“Painting with light” Studio & gallery Fine Art Photography, Pigment Prints, & Photo-Paintings by Paul J. McCloskey
 
ARTIST STATEMENT "To create one’s own world in any of the arts takes courage.”   Georgia O’Keefe from Tao of Photography
           by Tom Ang

"The Blue Marble”

I like to think of my photography as "Painting Wth Light…a sacred light.”  I am attempting to portray and communicate not only the breath-taking beauty in nature, but also the ambiance and spirit of it using natural light to help "paint" my pictures... in camera.  I consider this to be much more than just an artistic technique, but also a philosophy about creativity, the creative process, and living creatively. I consider myself to be somewhat of a “digital alchemist” and refer to my art/work as “Photo-Painting”, which I see as a convergence of today’s digital photography/imaging technology with digital printmaking, and the graphic arts and plein-air art... it's ALL about  light.  I am especially interested in what I consider to be the "Masters of Light."  Not only the photographers such as: Stieglitz, Adams, Weston, Rowell, Uehlsmann, and last but not least Minor White; but also the painters, and printmakers including “The Old Masters”: Caravaggio, Goya, Rembrandt, and Vermeer; as well as the French Barbizon School and Impressionists, such as Corot, and Courbet, Pissarro, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh and Sisley. I also enjoy the American painters who truly mastered the portrayal of light in their work, such as: Hopper and Wyeth, O'Keeffe and Dixon , as well as Homer, Inness, and Sargeant. Some of my favorite works are from the California Impressionists including: Rose , Kleiitsch , and Bischoff.  I have just discovered a deep appreciation for the Ukiyo-e genre of Japanese woodblock prints from the 17th to the 20th centuries, especially Hiroshige who’s amazing portrayal of the Japanese landscape was an inspiration for some of the French Impressionists, including Monet and Van Gogh. These are just a few of my favorite artists (painters, photographers and printmakers), and by no means an exhaustive list -- but rather a few who I look to for inspiration and consider to be "Masters of Light.” I actually visualize what I am attempting to portray with a painter's eye and approach each image with a “painterly” attention to composition, color, texture, and especially atmosphere. These are key elements in all my images. For me, there is a Zen and/or Tao to these images that evokes a sort of mystical and spiritual feeling which arises within the natural settings… BE HERE NOW. I do believe there is truly a transcendental element to art (and the creative process in general), that goes far deeper than just another pretty picture/painting. Being in nature brings a sense of wonder and inner joy that is sometimes difficult to communicate in words, but done so eloquently by environmentalists/writers such as Thoreau and Emerson, Muir and Abbey, to name but a few. I also have a deep respect and love for nature and hope these images inspire the same feelings in others. It is critical for the survival of this planet that we protect our environment for future generations to come. Each and every photo-painting has a story to tell, and I hope these images bring some joy and inspiration to go out and experience the beauty and majesty of nature and create something wonderful in this world we live. The images are captured using either a Canon G5 digital camera with no filters nor specialty lenses and/or a Canon 20D digital SLR camera. I especially like the simplicity, versatility and compactness of the G5 because I can take it just about everywhere I go. I am truly blown away by its ability to capture the light, color, texture and spirit of the settings that I am actually experiencing in the moment. Minor touchup is done using Adobe Photoshop on an Apple Macintosh Powerbook to enhance the contrast and levels, but I try to stay true to the ambience and spirit of the natural settings that I experience. These museum-quality prints are output to a medium to large-format, fine art, inkjet printer onto archival, fine-art papers and/or water-resistant canvas using archival, color-fast inks. Thank you! so much for taking the time to view my art/work, and please visit the “Painting With Light” Gallery Collections to see more of my art/work. Feel free to contact me with your comments, questions and/or to place an order:   info@paintingwithlightgallery.com  “Painting With Light” Studio & Gallery Photo-Paintings by Paul J. McCloskey PO Box 13013, San Luis Obispo, CA  93406 805.235.3001 paul@paintingwithlightstudio.com http://paintingwithlightgallery.com © 2004-2012 "Painting With Light" - Photo-Paintings by Paul J. McCloskey - All Rights Reserved. The images on this website are protected by international copyright law and are provided for viewing purposes only.