From the Artist: "This was a challenge! My objective was to create a work of color, texture, and hopefully some emotional intensity. I combined images from four different photos, and ended up creating a new world. My most helpful reference during this painting was Composition of Outdoor Painting, by Edgar Payne. This is my first painted garden."
From the Painting Guide: This is a very strong painting; just take a look at the composition, which leads your eye in and around the painting with its diagonal lines and curves, plus the echoes of color. Then there's the intense colors and the density of the flowers, which in the foreground we see as individuals but blend towards the black to become an area where your eye wants to linger and explore.
It's a pity one can't see texture well on a web photo, because this must add another dimension to the painting. Those flowers in the bottom right-hand corner make me feel like stretching out my hand to feel them.
You've also provided a great example of how to get the best from reference photos, that is to create your own, new image, to use them as a source of inspiration, not to slavishly reproduce the photo, which I rarely see the point of, never mind the copyright issues if it isn't your own photo.
From the Painting Guide: This is a very strong painting; just take a look at the composition, which leads your eye in and around the painting with its diagonal lines and curves, plus the echoes of color. Then there's the intense colors and the density of the flowers, which in the foreground we see as individuals but blend towards the black to become an area where your eye wants to linger and explore.
It's a pity one can't see texture well on a web photo, because this must add another dimension to the painting. Those flowers in the bottom right-hand corner make me feel like stretching out my hand to feel them.
You've also provided a great example of how to get the best from reference photos, that is to create your own, new image, to use them as a source of inspiration, not to slavishly reproduce the photo, which I rarely see the point of, never mind the copyright issues if it isn't your own photo.