digital oils in Painter to give us instruction and inspiration for future undertakings.
One looks forward to seeing and learning more.
André Hôte
France
::audience applause::
Q. That was a great response from the photographer.
A. Yes, it meant a lot to me that he liked the painting so much because the source photo that he gave me to work with was so beautiful and I wanted to do it justice.
Q. Did you get feedback from the oil painting client?
A. Yes, both the mom and grandmother loved the result.
Karen,
Thank you for this beautiful painted portrait of my granddaughter-I love it!
It captures her essence and sweetness.
I will always be reminded of this precious time in our family’s life.
You are truly a great artist!
Ellen Ansalone Graybill
Love it Karen-you’re an amazing artist!!
Lisa Graybill Makely
::audience applause::
Q. It looks like you’re on your way with your commissioned portraits. Is there a web site where people can see more of your work?
A. Yes: Karen Sperling’s Art
Q. The photographer mentioned the newsletter, Artistry Tips and Tricks. What is that exactly?
A. Yes I did the digital painting for the latest issue of Artistry Tips and Tricks, which is an ezine in Acrobat .pdf format with steps and images for turning photos into paintings, mostly in Corel Painter, but once in awhile in Adobe Photoshop.

Sample page from Artistry Tips and Tricks.
Q. Where would we get the newsletter?
A. Artistry Tips and Tricks is available at my web site. After you order the newsletter, you receive download instructions.
Q. How much does the issue cost?
A. Each issue is around 30 pages and the price is only $14.99.
Q. That sounds like a good value.
A. It is. There’s a ton of information and readers have told me that each issue is like a complete Painter lesson.
Q. How would someone order this issue?
A. They can click here to order at my web site or they can click the Add to Cart Button to order by credit card through Paypal:

Order the September 2010 issue of Artistry Tips and Tricks

September 2010 Artistry Tips and Tricks newsletter
$14.99

California residents: 8.25% state tax added.

Tags: Artistry Bonus CD, Artistry Online site news (Corel Painter), Artistry Tips and Tricks (Corel Painter), Artistry Tips and Tricks (Photoshop), Artistry Tips and Tricks reviews (Corel Painter), Corel Painter classes, seminars, workshops, Corel Painter classes, seminars, workshops reviews, Karen Sperling's Corel Painter brushes, Karen Sperling's Corel Painter brushes reviews, Karen Sperling's painted portraits, Painting for Photographers Book Reviews (Corel Painter), Painting for Photographers DVD (Corel Painter), Painting for Photographers book (Corel Painter), Photoshop CS5, The process of art (Corel Painter) by Artistry
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I’ve posted several blogs about my experiences as a newbie portrait photographer, including Part I, Part II and Part III.
I’ve had a rocky start as a children’s photographer, with one thing after another going wrong, which I would bet dollars to baby bottles is pretty common for fledgling shooters.
Although I’ve been taking photos all my life, I never took portrait photos before, and I have new respect for the experts in the field.
I wanted to start taking portrait photos in case I was called upon by a painted portrait client who didn’t have reference photos for his or her portrait handy. I also wanted photos that I could post at my web site as a portfolio and also to paint for upcoming issues of Artistry Tips and Tricks.
After many mechanical and user mishaps in the first three photo shoots, the fourth one went pretty well by comparison, and I got a lot of good shots, one of which is at the start of this blog.
With this fourth photo shoot, I had enough photos to post at my web site to show that I could take portrait photos, but before I did, the next task at hand was to create sample paintings.
I decided to paint oil portraits because they have the highest perceived value, still. I would be very happy painting Painter or Photoshop portraits, but people want to pay a lot less for them than for oil paintings, so I might as well do oil paintings.
I will probably do what several of my students do, namely create paintings in Painter, print them to canvas and paint on top of them with oils. One student of mine who attended an Artistry Retreat nowadays sells these kinds of painted portraits for around $10,000. I could be happy with that.
I made a decision, though, to start with an oil portrait completely from scratch, no computer work. I felt that I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. Back in school, though I minored in art in college and took many art classes, I never really finished a painting. In more recent years, I’ve finished abstract paintings that I’ve exhibited in New York and during Art Basel Miami Beach, and I’ve sold a few commissioned Painter portraits, but I never painted an oil portrait from scratch. So I thought I had to do it to prove that I could.
I’m happy to report that using Painter and Photoshop all these years and keeping in mind the art concepts in my instructional materials really helped.
Here’s the reference photo I’m using, which is from the first shoot I did:

Here’s the first stage of the portrait. Looking at the reference photo, I blocked in areas of light and dark using oil paint thinned with turpenoid, a less-dangerous substitute they use nowadays for turpentine.

