Ballet Photo or Ballet Painting?
This lens kept changing and evolving as I was writing it. I started out telling you about how I really like to paint ballet dancers . . . . Ho . . . Hum . . . that just wasn't enough. So it evolved into how a camera 'sees', how we as human beings 'see', what goes into the mix of an artist 'seeing' and then painting a painting.
If you enjoy this lens, please mark it as a favorite, sign my guestbook and email it to anyone you think might like it ! Thank you so much for taking the time to check this out.
A Camera or a Canvas
"My Dance Teacher's Tutu" by Tricia Walsh
With a lovely dancer before your eyes, would you choose to preserve the beauty of the moment with a photograph or a painting?
There are many differences in the way a camera sees and in the way a human being sees.
In some ways the camera is more accurate and certainly more predictable.
What an artist puts on the canvas depends upon much more than just seeing with the eyes.
But first let's compare the two.
How Does a Camera See?
How Do Our Eyes See?
We See in 3 D
If you have any question or hesitation about this, please just try it out!
Most of What Enters Our Eyes We Do Not See
One major way in which our sight differs from that of a camera is that we filter out what is irrelevant. When we walk down the street our eyes take in vast amounts of visual data - much more than we are aware of. Most of this information, does not reach our awareness.
Here is a fun picture to illustrate this point. In the Nutcracker Ballet, Marie having just received her precious gift, has eyes only for her beloved Nutcracker!
As We Look - Our Eyes Dance
The eye takes in visual data about an object of interest, not with a fixed and rigid stare, but by dancing around it, behaving almost like water. These tiny rapid movements are so automatic they are hardly noticeable. In fact to me the movement of our eyes is a continual moving dance in itself.
Why Not Just Take a Photo?
When we look with our eyes at a specific point, it is only the core of what we are looking at that is in focus. Surrounding objects gradually lose their clarity the further they are away from the focal point. An artist as creator, has free play as to where the center of interest is in a painting. It is my opinion that an artist can create something more in alignment with the way our eyes see than a photograph can.
The Music, the Energy, the Passion, can Radiate from a Painting
"Eye to Eye I" by Tricia Walsh, inspired by Washington State Ballet
As an artist watching a wild and wonderful dance, I hear the music and feel the rhythm in my body. And I feel the energy and passion radiating from the dancers.
Ballet Fantasy Truer Than Life?
"A Ballerina Fairy Poised on A Raven" by Tricia Walsh
WAIT A MINUTE . . . . Commissioning a painting of a dancer might be a risky business. With a photograph you are reasonably sure of what you will get.
With a painting, the possibilities are endless. . . .
Sometimes a fantastical setting can best express the invisible spirit of a dance - more so than the physical stage setting in which the dance took place.
Visit the Ballet Painter Boutique or order your own painting!
- HOW DO I ORDER MY OWN BALLET PAINTING?
- What size do ballet paintings come in? How much do they cost? How long do they take? And where might I put a ballet painting?
Here are a few ideas . . .
~ - VISIT THE BALLET PAINTER BOUTIQUE
- See paintings that are for sale in the Ballet Painter Boutique right now!
~ - ORDER A PAINTING OF YOUR OWN POINTE SHOES
- Celebrate your pointe shoes and all the dancing you've done in them. Read more . . .
~
Excellent Books about Ballet on Amazon
Classical Ballet Technique
Amazon Price: $39.15 (as of 12/02/2008) 
Teaching Beginning Ballet Technique
Amazon Price: $18.45 (as of 12/02/2008)
The Ballet Companion: A Dancer's Guide to the Technique, Traditions, and Joys of Ballet
Amazon Price: $19.77 (as of 12/02/2008)
Inside Ballet Technique: Separating Anatomical Fact from Fiction in the Ballet Class
Amazon Price: $12.89 (as of 12/02/2008)
Basic Principles of Classical Ballet: Russian Ballet Technique
Amazon Price: (as of 12/02/2008)
Welcome to My Guestbook
Please leave your mark and tell me what you think !
Ellie wrote
Enjoyed your lens. I love your work! Being both a photographer and painter, I have to agree with your comments. That is why I so often find myself tweaking my photos in an attempt to add to them the emotion that I felt when viewing the subject with the movement or "dance" of my eyes!
Posted October 05, 2008
Sheila Griffin wrote
Loved the intro. to your work and especially 'a Ballerina Fairy Poised on a Raven.'
Posted September 15, 2008
Pat wrote
Hi Trish, Nicely written lens: informative, thought provoking, and light hearted. Thanks for sharing your passion! Love, Pat
Posted July 28, 2008
