Friday, March 4, 2016

Upcoming Artist Lecture at LCAD

http://www.lcad.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/548-Fine-Arts-Alia-El-Bermani-Lecture-2016-Poster-1-copy.jpg 


It's fun to see your painting pop up on the home page:

Also, make sure you come check out my husband's lecture the day before.  He will be sharing way too much about designing monsters and characters.

Screen Shot 2016-02-16 at 10.06.32 AM

Outside the Box Merit Award

This is a bit of good news from a few months ago, which I neglected to share here at the time. 


I am pleased and honored to share that the Portrait Society of America has given my painting Paper Wishes a 10th Merit Award for the Outside the Box category for their annual Member's Only Competition.  Thank you Portrait Society for the recognition!

Paper Wishes, oil on panel, 48" x 36", 2015


Thursday, March 3, 2016

Delude

Delude, oil on acm panel, 40" x 30" 

Delude, oil on acm panel, 40" x 30"  detail

I love getting lost in this detail.

 Delude, oil on acm panel, 40" x 30" detail

I am purposely not going to say much about this painting, but if you feel so inclined, please share with me in the comments what you think this painting is about or how you read it.  I look forward to seeing if my intentions at all come through to how you understand the work.

*FYI if you have a PC you can right click on an image to view in a new tab to see a larger image (and zoom in).  I don't know how or if that is possible on an apple computer, but maybe someone will say so in a comment.

NikonD610 vs D80 What a Difference

As I mentioned in a previous post (found here), I was recently awarded a grant from the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County to purchase new studio equipment, specifically a new Nikon D610 digital camera with a fixed focal length lens.

I want to take this moment to appreciate the vast improvement that this camera offers in shooting images of my paintings.  Below you will find images comparing the same painting shot with my old Nikon D80 versus this new Nikon D610.

First, I will discuss a few of the major advantages I have found that the D610 offers, for my purposes.  Most importantly, the image quality if far superior with the D610.  With 24 megapixel vs 10mp resolution capabilities, I immediately notice much less graininess to the D610 photos.  I also immediately appreciate the more accurate color taken with this camera and lens.  Also, the LCD screen on the back of the D610 camera is quite a bit larger, and also has a higher resolution, so I can more easily and quickly assess if the photos I am taking are exactly what I need.  One feature the D610 offers that I look forward to using is the high resolution video capabilities.  I foresee creating timelapse films of my works in progress or short how to videos.  The D80 is only capable of taking still shots.  If you would like to read a more detailed comparison of these two cameras let me suggest this website.

Now for the image comparison:

Rising Tide, oil on panel 34" x 54" Shot with D80

Rising Tide, oil on panel 34" x 54" Shot with D610

  
 Rising Tide detail, oil on panel 34" x 54" Shot with D80

Rising Tide detail, oil on panel 34" x 54" Shot with D610
     
Again, I want to thank the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County for this wonderful opportunity.  I very much appreciate the support this local institution provides for our area artists.  

The Regional Artist Project Grant is funded and administered by the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County.  This project is supported by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.  The program is operated in partnership with the Franklin County Arts Council, Johnston County Arts Council, Vance County Arts Council and Warren County Arts Council.

http://www.unitedarts.org/