mouse-over for before view. Here in the Languedoc, where the fauvist artistic movement made its home we’re blessed with over 300 days of sun, unfortunately many of those days are windy! It’s that same wind that keeps the clouds away and also makes my job as a landscape photographer harder as the light is very […]
Dec 07, 2014 | Categories: Blog | Tags: Beziers, Cassanova, Fauvist, Mediterranean, Paul Grand, river, Sakura Skies, Topaz Impression | Comments Off on Fauvist mist
After creating and blogging the original image and recipe several weeks ago, we teamed up with the famous US Artist and print technique innovator, Bonny Pierce Lhotka to host a small taster pack of her highly original textures. To try out Bonny’s Nature bits taster pack, I used my ready flypaper textured image, and […]
Jul 07, 2012 | Categories: Blog | Tags: Antiques Edges, artichokes, Flypaper Textures, France, French, grunge, Mediterranean, moody, naturalbits textues, Paul Grand, Still Life | Comments Off on Artichokes
I dont think I ate an artichoke until I was a student? After finishing a water-colour still-life of them, as it would have been a crime to throw them out. I’m not saying we lived on just potatoes and boiled cabbage, but up in Yorkshire such things were frowned upon and were seen as being […]
Apr 04, 2012 | Categories: Blog | Tags: Antique Edges, blackboard, Dutch Master, Fly Edges, France, French, Getty, lensbaby, lighting, Mediterranean, moody, painterly, Paul Grand, soft box, Spring Painterly Pack, Still Life, Tutorial, watercolour effect | Comments Off on Artichokes
I’ve always been fascinated by large austerely decrepit houses,hankering back to my student house-rental days in Yorkshire. Later in London, after seeing a big Gwen John retrospective exhibition, I was reminded of those poor desolate student days where we’d burn furniture and even old platform shoes to try to keep warm!Gwen John’ssmall Parisian attic room with her […]
Feb 02, 2012 | Categories: Blog | Tags: antique, bathroom, bowl, Creme Anglaise, France, French, glamor glow, Gwen John, Mediterranean, metal, moody, Nik Color efex, painterly, Paul Grand, Sisley, Spring Painterly Pack, Still Life, wash stand, white shades | Comments Off on Jug and Bowl
A big thanks to Ellen for her kind texture feature on dpreview and a warm welcome to their visiting fans! Once again its the time of year for my favorite misty, foggy mornings in the Mediterranean! As soon as I open my shutters and spy mist outside, I need to work fast, as the sun […]
Dec 06, 2011 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: Adobe Camera Raw, Autumn Painterly Pack, Brushed Rose, canal, France, French, Getty, Languedoc, leaf peak, Mediterranean, mist, moody, Nik, painterly, Pantheon Stone, Paul Grand, photoshop, Russell Brown Adobe Texture Panel, Spring Painterly Pack, trees | Comments Off on Voyage through canal mist
Its always nice to wake up and find another one of your babies gracing a published book cover! Here’s today’s, an American thriller, heavily textured with our flypaper painterly textures. Its just a preview copy as its not yet out, so I expect their colours will hopefully not be as muddled as this one with […]
Nov 29, 2011 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: action, Beziers, bookcover, city, drama, figures, France, French, Getty, grunge, Languedoc, lensbaby, medieval streets, Mediterranean, moody, movement, novel, Opal, Paul Grand, photoshop, published, Spring Painterly Pack, Summer Painterly Pack, Swans Way, Tempest Sea, thriller, woman | Comments Off on Chasing the wind
A freezing walk on our local French beach with friends and their dogs over the weekend, produced this simple image. The glow of the cold mid-winter sun warmed by applying several flypaper textures and this time, no colour tweaks!I’m typing this whilst looking out over gently falling snow flakes,Europe and this, our northern Mediterranean coastline […]
Jan 08, 2010 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: beach, Caramel soft, figures, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Languedoc, Mediterranean, mid-winter, Muscatel.cold, Necropolis, Paul Grand, Raw Linen, sand, Tex Box 1, Tex Box 2, vacation | Comments Off on Homeward bound
I was emailed a few weeks ago, asking how to create a mist effectwith textures. My tardy answer is now shown here (sorry Bob!) This image was captured on the mountains last January.I’d not used these particular images because although I shot them in raw, It still had blown out areas.However, with our new textures […]
Jan 03, 2010 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: apple blush, bright, France, French, Getty, grunge, Languedoc, Leaden Hall, Mediterranean, mist, moody, morning, mountain, Necropolis, Paul Grand, pines, sun, Tex Box 1, Tex Box 2 | Comments Off on morning mist
From Jill and I we’d like to wish you all a gilded Bonne année!Its funny how the best shots are never planned!Yesterday, as it was sunny, I went for a drive in search of fresh images.Its continually maddening that all the best views are from our motorways and they are impossible to access without doing […]
Dec 31, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: apple blush, Caramel soft, Colosseum Sienna, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Getty, grunge, Languedoc, lost void, Mediterranean, mid, moody, moon, Muscatel, Necropolis, painterly, Paul Grand, telephoto lens, Tex Box 1, Tex Box 2, tree, trees, vacation, winter | Comments Off on Moon tree ~ Bonne année !
