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My digital watercolor version of my portrait of model Amy Prause. 

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Downtown Austin, Texas at sunrise, Circa 2022.

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Original Photograph                        My Interpretive “Cover”

  Why the Double Standard When Comparing a Musical “Cover” with a Visual Arts “Cover”?

Why do so many people react with revulsion when an artist “re-interprets” another artists’ work (with their expressed permission, of course!)  by creating a new, unique version of it? In the music world this is, and has been for quite a long time a widely accepted practice known as recording a “cover” of an already published song. I know most everyone reading this piece is familiar with Joe Cocker’s exceptional cover of the Beatles “With A Little Help From My Friends”. Do a quick search on the internet and you will find a wide variety of covers of Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”, or how about Linda Ronstadt. Her highly successful singing career was from mostly doing covers of other artist’s songs.

No one gets upset about these reworked songs – but when an artist wants to use another artist’s work – say a photograph for instance,  to create a new, unique version or “cover” of it in a different medium they are commonly barraged with negative comments like: That’s “copying”; it’s fake art; you are stealing; ect.

Really?

Now, please, be frank with me. When you saw the two images at the top of this blog post was your first gut reaction one similar to the ones I mentioned in the previous paragraph? Something like: how dare he do that! He’s copying another artist’s work! Or are you one of the few who honestly have no problem whatsoever with what I have done?

  Working in a different medium – digital painting –  I’m actually creating my own “cover” of that photograph – which was, by the way freely given to me by the photographer to use as a reference for my work. (I would never think of covering  another person’s art or photograph without their explicit permission). I source most of my covered works from Pixabay.com – which is a website that allows photographers to upload their work to be freely used by anyone for any purpose, including commercial uses. No attribution is required from most of these generous photographers, but I always include their names anyway as the reference photo’s owner when they are known to me. (The above photo was donated anonymously on Pixabay.com, so I am unable to display his/her name).

I’m wondering if anyone else out there feels the same way I do about this seeming “double standard” that is based on no valid foundation that I can find. Please feel free to add your comments if you have any.

Thanks for reading this far!

Warmest Regards,

Chuck

  “Covers” in the Visual Arts Original Photograph                        My Interpretive "Cover" Why the Double Standard When Comparing a Musical "Cover" with a Visual Arts "Cover"?

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I love this photo "Water Lily (With Texture)" at ViewBug. Find more inspiring images at ViewBug - the world’s most rewarding photo community. Photo by chuckunderwood

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I just added a new piece of art to Saatchi Art! Eastern Beauty - Limited Edition 1 of 50

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My art on women’s clothing and apparel - Who’d have thought? 

http://shopvida.com/collections/charles-underwood

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdVKf6lvoIo)

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My New Vida Collection

My New Vida Collection

So I received an invitation from Vida the other day to submit some of my artwork/photography to be considered for inclusion in the designs of their clothing line. This was something completely new and foreign to me so I looked into it to see if it was for real. It looks like the real thing to me. Turns out VIDA is a global partnership of creators, pairing designers from around the world with…

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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0DbWh_S47w)

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Meet Adobe Spark

  I just created a new promo using a new app from adobe called Adobe Spark. It felt a little strange to me to be referring to myself in the third person, but if you don’t have another willing person available, or simply can’t afford to hire someone who can do the copywriting for you (my situation), you will have to do it yourself.   Anyway, Adobe is currently offering a free 30 day trial of the…

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My Digital Paintings are now available from my Deviant Art Page. Affordable Fine Art Giclee Prints on museum grade paper or canvas.

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Changing the Color Scheme of Your Digital Painting

Changing the Color Scheme of Your Digital Painting

Changing the Color Scheme of Your Digital Painting Screen Capture of Topaz Restyle (as a Photoshop Plug – in) One of the unique and often overlooked benefits of working in the digital painting medium is the expansive array of editing options that are now available to digital artists (and new ones seem to be cropping up every other day). Today I am focusing on a great little gem of software genius…

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Welcome to FineLight Arts

Welcome to FineLight Arts

Hello and welcome to my new (and improved!) blog with which I will be featuring articles and free tutorials among other things of interest to anyone who has a passion for art/digital art/photography – did I leave anything out? I am truly looking forward to making the best of this opportunity to share and (hopefully) inspire all of you aspiring new artists or photographers as well as possibly some…

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Hummingbird

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I just added a new piece of art to Saatchi Art! A Morning Sail

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Wall Art Nature Painting "Waterbird" Limited Edition Fine Art Print