I love when I get an email from someone with an image that they’ve taken and I see, “Can you help me with this?”  in the email.  It gives me a chance to use what the Lord blessed me with and help someone else secure a memory and create an heirloom work of  art.  One of my clients sent me a snapshot of her parents that she snagged at a family gathering.  She loved the photo of her mother and father – but the problem was a big…..no, HUGE…..florescent pink bunny sitting right between them.  It’s not often that we can snap a random image of people we love, much less, TWO people that we love, and have it be an image that we really like without something being in the way and it ends up being tossed.  Fortunately, she emailed the photo to me and asked…..”Can you help me with this?”

After some manipulation and fancy photoshop footwork (I thought they should be sitting a little closer together…wink, wink) and…..voila!….. The Big Pink Bunny was no longer, I had an image that I could paint into a lovely artpiece and my client now has an heirloom painting for her wall that she loves.  Send me your images – let’s see if I can help you!  Consultations are free of charge and who knows….you might end up with an heirloom artpiece worthy of passing along for many generations to come!

Original Photo:

Finished Artpiece:

Closeup of face:

Comparison from original to finished piece:

Portraits aren’t always about “humans” – expressions, beauty, love…..can all be used to describe the furry family members as well.  Pet portraits are some of my favorite paintings.  I love to bring out the love, the humor, the sentimentality that we all feel about our pets.

Congratulations to Gina C. – the winner of the Heirloom Give-away.  Gina submitted a photo of her adorable daughter, Emmalee in our Fan Photos give-away on our Facebook page.  There were SO many great photos submitted, it was a really difficult choice, but Emmalee’s adorability factor scored an 11×14 canvas print of this latest Fine Art from Real Life! 

Christmas is fast upon us!  Don’t wait – contact us with your treasured family photo to be transformed into a cherished heirloom for a beautiful gift for someone special this holiday season.

See how easy is it is to have your own photo painted into a gorgeous painting, sure to add that special touch to your home.

Check out the new logo!  It was time to move away from the boring, plain old look – and it was time to move on from the photography logo to this……

In celebration of the “New Look” and in making plans for Christmas, we are running a special!  Order a painting for regular price during the month of October and receive a box of 20 cards with your painting on the front – a $55 value!  You can use these as Christmas cards, announcements or just personal note cards.  The cards are printed on luxurious linen cardstock and come with matching envelopes.  You can have them personalized with a message on the inside, or leave them blank for your own written message.

Pricing and information for ordering is available under the Contact Us tab.  Please email debra@debralinkous.com for additional information.

A friend recently posted a photo to her online social networking account with the caption, “I could stare at this photo all day”.  When I saw the sweet face, I could see why.  How many of you have a favorite snapshot – a moment frozen in time that just pulls at your heartstrings and you wish that you could capture that expression in a portrait to be framed and hung for all the world to enjoy?  You can!!  Your snapshots can be transformed into Fine Art from Real Life by Debra Linkous.  Dig through your albums and find that photo today and contact us – we will help you grace your walls with Art….taken from your life!

I’ve been asked many times over recent months - “Are your paintings really painted or are they just photo-shopped”?  Well, the truth of the matter is that my art is created using several digital programs.  Some of the enhancements that I apply to the original photograph happen in Photoshop – such as color correction, resizing, cleaning up blemishes on skin, etc.  Once this happens, I then take the photo into a graphics program, called Corel Painter.  To anyone in the graphics industry, Corel Painter is widely known as the closest thing to really painting without actually getting a paintbrush wet.

Within Painter there are hundreds of “paintbrush” options – each one applies the “paint” to the canvas much the same as the physical brush would do.  There are textures, paint pallettes, pens, pencils, chalks, and I could go on and on.  This is a pallette that shows just a few of the brush strokes applied.  You can see where the pressure of the pen against the tablet determines how much paint is applied.  You can also see, just as in traditional painting, where the brush is set against the canvas and the paint is thicker and then runs out as the stroke gets longer.

The point I’m trying to make is – in answer to your question – yes, my art is truely painted.  Each pixel in the photograph is touched by a paintbrush, applying paint and techniques just as meticulously as if I was holding an actual bruch in my hand - but my brush is a Wacom pen and tablet.  I would venture to say that the time invested in painting in Corel Painter is much the same as if I were traditionally painting, minus the time for the paint to dry and cleaning my brushes. 

There is much education and practice to painting from a digial photograph.  There are programs out there and plug-ins for Photoshop that will apply a “painterly” look to a photograph.  Some produce quite nice results – however none of them have the control and precise techniques to turn a photograph into a true heirloom quality painting.

I could use the short-cuts, the plug-ins, the programs that are a one-button trick to make your photo look like a painting – but I choose to be true to the art form – taking time to develop your heirloom piece, enjoying each and every stroke that I paint on that canvas – I truely love creating a painting using your photos – that’s where I think Fine Art from Real Life really begins….I hope you enjoy the art that I create as much as I enjoy creating it for you!

Briana is the granddaughter of a dear friend and just celebrated her 2nd birthday!  This was a snap shot taken during the day, and what a gorgeous capture!   Wonderful ART from Real Life!  Your personal photos can be taken to a new level – contact us for more information!

This is the side by side showing the original snap shot and how the image was painted

Bridal photos can become exquisite works of art to remember that special day.  Contact us for pricing!

Photo courtesy of Michelle Brown Photography. 

Portraits aren’t always about “people”.  Some of the finest portraits come from life around us.  This little guy, most likely an egret or ibis of some type, was hanging out around the sea lions at Sea World.  What started out as a really nice snapshot, ended up being one of the most enjoyable portraits I’ve painted.  This would look really nice printed on a canvas for the wall, or even on linen cardstock for personal notecards.  I hope you enjoy this portrait taken from real life!

“The eyes are the mirror to the soul” – Yiddish Proverb.  I’ll bet you’d heard that quote before, but didn’t really know where it came from.   “Her eyes are homes of silent prayer” – Alfred Lord Tenneyson.  Another great analogy of how important and expressive the eyes are.  “The eyes indicate the antiquity of the soul” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.  All great quotes…..but each of them describe what beauty and depth the eyes give to a portrait.  In painting portraits, I give a great deal of attention and meticulous detail in painting the eyes.  If you don’t get the eyes right, the portrait is flat, dull and uninteresting.  If you paint the eyes correctly and with passion, the eyes make the portrait.  What do you think?