Reference Photos: A Second Look

    Photos are my shopping list of what I want to include in a painting. Even when getting close to photo realism, I'm free to edit out or add to the photo. In the following example. I've nearly copied the lower half of the photo.
  I found the reflection of myself, the chair and the closet door uninteresting, so I created a fantasy within the reflection. I've been careful to follow the general distortion of my own figure in the photo in creating the dancing figures. In other words, anything can go in this space as long as I follow the original distortion created by the curve of the sphere. This sphere is actually a Christmas ornament, and I've chosen to omit the small bit of ornament that shines to the lower right, making it only a sphere.
   We can improve on photos in many ways. My personal priority is to make more vivid the shapes of light and dark that I see, so that they are clear to the viewer. This will be apparent in the shapes of light on the walls and ceiling of this piece. They are greatly exaggerated. Other ways are to change colors, further soften and hide these shapes or add something of the artist's dreams or fantasies to a piece. It could even be a symbol that means something to the artist.



   For me, piano music and slow dancing go together, and the view from the shiny ball gives the viewer a peek at an intimate moment, made more vivid in size and by contrast.
   Left is the photo, and right is my finished work.

I hope you'll take a second look at reference photos that may not have been your idea of what they should be. They just might make for a good reference as an inspiration for fantasy.



"Dance of the Piano"
11x14"
Acrylic on Canvas

Happy seeing and painting!

tina jones





"Headless Burros" How to Use Reference Photos

Photo by Tina Jones "Headless Burrow"

Using photos as a reference. If it's not believable in the photo, it won't be believable in paint. This particular photo is an extreme situation to show how "off" something can look. The rear burro turned his head to nibble/scratch at his far side just as I snapped the photo, and now appears headless. If I wanted to shock scare people, I'd paint it as is. If not, I'd use another photo.

   I take ten to twenty reference photos for each subject, because people and animals move, light changes and what looks normal at a glance may not upon later inspection.

•    The photo is where I choose composition. Usually, I get something workable in the initial shot, but often I crop the photo. In this case, I'd rather the burrows be toward the left side, so I'd crop an inch or two off of the left side of the photo. This is my planning stage.
• Do I want the burro/burros center top to bottom?
• Do I want to omit the far burrow or use another reference photo for that one? 
• Should I move the bottom of the fence? It creates a dead-center line in this compostion. Center is often dull to the eye. Placement of that line at 1/3 from the bottom or top makes for more interest in composition.
• Do I want the ground shadows as is? I look at shadows on the ground/surface as part of the composition. Do I want them as is, or would omitting some make for a more cohesive piece?
• Much of the shadow here is cast from a nearby tree. Will it be believable as is, or might I put only shadows under the burrows for better composition?
• What about the lone vertical steak on the fence? Is it adding anything to my idea of painting the burrows? Might it be ommitted? Might this work without the fence altogether?
• Do I want to paint the grass, or might this burrow look ok in a desert, among rocks or sipping water?

   These are some questions I encourage you to ask yourself about your reference photos. Be critical of them. I use reference photos as a sort of shopping list of what I'd like in my painting, taking what I like and leaving the rest. Following is a quick, loose sketch to show how I chose to place the burro on my canvas.





 Burro Composition Sketch in Acrylic



Happy Painting!

tina jones