One of the things that I write about and demonstrate is how to choose a color scheme. In the beginning of this portrait, I decided on a complementary color scheme of red-orange and blue-green, which I’ve kept throughout the process of painting. This photo is an early shot of the canvas, my brushes and the palette I use to mix paint. I have since put blue-green brushstrokes in the background on the canvas.

The painting is starting to look pretty good and I hope to be done with it very soon. I will post the finished product when it’s available. Here’s a piece of a recent stage–you can compare this to the photo further up where I had just blocked in this flower to see the progress.

If you aspire to painting portraits that you can print to canvas and either leave as is or embellish with oils or acrylics, one great way to learn to paint photos is to attend an Artistry Retreat in Los Angeles (Sherman Oaks) or in Atlanta.
A great alternative to the Artistry Retreat is the Painting for Photographers DVD, with step-by-step tutorial movies for painting portraits from photos, including painting backgrounds and combining figures with backgrounds. The Artistry Bonus CD has plug and play brushes to use for painting oils and watercolor portraits in Corel Painter. I’m available to paint portraits, or if you’re a photographer, I can paint subcontracted paintings for you.
Meanwhile, take a look at my new, Artistry web site crowdfunding campaign.
And stay tuned for an upcoming blog showing the finished portrait.

Tags: Artistry Bonus CD, Artistry Tips and Tricks (Corel Painter), Artistry Tips and Tricks (Photoshop), Artistry Tips and Tricks reviews (Corel Painter), Corel Painter classes, seminars, workshops, Corel Painter classes, seminars, workshops reviews, Karen Sperling's Corel Painter brushes, Karen Sperling's Corel Painter brushes reviews, Karen Sperling's painted portraits, Painting for Photographers Book Reviews (Corel Painter), Painting for Photographers DVD (Corel Painter), Painting for Photographers book (Corel Painter), Photoshop CS5, The process of art (Corel Painter) by Artistry
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Detail of painting by Karen Sperling from a photo by Phillip Stewart Charis, featured in the Painting for Photographers DVD video tutorials.

The Artistry Bundle is a collection of highly acclaimed instructional materials for turning photos into paintings in Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop.
The Artistry Bundle includes the widely praised Painting for Photographers ebook, Painting for Photographers DVD and the Artistry Bonus CD.
These three tutorial sources, created by Painter Master and original Painter expert, Karen Sperling, offer unique insight into not just the software tools and steps but also the art theories that photographers and hobbyists need to turn portrait and landscape photos into paintings.
To show you examples of what’s in store in these revolutionary tutorial materials. here are just 3 cool tips out of the hundreds you’ll learn from the Artistry Bundle:
1. In Corel Painter, if you don’t see the layer in the destination image, double click the layer in the Layers palette and type 0 in the Top and Left fields, then click OK.-Painting for Photographers ebook
2. Also in Painter, click the nozzle icon in the Toolbox, click the menu icon and choose Check Out Nozzle to see the file containing the selected Image Hose nozzle’s layers.-Painting for Photographers DVD
3. Traditional watercolor artists paint from light to dark, vs. oil painters who paint from dark to light.-Artistry Bonus CD
Photographers and hobbyists who have learned to use Painter and Photoshop from the materials in the Artistry Bundle have given them rave reviews like these:

Hi, Karen,
Your Painting for Photographers book/DVD/CD combo are the best
instructional tutorials for beginners and experienced students alike.
N.S.

Karen,
Thank you for being THE most informed, dedicated and inspiring Painter aficionado!
Terre Spencer
For more information about the Artistry Bundle, including the Painting for Photographers ebook, Painting for Photographers DVD and Artistry Bonus CD, click here.

Tags: Artistry Bonus CD, Karen Sperling's Corel Painter brushes, Karen Sperling's Corel Painter brushes reviews, Painting for Photographers Book Reviews (Corel Painter), Painting for Photographers DVD (Corel Painter), Painting for Photographers book (Corel Painter), Photoshop CS5 by Artistry
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