Pursuing my passion

After the conclusion of our painting workshop in Paris earlier this year, Kae (my artist friend) and I were headed to Madrid for the last leg of our trip. I was most excited about visiting Sorolla's house/studio (see post below) and visiting the Prado and Thyssen museums. Kay Polk, our workshop instructor, still had another day in Paris. She was taking one last tour through the Paris countryside before heading home the next day when she came across this scene with the sun starting to set over a cottage nestled in the fields. 

When we all got back to Dallas we shared our photos from the trip of the models, sightseeing in Paris and Madrid, museums, etc. We ended up with a total of about 7,500 pics. Yikes! I still haven't made it through all of them, but this scene caught my eye as I was looking through some of the CDs and I had a strong desire to paint it. Since I didn't actually see it with my own eyes it's made it more difficult to paint, because as we all know, photos don't tell the whole story and many times "lie" to us. Often the camera creates too much contrast between the lights and shadows - it underexposes the darks (turning them black) and overexposes the lights. I usually take two photos of a scene - one exposed for light and one exposed for darks. Interesting and valuable detail in both areas are lost to the extremes. Nothing replaces painting the landscape from life for interpreting the correct color, value, and mood of a place. I think John F. Carlson's comment about photography sums it up. "A snapshot is a correct rendition of physical fact; sharply focused it will show the numberless grasses upon the ground...The actual form of the mass upon which these grasses occur, it does not suggest; nor does it convey nature's subtle color changes or color flow. But, most of all, the camera does not have an idea about the objects reflected upon its lens. It does not "feel" anything, and will render one thing as well as another."

I'm sorry that I didn't get the opportunity to paint this site on location. I think the painting would not have been as much of a struggle, but on the other hand, I learned a few things about interpreting a scene from a photograph. I also pumped up the aerial perspective to hopefully give more depth to the scene. I'll let the painting "sit" for a while and come back to it in a few weeks and see if any changes need to be made.

Happy 4th of July! As we prepare to celebrate our Independence Day, I'd like to give a shout out to the veterans and troops for the amazing sacrifices they have made and are making each day!  Thanks and God Bless!