photographing your art

I'm definitely no photography professional, but I have picked up some tips for photographing your art with a digital camera from different sources and my own experimentation.
1.) use the macro setting (designated most often by a little flower symbol)
2.) photograph in natural light (morning light seems to work best) or use a lightbox (more on lightboxes in a later post)
3.) if it's too cold to be outside, take the picture on a sunny windowsill
4.) get up close, but don't lean into the art piece too much (you might leave a shadow in the picture)
5.) I don't have one yet, but I've heard a tripod really helps!
6.) a piece of white posterboard is a good background for most art-try to keep one handy

stuff I've collected to use in my art

Some items I use to create my art include (but are not limited to):

· Ephemera (old books, postcards, magazines, etc.)

· Rubber stamps and various types of ink

· Bottle caps, charms, beads, wire

· Artist canvas and paint

· Wooden and paper mache boxes, frames, trays, etc.

· Old game pieces such as dominoes, playing cards, bingo cards, scrabble tiles, etc.

· Clip art, scrapbooking paper, and stickers

· Colored pencils, paint pens, chalk, crayons, markers

my own definition of altered art

Altered Art

is a broad term that encompasses many styles and genres of art. At it’s most basic it means using creative techniques and tools to alter and change an item (often found items or items whose obvious use might not be artistic in nature) to give it a new purpose and artistic meaning. Some types of art included in the altered art genre are collage, mixed media, assemblage, decoupage, and photomontage.

This is one of the first collage pieces I did since I started my altered art adventure. I found a great old stash of bird flashcards that are perfect for my 6x6 canvas. I added a sun with some textured metallic paper an Altered Start friend had sent me. The sun reminds me of the ones I used to draw as a child---in the corner with rays coming out like petals of a flower. I added a quote about nature from William Shakespeare "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin". I love putting quotes in my work. The collage is on a base of vintage-look paper and the sides of the canvas are painted to contrast nicely with the artwork. This was the first "real" sale I got from my etsy store.