Kim,

My studio is separate from my house and I come to paint here almost every day. I'm in Heaven (see Moon in photo).

Linda,

Apparently you haven't noticed that someone has hurled a dead cat against the wall of your studio. Or, it has been speared into the canvas on your easel, I can't tell which.

Personally I can see how something like this might happen, but I would think that after admiring it for a while you would want to have it removed.

Sincerely, Mike

Shoot slides full size in full sun direct-no digital-don't copy or get dupes. 50mm lens

Harley Brown says he shoots slides of his paintings in full sun. (Very different here in Arizona, where he lives) Regardless, you still have to match your Kelvin temperatures.

I used to shoot my slides this way until North Light Books sent me the "highly recommended booklet" on Tungsten lights and film. The results are uniformly excellent. I would never go back to the "guess at Kelvin" exercise with daylight slide film. Slide film is expensive to buy and to process.

Last year I spent over $6K on film/processing. I have already saved half of that with my digital camera, purchased in March. However, all digital cameras are not equal. There is, I am sure a crossover point where slide film becomes obsolescent, but I am sure it depends on the megapixel capacity of your digital camera, as well as the focal end of your shot ( e.g. web page or 8X10 ad)

I will absolutely try Linda's approach with the painting now on my easel.

Linda, how many megapixels does your camera shoot?
I am debating moving up from my 3.4 megapixel camera. (One with a cable release, as you described, would be nice too.)

Michele, my Minolta has about 5 megapixels. If I were you I'd skip this model and save up for one of the $2,000 or so cameras that are out now. But you really ought to buy a cable release, I think mine was around $20 and it's made a big difference in how well my camera focuses on a painting. I'm not the best photographer and I need all the help I can get.

Mike, you must have an amazing monitor to be able to identify the quavering old quadruped in the painting on the wall. Not a dead cat, but very close: my 12 year old English Pointer. The title of this painting, in fact, is "Not Dead, Just Resting."

Oh my gosh Linda, now I really feel bad. To suggest that your dog looked like a hurled dead cat stuck to the wall, this is inexcusable.

When I got the multiple auto e-mails referring to the tossed kitty I should have suspected the recent computer glitches. Please forgive me, I should have double checked before going off like that.

It is however even more impressive to think that a fairly large dog, probably twice the size of a cat, would just stick there like that.

But seriously, that seems like a very fine studio environment. Mr. Moon looking down on you is a nice touch.

Sincerely

My camera has no attachment for a cable release, unfortunately. What I do to compensate for that is put my camera on a tripod and use the self timer. (That way my finger on the shutter doesn't shake the camera, for those of you not familiar with what a cable release is for.)

I love slides.com
 

I'm posting a heartfelt testimonial to the wonderful people at www.slides.com .

Due to sloth, gluttony, and who knows what else of the Seven Deadly Sins, I was recently late in getting slides out and making a deadline. To make matters worse I didn't opt for the super-fast shipment. (That one would have been 'greed'.)

The compassionate slides.com people stepped in and saved my neck. I received a duplicate order so quickly it made my head spin. They are fantastic!

Not expensive, either. Each original slide is $4.00; an extra one is $2.00 and I think the price eventually drops to $1.00 for multiples.

I upload my tifs and I'll never go back to shooting film for slides again. (I see they also offer a Powerpoint service, though I haven't tried this yet.)

A Public Service Announcement
 

It has come to my attention that there is some confusion about what consitutes the Seven Deadly Sins. (Personally, I think they should be the Seven Naughty Misdemeanors, but it's not up to me.)

Not in any particular order, they are: Pride; Anger; Lust; Envy; Gluttony; Avarice; Sloth.

****************

Wilt thou forgive that sin, where I begun,
which is my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive those sins through which I run,
and do run still, though still I do deplore?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
for I have more.

Wilt thou forgive that sin, by which I won
others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun
a year or two, but wallowed in a score?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
for I have more.

I have a sin of fear that when I've spun
my last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son
shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore.
And having done that, thou hast done,
I fear no more.

John Donne (1573 - 1631)