Painting 103, Northern Cardinal at 18 Degrees F
Watercolor
8.5x10 Arches Cold Pressed Watercolor Paper
My scanner seems to be running a little hot because this male Northern Cardinal looks like he could light the night. The original painting is vibrant, but not quite as saturated at this scanned image of it! I need a new scanner...any recommendations?
Do you recognize this fiery male? I shot him when I took Matty and Chet snowboarding. I changed the pose up a bit from the head-on photo I posted, but I'm working on a pencil sketch of that photo, and I'm going to turn it into a watercolor soon.
This painting is part of the 100 Painting Challenge. I'm doing it for my second year. If you're an artist and want to join, visit the 100 Paintings Challenge Blog hosted by Laure Ferlita.
Posts
33 comments:
Ohhhh man my grams would LOVE that painting!!!! He's beautiful Kelly
Yes---that Cardinal is BRIIIIIIIIIGHT---but I love him.... We only have a scanner which is part of our HP Printer. Good Luck finding one...
Hugs,
Betsy
He's as good as the real thing! Beautiful.
Hey Kelly! Ha my virgin run! I think he looks great but I see what you mean about the brightness of his body compared to his tail. Could just be a shadow, I think we all know how big a Cardinal's tush can be. He looks great though. Try to see if you can tone down the saturation in your software. You do great work and any scanner by Epson will get you where you want with their bundled software. And quit call Matt Matty! He'll be driving in a short time. I'm just glad he is not standing in the rain with a snake wrapped around his neck. Oh the humanity!
Jeni....Once I get a good scanner, I'll get a print made for you! Thanks!
Betsy...thanks, Betsy. I have an HP now, but I want a bigger scanner...and I need to learn how to use the software.
Forgetmenot...thank you!! :-)
L Livingston (Curg!)...the first time to make an appearance in the comments! I knew a scanner question would wake you up. Matty will always be Matty to me. (Haha! I took that photo when we were volunteering at Shawnee. We love snakes!!)
Btw...I saw some Tufted Tiddlywinks at the park the other day. :-)
I think we all know snakes are not healthy. Haha! Oh you are in trouble now. And really who doesn't love a good Tiddlywink? It doesn't matter if they are Tufted or Rufted! Trust me, when you print this Cardinal it will work out, I always bump the saturation 20 to 25 points when printing your images. Just a printer's secret.
HI Kelly...The Cardinal was here at the feeder practically all day with a quick trip to the Cedar tree on the corner of the house from time to time to get out of the snow and cold!!
It is a beauty your Cardinal no matter however so slight it is of color !!
No scanner advise from here!!lol
Grammie...Thank you! I love seeing the cardinals against the snow. It's like they are made to make us happy...they wear their snow well, that's for sure!
You are doing so well - I am just itching to paint again. He is really a dandy looking fellow.
...thanks, Margaret. I love your paintings...hope to see some soon.
I really love this painting!
...thanks, G Lily!!! :-)
Beautiful Cardinal! I had an Epson Scanner before the one I have now and I really liked it - did a great job.
Oh, I don't know Kelly... I LIKE him that bright! He's just gorgeous!
wonderful - captures that color pop you see with these guys in winter
Looks almost normal to me...some Cardinals really do glow!!! :)
A Beauty! I am in awe of your talent!!
Gorgeous red. I wished I could recommend a scanner but I could use one myself. Carol
I dunno, Kelly; he looks just fine on this end!
And it's not your scanner, it's the software. Usually scanners come with image editing software (like Photoshop, only usually not so good), and what you need to do is go into that after scanning a painting and playing with the color settings. The scanner just copies what's put in it; it's the attached software that does the interpreting.
Looks like he's about to burst into flames Kelly :-) What a scorcher !
Cardinals are so beautiful in winter. Your great watercolor shows that but your original was even brighter? Wow. My scanner is also a part of the HP printer too.
I am so jealous of your Cardinal!...the painting AND the photo!
He's beautiful!
Something about the color of a male cardinal in the winter! I can see them in my trees - even without my glasses - it is almost a surreal color -
Gorgeous work!
Visiting you from Jayne's blog today -- she featured the chickadee print you sent to her.
What overwhelming talent you have. Photography and painting.
I'm so glad I found your site. :)
I discovered that it is not so easy to find a scanner that is true to your original colors. I got lucky by accident with my last one because it was perfect. I just bought a new one and brought home three before I reluctantly settled on the Canon. I believe one of your commenters is right the software makes a difference too. I did some research though and the dpi needs to be as high s possible when you buy the scanner. Then you ave to play with it. They were very good at my local Staples in helping me and doing the exchanges.
Kelly he is stunning!
My package came! I sent you an email, thank you so much! I will treasure them both Kelly!
Scanner aside, I still think its great Kelly.
Super adapted pose. Definitely a bright lantern in the snow.
Love love love!! I don't have a great scanner myself, so I don't have any ideas. But I think the saturation is lovely--we have two pairs at the feeders right now, and the males' plumage against the snow seems to be just about this bright!
...thank you! I think you might be right. When you see the males against the white snow, they really are bright! So...maybe he's not quite as radioactive as I thought. I need to look into toning it down with the scanner's software. I have a really old HP scanner that I've always loved, but it's not compatible with my new mac, so I use it on an old mac. I'd like to move up in size and get a bigger scanner too. It's a lot to think about. Until then, I'll work on "stitching" together multiple scans on the larger paintings, and will learn how to tone down red in the software (or maybe stop painting cardinals....ha! That's not going to happen). Thanks again for you super kind comments and support.
Wow..your paintings just get better and better.
Superbly bright!
Post a Comment