Photographing Artwork

I was sitting here eating my DELICIOUS chocolate and caramel "JERSEY GIRL" candy bar (really - Jerry brought it from Nixon's General Store) and wondering what to blog about . I did six new paintings so far this week and I try to shoot pictures of them as I go along. That way it doesn't turn out to be such a big project. I shoot them outside my studio door (preferably in bright shade) on the north side of my house with my little Nikon Digital coolpix 880. I thought you might like to see the ones I just took. These two quarter sheet paintings are 11" x 15" - which frame up to 16" x 20" or larger. This is what the picture looks like before I tweak it in Photoshop. I always keep the painting next to me as I'm making adjustments to the image. I try to get is as close as I can to the original. As you can see, I never attach my paper to a board and the pigment comes right out to the deckle edges on all four sides. These watercolors would look great with some nice custom framing and floating mats.