Karen Sperling's Blog

Books:

Painting for Photographers is done and now available at Amazon, where it has received unanimous 5-star reviews!

In Painting for Photographers, you'll discover the software tools and steps and art lessons for turning photos into paintings in Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop. There's also a section on painting with acrylics and oils on the artwork after it's printed to canvas.

Painting for Photographers is receiving rave reviews and I'm happy to see that it's helping so many people to accomplish their dreams of creating artistic masterpieces from their photographs!

Click here for information about Painting for Photographers at my web site and click here to order Painting for Photographers at Amazon.

 

Brushes:

I just got an email that not only just made my day, but also just made yours, if you've been trying to paint photos in Painter.

The email brought the news that my new fast and simple Corel Painter brushes WORK!

My idea was to create brushes that cut to the chase. With my 20 years of Painter experience, I thought I'd make up a bunch of brushes for painting portraits and landscapes that were basically pick and paint. The only adjustment needed would be brush stroke width to fit the size of the space that you're painting.

In addition to the brushes are tutorials that list step-by-step which brushes to use where. My thought was that the tutorials would be a work flow cheat sheet. Need to paint a portrait? Use these steps and these brushes. The theory is kind of the idea behind Photoshop's filters. However, unlike the filters that are easily recognizable, my quick and easy brushes would still provide unique results because you're still doing the painting yourself.

My other idea was to make the process quick. I've done elaborate tutorials where you get sensational results, but they do take awhile. These new tutorials are intended to give you great results quickly.

And now, for the email I just got. Here's the vote:

Karen,

In response to your brushes and tutorials. I have spent the last couple days working with them all and I can attest that they are amazing in achieving the results I desire. You have made these brushes intuitive and extremely responsive. I especially love the oils for creating beautiful portraits!

The tutorials are easy to follow allowing you to create a masterpiece with minimal effort and in a short amount of time!

Thank you for taking the time to produce this cd.

Sincerely,

Linda Wehler
Digital Fine Artist

Now that's exciting!

You can get these 25 magic brushes and 50 pages of tutorials on the Artistry Bonus CD that either comes with the hardcover version of Painting for Photographers or is available separately.

Click here for an overview of the Artistry Bonus CD and click here to order.

Painting by Karen Sperling with the brushes on the Artistry Bonus CD from a photo at http://www.sxc.hu/.

Detail of oil painting.

Classes:

I have three Artistry Painting for Photographers Retreats coming up in April, May and June.

California

3-Day Artistry Painting for Photographers Retreat
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, April 19, 20 and 21, 2010, 9 am to 4 pm

Atlanta

3-Day Artistry Painting for Photographers Retreat
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, May 12, 13 and 14, 2010, 9 am to 4 pm

New York

3-Day Artistry Painting for Photographers Retreat
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, June 28, 29 and 30, 2010, 9 am to 4 pm

Painting by Karen Sperling from her photo, taken from a window at the Hotel New Yorker, site of the Artistry Retreat.

Painting detail.

Click here for information about the Artistry Retreats!

Painting for Photographers is at the printer and will be available on or around November 30, 2009.

The ebook version continues to be available as well.

Painting for Photographers has been receiving rave reviews from both publications and readers alike.

The latest glowing review is in Corel Painter Magazine.

With their permission, I've posted the review for you to read here.

You can see other glowing reviews here.

Meanwhile, the ebook has been available for awhile, and readers are beginning to send me the results they're getting by studying Painting for Photographers.

You can see some examples of readers' paintings here.

For more information about Painting for Photographers, including getting a copy of the printed version while the supplies last, click here.

I'm glad that Painting for Photographers has been received so well and that it is helping so many people to follow their dreams of turning their photos into paintings.

 

I'm excited to announce that I'm done writing, illustrating and designing my book, Painting for Photographers!

Here's a book trailer video to give you a taste of Painting for Photographers.

Meanwhile, I've scheduled several webinars to show you the book's contents:

Artistry Virtual Book Reading webinar: Painting for Photographers

If you think you can paint photos in Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter, then you probably can!

And Painting for Photographers, a new book by Corel Painter master and original Painter expert Karen Sperling, provides the art lessons, software steps and painting-on-canvas information for turning photos into paintings.

Attend an Artistry Virtual Book Reading webinar, and get a sneak peek at Painting for Photographers' layouts, paintings and written information--it will be like picking up the book in a bookstore and browsing through it when deciding to purchase.