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artistichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artistichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritualityhttp://homepage.mac.com/paul_mccloskeyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alchemyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_photographyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printmakinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printmakinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plein-Air_Paintinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lighthttp://www.artsmia.org/get-the-picture/stieglitz/index.htmlhttp://www.anseladams.com/http://www.edward-weston.com/edward_weston.htmhttp://www.mountainlight.com/http://www.uelsmann.net/http://www.vasculata.com/minor_white.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paintinghttp://homepage.mac.com/paul_mccloskeyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caravaggiohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goyahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandthttp://www.essentialvermeer.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbizon_schoolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbizon_schoolhttp://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/glo/impressionism/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Camille_Corothttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Courbethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pissarrohttp://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/monet/http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/renoir/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Degashttp://www.vangoghgallery.com/http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/sisley/http://www.artchive.com/artchive/H/hopper.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wyethhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_O'Keeffehttp://www.tfaoi.com/distingu/mdixon.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winslow_Homerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Innesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Singer_Sargenthttp://www.fleischer.org/colamer.htmlhttp://www.fleischer.org/rose.htmlhttp://www.fleischer.org/kleitsch.htmlhttp://www.fleischer.org/bischoff.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukiyo-ehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshigehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_%28visual_arts%29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendentalismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmentalismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreauhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emersonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Muirhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Abbeyhttp://web.mac.com/paul_mccloskey/Painting_With_Light_Gallery/Gallery_Collections/Gallery_Collections.htmlhttp://web.mac.com/paul_mccloskey/Painting_With_Light_Gallery/Gallery_Collections/Gallery_Collections.htmlmailto:nfo@paintingwithlightgallery.com?subject=re:%20Order%20Infomailto:paul@paintingwithlightstudio.com?subject=re:%20Artist%20Statementhttp://homepage.mac.com/paul_mccloskey/http://artsobispo.org/reg_swf/p_mccloskey/p_mccloskey.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1shapeimage_3_link_2shapeimage_3_link_3shapeimage_3_link_4shapeimage_3_link_5shapeimage_3_link_6shapeimage_3_link_7shapeimage_3_link_8shapeimage_3_link_9shapeimage_3_link_10shapeimage_3_link_11shapeimage_3_link_12shapeimage_3_link_13shapeimage_3_link_14shapeimage_3_link_15shapeimage_3_link_16shapeimage_3_link_17shapeimage_3_link_18shapeimage_3_link_19shapeimage_3_link_20shapeimage_3_link_21shapeimage_3_link_22shapeimage_3_link_23shapeimage_3_link_24shapeimage_3_link_25shapeimage_3_link_26shapeimage_3_link_27shapeimage_3_link_28shapeimage_3_link_29shapeimage_3_link_30shapeimage_3_link_31shapeimage_3_link_32shapeimage_3_link_33shapeimage_3_link_34shapeimage_3_link_35shapeimage_3_link_36shapeimage_3_link_37shapeimage_3_link_38shapeimage_3_link_39shapeimage_3_link_40shapeimage_3_link_41shapeimage_3_link_42shapeimage_3_link_43shapeimage_3_link_44shapeimage_3_link_45shapeimage_3_link_46shapeimage_3_link_47shapeimage_3_link_48shapeimage_3_link_49shapeimage_3_link_50shapeimage_3_link_51shapeimage_3_link_52shapeimage_3_link_53shapeimage_3_link_54shapeimage_3_link_55shapeimage_3_link_56shapeimage_3_link_57shapeimage_3_link_58shapeimage_3_link_59shapeimage_3_link_60