From the Artist: I live on a small island near Madeira, and love to paint. I often get artist's block, but this time I've decided to just give something a try and accepted the challenge of this month painting project (perhaps all the reading on the articles on artist's block is beginning to work for me!).
I took some pictures of a tree, and let myself go... It wasn't as difficult as I was expecting. The green part left me a little bit uncomfortable because there isn't any green in the photo, but I was feeling tired of using the same colors all over the painting so thought "why not try and see how it looks in the end?" Also, I've turned the painting to the left from the way I painted it as it seems more balanced this way. Am I wrong?
From the Painting Guide: When painting from reference photos, I think it's important to let the painting take on a life of its own, to stop referring to the photos at some stage and focus only on the painting. So while the green may not be in your photo, that really doesn't matter. It's your artistic interpretation, a painting derived from the photo, not simply a painting of the photo (which wouldn't be a rewarding thing to do).
Things to Consider When Looking at This Painting:
Artistic License: Always remember that it's your painting, you're the person with the authority about what goes into it and what doesn't, and in this instance which way up it should be. I think it works well this way, with the strong horizontal brushwork at the top pulling your eye down to the right towards the greens.
I've been seeing water and land in this painting, from a bird's eye view point. First with the greens being sea, and secondly with the area at the top a muddy river going past a bank where the ground is exposed after the vegetation (the green) has been washed away. And to me this is the power of abstraction -- there's detail my mind wants to interpret, but not so much detail that the painting dictates to me what it is.
I took some pictures of a tree, and let myself go... It wasn't as difficult as I was expecting. The green part left me a little bit uncomfortable because there isn't any green in the photo, but I was feeling tired of using the same colors all over the painting so thought "why not try and see how it looks in the end?" Also, I've turned the painting to the left from the way I painted it as it seems more balanced this way. Am I wrong?
From the Painting Guide: When painting from reference photos, I think it's important to let the painting take on a life of its own, to stop referring to the photos at some stage and focus only on the painting. So while the green may not be in your photo, that really doesn't matter. It's your artistic interpretation, a painting derived from the photo, not simply a painting of the photo (which wouldn't be a rewarding thing to do).
Things to Consider When Looking at This Painting:
Artistic License: Always remember that it's your painting, you're the person with the authority about what goes into it and what doesn't, and in this instance which way up it should be. I think it works well this way, with the strong horizontal brushwork at the top pulling your eye down to the right towards the greens.
I've been seeing water and land in this painting, from a bird's eye view point. First with the greens being sea, and secondly with the area at the top a muddy river going past a bank where the ground is exposed after the vegetation (the green) has been washed away. And to me this is the power of abstraction -- there's detail my mind wants to interpret, but not so much detail that the painting dictates to me what it is.