In the Artistry Virtual Book Reading, you'll also hear author Karen Sperling speak about the book as you would when attending an actual book reading in a bookstore.

Throughout the hour-long Artistry Virtual Book Reading, you'll get tips about painting photos and self-publishing books.

Don't miss this opportunity to attend an Artistry Virtual Book Reading and get a firsthand look at Painting for Photographers--whether you think you can paint photos, or already do! Registration is free!

For more information about Painting for Photographers visit http://artistrymag.com/

Choose an Artistry Virtual Book Reading that fits into your schedule by clicking one of the following links. You will arrive at the gotomeeting site to sign up:

Thursday, June 11, 2009

5 pm - 6 pm Pacific Daylight Time
Register

_____________________________________________________

Friday, June 12, 2009
11 am - 12 noon Pacific Daylight Time
Register

 ______________________________________________________

Saturday, June 13, 2009
4 pm - 5 pm Pacific Daylight Time
Register

 ______________________________________________________

See you at the Artistry Virtual Book Reading!

Want to cut to the chase?

Preorder Painting for Photographers!

Happy painting!

Karen

 

 

I'm nearing the finish line for my book, Painting for Photographers, in which I show the art lessons and Painter and Photoshop steps for turning photos into paintings.

I just uploaded in the Gallery a painting I did for a chapter on painting photorealistically in Painter.

I'm also showing the paintings and source photos from Painting for Photographers at my Facebook page.

And layouts at my web site.

I have a little more to do on the book, then I'll be ready to send it to the printer!

I'll post updates here, on Facebook and at my web site about my progress.

Thanks to everyone who has preordered Painting for Photographers, and for everyone's enthusiasm and support for this book!

I'm having a great time creating it!

Karen

I attended a Painter 11 webinar last week and thought, I could do this.

So I announced Artistry Webinars and held my first one today, and it was a big hit.

I had everyone submit paintings that they had done from photos in Painter, and then I offered feedback about what was done right in them and where there was room for improvement.

I started out with general art theories and then showed how to apply the art concepts to each person's images, including demonstrations of Painter tools and features along the way.

What a great educational tool these webinars are.

If you've never attended one, you click a link that takes you to a page showing you the host's computer screen.

Everyone can talk into mics and so it's like gathering around someone's computer for a class in person.

Only no one has to travel.

I'm looking forward to hosting more.

Thanks, Corel, for showing me the possibility!

Here are some examples of the feedback I got after the webinar:

Hi Karen! Enjoyed the Artistry Webinar today! Would love to see a part two! Thank you for all the great feedback on my painting! Michelle East michelleeaststudio.com ******************************************************************** That was an excellent Artistry Webinar. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. I loved the suggestions that you made for my work as well as others…very nice to see you actually paint on the images. And the beginning of the event was terrific; I took copious notes concerning the “tips” or “rules” that you mention. I did really enjoy the lecture and critique. Thank you for hosting the event, Skip Allen ****************************************************************** Hi Karen, I just want to say thank you for a most interesting and educational webinar. I got so much out of it !!!!!! I will always see a photo and painting in a new, enriching way ! I was thrilled that you did a webinar. The presentation was excellent and I hope you continue it. I am thinking about catching another webinar this week if my schedule permits. Thank you again..........for not only the great webinar but for giving us a glimpse as to the making of your new book. It is just mind boggling ........... I don' t know when you have time to sleep ! LOL! Thanks again...... Andrea Marks ****************************************************************** I'm glad everyone had such a great time! You, too, can attend an Artistry Webinar! For more information about the Artistry Webinars, visit the event page at Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=54673343167 And also my web site: http://www.artistrymag.com/docs/webinars.html Karen

In creating the painted portrait for the February 2009 issue of Artistry Tips and Tricks, I had a couple of influences for the way the portrait turned out.

One was having recently joined Facebook--if you're there, friend me!

I've quickly become Facebook friends with hundreds of professional photographers.

What a great web site!

In the blink of an eye you can see tons of examples of some of the best images in the world simply by flipping through your Facebook friends' photos.

There are also some intriguing Facebook groups that I've joined for art photos and abstracts. 

I've been taking photos for zillions of years, and I'm looking forward to seeing what I currently have that would apply and photographing new work.

Among these photographers, some of them are using Painter in their portrait businesses.

Some of the examples are better than others, but all of it is fascinating, and I'm excited to see so much photography and photographic art in one place.