I’ve kept this one back a few months because it was a first try-out with the as then unpublished; Lost Void & Lime Plaster textures.Its just a shot of Geraniums & ivy on our north facing window ledge.They caught the sunlight glancing off the stone house windows opposite.I liked the way this texture combination gives […]
Dec 29, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: apple blush, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Geraniums, glass effect, Green, ivy, Languedoc, lime plaster, lost void, Mediterranean, Necropolis, Paul Grand, photoshop, Still Life, Tex Box 1, Tex Box 2, window box | Comments Off on Geraniums
Just like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers and viewers and wish everybody from both of us – Happy Holidays!:-)Here’s an oldie but a Goldie, taken with a 75-300m zoom lens in the summer at a small lavender farm at Barjac in the Gard area of the south of France. Processed first […]
Dec 26, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: Barjac, butterfly, flowers, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Gard, Getty, Languedoc, lavender farm, Mediterranean, Paul Grand, Phosphorescence, Photomatrix, photoshop, published, Tex Box 1, Tex Box 2, vacation | Comments Off on Butterfly Bliss
On Sunday afternoon just to curb the midwinter ‘Cabin fever’ we drove up towards the mountains. The light was clear and the air was crisp, but this time I diverted, hung a left and drove to ‘Lake Salagou’.Normally its a tourist nightmare, being the biggest and most famous lake in our area of the languedoc, […]
Dec 22, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: apple blush, boat, Chlorophyll, evening, fishermen, fishing, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Getty, golden hour, Green, lake, Lake Salagou, landscape, Languedoc, Mediterranean, men, mountains, Muscatel, painterly, Paul Grand, Phosphorescence, Pompeii Stucco, Tex Box 1, Tex Box 2, vacation | Comments Off on fishing trip
Our Southern French countryside is dotted with these ancient stone windmill ruins. There must be hundreds but I’ve seen only a couple that have been restored. The backdrop being our black mountains, which help to protect our Mediterranean coastal plains from the worst excesses of the northern European winter cold.The field contains freshly planted vines, […]
Dec 17, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: Antique Liaisons, Caramel Cream, Chlorophyll, coastal, flowers, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Getty, grunge, heady perfume, hilltop, Labyrinth, landscape, Languedoc, lost void, Mediterranean, moody, mountains, Ordinance Map, Paul Grand, photoshop, Raw Linen, ruined windmill, Tex Box 1, Tex Box 2, vacation, viners, vineyard | Comments Off on ruined windmill story
I’d been meaning to capture the sun set light on this building for ages, over looking our central market hall, this elegant shop/apartment building must have some very strange shaped rooms!I’ve not done much to it, the camera had its polarizor filter on, the textures were just used to bring out the golden tones I […]
Dec 14, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: apartment block, Beziers, Chlorophyll, city, coastal, elegant, Flypaper Textures, France, French, golden hour, Languedoc, Mediterranean, painterly, Paul Grand, sky, stone, strange, surreal, Tex Box 1, Tex Box 2, vacation | Comments Off on light at the end of the block
A dull afternoon on the beach found me on my knees trying to get a low level shot. Overcast days are perfect to try moody, grainy textures.The idea behind this picture was ‘a Message in a bottle’, but from the bottles perspective!The Lime Plaster somehow helps give that ‘old distorted glass effect’ . Tex Pack […]
Dec 10, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: beach, bleak, cold, concept, figure, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Getty, grainy, grunge, illustrative, landscape, Languedoc, lime plaster, man, Mediterranean, Message in a bottle, ming, old distorted glass effect, Paul Grand, pebbles, photoshop, surreal, Tex Box 2, vacation, view from a bottle, Voyageur map | Comments Off on m e s s e n g e r
We drove past this windmill many times on the way to the beach,situated on a hilltop overlooking the Mediterranean salt marshes.Thankfully we managed to stop a few times at sunset on route home to capture it on camera.I was lucky because it was cut down this year, it was really sad to see the top […]
Dec 07, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: big sky, coast road, derelict, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Getty, grunge, hill top, illustrative, iron, landscape, Languedoc, Mediterranean, moody, Necropolis, old, old time, painterly, pastel, Paul Grand, post fence, salt marches, surreal, Tex Box 1, Tex Box 2, trees, umbrella pine, vacation, Vendres plage, vines, vineyard, wall, water pump, windmill, wire | Comments Off on Wall Story
On the same day but taken just before the last ‘Reflected Light’ posting. This is inside our Beziers Park of the poets, decorated with many stone carved busts. Its made up of two pictures, merged in photoshop, as my Autopanopro was playing up!A more finished/textured version of this image is on my Flickr site. As […]
