Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Marshall Petaluma Road

acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20"

This is a studio painting done from a photo I had taken from the road.  Update:  I reworked the sky today, warming and lightening it according to the needs of the painting, rather than my misbegotten loyalty to the photograph I was working from.  I sometimes forget to remind myself where my loyalty should be:  with the painting and not the photo.  I've found that, when using a reference photo for a painting, I have to remind myself to paint what I know (or remember) and not what I see.  When painting from life, it's just the opposite:  to paint what I see and not what I know.  Both disciplines seem to complement each other, like stretching opposing muscles.  That's why I like to bounce back and forth between the two.  

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