After seeing all these Painter paintings, I had in mind that I wanted to show a portrait that would be useful to professional photographers, but that was also unusual.

Another influence for the February 2009 portrait was that I’ve been going to a lot of gallery openings here in Los Angeles.

All the art I've been seeing is painted with light hues and tones.

I had the idea that I wanted to capture the light, airy feeling of the paintings I’ve seen recently in the galleries.

This is the painting:

From the original photo by Michelle Lamberth:

Here was Michelle's reaction to the painting:

I did a video about Artistry Tips and Tricks--click here to see it!

 

 

 

I hope everyone had a great New Year's!

My February 2009 Artistry Painting for Photographers Retreat and Artistry GARTEL Marketing Seminar are fast approaching.

During the Artistry Retreat, February 16-18, 2009, I show you the art concepts and Painter and Photoshop steps for painting photos.

And in the Artistry GARTEL Marketing Seminar, February 19-20, 2009, Digital Media Pioneer Laurence Gartel shows you how to sell the results.

Click here for more info about the Artistry Seminars.

Can't make it to the Artistry Seminars?

Read Artistry Tips and Tricks!

Every issue has the art concepts, software steps and interim images for turning photos into paintings in Painter and in Photoshop.

Below are the photo and painting from the January 2009 issue.

Click here for info about Artistry Tips and Tricks.

Click here for the January 2009 issue.

Happy Painting and Happy New Year!

 

 

Photo and painting by Karen Sperling from the January 2009 issue of Artistry Tips and Tricks.

I'm continuing to work on my Painting for Photographers book.

I've posted some examples of some of the book's layouts.

I've also posted an excerpt from the section on painting on canvas

prints.

Visit http://www.artistrymag.com/docs/bookexcerpts.html to see the page layouts and to download

the chapter on what you do after you print to canvas.

Visit http://www.artistrymag.com/docs/bookorder.html to get in on the $25 pre-publication price

(before shipping, handling and California tax), a 36 percent discount off the $39.95 cover price!

Back to writing...

Happy painting!

Karen

 

I've been working on redesigning my web site:

http://www.artistrymag.com

I'm also working on my Painting for Photographers book.

http://www.artistrymag.com/docs/sperlingbook.html

It's funny how both things are taking me back and taking me into the future at the same time.

The web design is like moving into a new house. You have all your same furniture and
paintings, but somehow arranging the furniture and hanging the art in the new place
just makes them look so much better.

It's great to revisit some of the previous tutorials in redesigning their pages.

I'm also having a great time adding new information, including free stuff!

Visit this page for a new tip from the July 2008 issue of Artistry Tips and Tricks:

http://www.artistrymag.com/docs/tips.html

The Professional Photographers in Sacramento, CA liked the tip so much that they
posted it on their site, which was a real honor:

http://ppsv.blogspot.com/2008/07/free-painter-tutorial-from-karen.html

Meanwhile, I'm writing my fourth Painter book, entitled Painting for Photographers.

It's actually more like my 7th or 8th Painter book, if you count the Painter manuals I wrote
in addition to the Painter Companion, which was a book of tutorials that Fractal Design,
Painter's first publisher, produced.

As Yogi Berra said, it's like deja vu all over again.

I haven't written a book in a few years--though I never stopped writing Painter tutorials,
first for my printed Artistry newsletter and now for my current Artistry Tips and Tricks ezine.

It's such comfortable territory for me, since I've written books so many times before.

But what's new about it is how I'm using Painter.

I'm enjoying discovering new techniques for turning photos into paintings, based on
my experiences with working photographers at my Artistry Retreats and in private
training, and my own experiments in Painter, including for my abstract art,
and the techniques will be included in the book.

Here's my art web site:

http://www.karensperling.com

Speaking of Artistry Retreats, I have a new one coming up August 25-27, 2008 in Malibu, CA,
followed by an Artistry GARTEL Marketing Seminar August 28-29, 2008.

The Artistry Seminars are another case of Deja Vu all over again.

Though I've been teaching Painter since 1991, this is only the second class I'm holding in
Malibu, which everyone at the first session agreed was paradise.

I hold the classes at Pepperdine University, which is high up in the Santa Monica mountains
with breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean.

It really is a special place.

Visit this page for more info:

http://www.artistrymag.com/docs/retreats.html

I'll be updating my web site with new information frequently,
so I hope you'll drop by my web site, link to it, bookmark it, and
visit often, so that it becomes like deja vu all over again for you!

Happy Painting!

Karen