Nov 29, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: apple blush, Autopanopro, autumnal, bust, Caramel soft, Flypaper Textures, France, French, landscape, Languedoc, Mediterranean, merged, moody, Necropolis, painterly, park of the poets, Paul Grand, photoshop, poet, Raw Linen, statue, surreal, Tex Box 1, trees, vacation | Comments Off on Bust and tree
Walking back from our local ‘Park of the Poets’ in Central Beziers,I came across this dark and narrow bow terrace.The lowering sun reflecting off the opposite houses stucco in an interesting way, lighting the upper apartment windows.You’ll see I’ve removed a mass of visual pollution from the skyline, aerials are the one thing I almost […]
Nov 27, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: angst, apartments, buildings, Caramel Cream, contained, crowding, curve, Dangerous Liaisons, enclosed, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Getty, golden, hour, lonely, Mediterranean, moody, Orient Express, Paul Grand, Pompeii Stucco, prison, Raw Linen, reflected light, sad, sky, solitude, surreal, trapped, vacation, vertigo, windows | Comments Off on reflected light
Back in early July we made a special trip to the beach at sunset just to photograph the full moon rising over the Mediterranean.The light was superbly opalescent, and I was lucky, as I captured several nice images as well as the later moonrise. This is one, a huge red container, not sure why it […]
Nov 18, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: beach, bright, Caramel soft, concept, evening, figures, Flypaper Textures, France, French, gloaming, golden hour, homeward, Languedoc, Mediterranean, metal, out of context, out of place, painterly, Paul Grand, people, red box, sand, Sea, shipping container, soft, strange, surreal, Tex Box 2 | Comments Off on red box
Another human for our professional readers!Taken on a professional Portrait shoot with French Artist, Martine Roch a couple of years ago. This one was never used but I now like the little surreal looking figure with a bucket in the corner!It was shot in that cold, sharp April light, the shadows being so dark, it […]
Nov 12, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: Artist, beach, blond, breakwater, Caramel soft, carrying, carrying on, concept, Contra jour, figure, figures, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Getty, golden, Languedoc, leaving, lone, man with buck, Martine Roch, mature, Mediterranean, moody, Necropolis, painterly, parting, Paul Grand, pink, portrait, Raw Linen, reflected light, reflector, Sea, single, strong, surreal, surrealist, Tex Box 1, uplighter, vacation, woman | Comments Off on Life goes on
Another misty ‘Canal du Midi’ shot, just west of Beziers,our famous local French Atlantic coast to the French Mediterranean sea connection. One of the main reasons for its being built was to avoid having to sail around Spain.Because just over two hundred years ago those pesky Spanish Pirates were quite a problem!This in turn brought […]
Nov 10, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: apple blush, Autopanopro, autumn, autumnal, barge drivers, bounty, Canal du Midi, Caramel soft, choices, concept, end, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Getty, grunge, horses shade, joined up, Languedoc, Mediterranean, mellow fruitfulness, mist, moody, Napoleon's marching trees, painterly, path, pathway, Paul Grand, poplar trees, Raw Linen, roads, Routs, sailers, stagnant, travel, trees, vacation, wealth, wine | Comments Off on Three routes into mist
Nov 06, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: apple blush, autumn, Beziers, boat, boats, calm, Caramel soft, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Getty, golden hour, Languedoc, Mediterranean, no people, painterly, Paul Grand, Raw Linen, river bank, riverscape, sunset, Tex Box 1, tress, vacation | Comments Off on A view from a Roman Bridge
French surrealist artist Martine Roch is well and truly stuck on Flypaper textures! So, to coincide with her new exhibition this weekend, we thought we’d do a little Q & A feature on her.Martine is a professional artist/illustrator and Getty photographer.Her muse is her famous female Labrador ‘Boudi’. They are based in Dijon, north east […]
Nov 04, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Interviews, Uncategorized | Tags: Artist, Boudi, canvas, dog, exhibition opening, France, French, illustrator, Languedoc, Martine Roch interview, Mediterranean, Paul Grand, professional, sales, surreal, woman | Comments Off on Martine Roch
I’ve been asked if I also use other ‘enhancement programs’ Both Jill and I have programs such as ‘Lucis’ but I’ve never shown a picture using it. You can use these programs on your images before following our recipes. A while ago I described how I get my painterly look before texturising. I now repeat […]
Nov 03, 2009 | Categories: Blog, Uncategorized | Tags: acrylic effect, beach, Beach Shack, cafe, canvas, David Hockney, Flypaper Textures, France, French, Languedoc, look, Mediterranean, modern art, no people, painterly, Paul Grand, Paul's Painterly Effect, sunny, surreal, Tex Box 2, Tutorial, vacation, Voyageur map, walkway, yellow | Comments Off on Voyageur map