In the matter of color: the Hon. James T. Giles

[Alexandra Tyng]

Hey Garth, what a nice way to wake up in the morning! Were the two congressmen connected somehow, or were they entirely separate but synchronistic events? Either way, you are in, friend!

[Garth Herrick]

Hi Alex,

There was one phone call with two congressmen. The Pennsylvania congressman called on his cell phone, while the Florida congressman was across tha aisle on a charter tour bus, all full of congress members on a morning's excusion to an undisclosed destination. They were both very friendly. Well I should admit that the Florida congressman actually recalled for me that we in fact attended grade school together. The world gets smaller! The Pennsylvania congressman was the one who gave him the business card. Mystery partially solved.

Garth

[Garth Herrick]

Originally Posted by Rob Sullivan

Well, I'm going to start with freebies.

I'm sending a link to all my students to take a good, long look at this painting. They may cry a little, but it will be good for them.

Then, I'm sending a link to all the painting faculty at NHIA so they can send it to their students. I'm sure they will cry, too.

I'm toying with the idea of wearing a sandwich board with "GARTH IS DA MAN" on it, and walking around town.

All right, that last one may require some re-tooling.

Rob, you are too much! I hope nobody actually cries. I showed this portrait to my own class and none of them shed any tears over this.

Garth

[Garth Herrick]

Originally Posted by Mark Lovett

Garth,
Whether one is a huge fan of photo realism or not, the degree of skill and dedication required to paint such a finish is enormous and unobtainable by most, so hats off to you! This is quite an accomplishment, and a beautiful piece of work. I would love to come visit you in your studio and see the mad scientist at work next time I'm in the Philly area.

On another post I saw how you coordinated your grey scale with Photoshop and I wonder if you could tell me how this is done or perhaps refer me to a thread where this is already discussed. At this point, I dont even know how to get Photoshop to identify the values of an image.
Thanks much,
Mark

Hi Mark,

Well for starters, I generated a 101-level grayscale in Photoshop (a time-consuming task) that I carefully calibrated for my printer.

As for identifying digital value levels in Photoshop, the tab next to the Navigator menu is the Information menu. The menu will automatically display the value readout of wherever the cursor is on the image. I find it helpful to convert to L.a.b. scale instead of RGB (for 101 levels). Don't get too excited about this technology though; it is better to sort through all these value relationships with your own eyes when painting. Painting by numbers is a sure way to make your painting degrade into a bad copy of a photograph. On the other hand, it is useful for studying and comparing value relationships in the photo reference. Just don't copy this blindly onto the canvas. Interpretation is needed.

I hope this helps answer your questions.

Garth

[Mark Lovett]

Oh I see what you mean. The world definately does not need another copy of a photograph. Thanks much!