Put Something of Yourself In

Autumn Collection oil 18 x 14 SOLD

You paint the way you are made. And the viewer, looking at your pictures, is interested because he senses your mind and your emotions at work --Emile Gruppe

One way to improve upon using reference photos in the studio is to put something of yourself in.  Show your viewer how you think--how you see the world. Merely replicating the photograph pixel for pixel doesn't say anything.  Can you change the compostition to tell a story?  Can you change the palette?  Can you capture a shape with one brushstroke?  Can you express in paint why you picked the photograph in the first place? Are you thinking about what you are trying to express or are you blindly copying?  Are you trying to make something whimsical?  Political? Thought-provoking? What makes the painting uniquely yours?

When I look at art, I want to see something of the artist's personality there.  I want to see how the artist thinks--even if I don't entirely understand the message. I am not interested if the painting "looks real".  I want to see an interpretation of the artist's world. So go out there and make something that tells a story about you.