Inspiration

Click on the image for a larger photo. This was one of a series of photos that I had taken at Frontenac Park several years ago.

I received an email from someone who found the photo on another website — John McAlister. Matthew contacted me last March about some of my photos:

Hi Richard

Thanks for the quick and informative reply!

Frontenac is one of my favourite places – similar beauty to Alongquin, but not so many people know about it and it feels more isolated. I’ve got a young family (2 year old and six month old) but we are slowly building up the tradition of visiting Frontenac every summer. Perhaps a fun trip would be just my wife and I in the fall – get away for a bit and enjoy some more rugged camping!

One last question for you – I like the first photograph in the link you sent so much that I’d like to base our painting off it – we’ll definitely have some changes, like removing the grassy knoll from the foreground so that it looks a little more like a small like than, like you said, a pond, adding the canoe, and a couple of birch and white pine (although keeping it mostly hardwood/maple to preserve the Frontenac feel). I would like your permission to pass the link for the photograph on to the artist. Please let me know if this would be ok. I’d send you a link of the painting when it is done (it would likely appear on the artist’s website).

Thanks,

Matthew

And, a little more than a year later, I received another email.

Hi Richard

Hope you are well. We received the painting this weekend that was based on one of your photographs of Frontenac Park. I’ve attached a photograph that the artist took of the painting while it was still in his shop. Hope you enjoy, and appreciate the artistic liberty that was taken! If you’re interested, he also painted another similar one based on one of his preliminary sketches. I’m pretty sure it is the first painting you’ll see on this link (called My Lake View): www.richardtpranke.com. I guess some of the colouring was changed a bit – less brilliant red, but still beautiful.

Now I just need to go find the spot in the fall…

Cheers,

Matthew

I have been fortunate to see a number of my photographs used as inspiration for artists. It is such a wonderful joy to see how an artist builds on a photo. Here is the final painting based on the above photo. Click for a larger image. The artist keeps his website here.