From the Artist: I took this photo of the sculpture Cloud Gate (British artist Anish Kapoor), where the city of Chicago reflects itself. The people in the city called "The Bean". The painting has been a challenge, since was done me difficult to maintain me in the abstract thing.
From the Painting Guide: Something you could do to help with the abstraction is to deliberately blur the photo, either when you take it or in a photo editing program. Or squint at the photo. That way the detail isn't there to begin with, so can't seduce you into painting it. I think it's the foreground that doesn't really work, with the sharp angle and the figures conflicting with the array of buildings in the background. I would try applying some artistic license to change the angle into a curve that echoes the one above, and make the figures less upright. Also hold your hand up to crop off the foreground, and see how you feel about the painting without it.
From the Painting Guide: Something you could do to help with the abstraction is to deliberately blur the photo, either when you take it or in a photo editing program. Or squint at the photo. That way the detail isn't there to begin with, so can't seduce you into painting it. I think it's the foreground that doesn't really work, with the sharp angle and the figures conflicting with the array of buildings in the background. I would try applying some artistic license to change the angle into a curve that echoes the one above, and make the figures less upright. Also hold your hand up to crop off the foreground, and see how you feel about the painting without it.