Painting From Photo's

I just finished the first Master Class in Watercolor: "Using Artistic License When Painting From Photos" at my new home studio and on the last day I showed the drawing for this painting. It was from a photo of this adobe home in Taos New Mexico. We discussed the changes I made from the photo that would lead to making a better painting.

In the photo the metal gate and wire fence ran straight across the foreground and I lowered it to the left to create a zigzag effect along with the adobe wall. I thought this made an interesting way to lead the viewers eye into the painting. In the photo the red mailbox was lost in deep shadow and I moved it more into the sunlight. The yard with the chickens was actually deep grass but I had also visited this house when the yard was dirt and I painted it that way and then added the chickens.

The trees, adobe wall and metal gate were in deep shadow which I lightened and then added cast shadows on top of the wall. In photos, shadows and cast shadows are often to dark and do not show reflected light. Changing the values in that area allowed me to paint reflected light that showed clearly where the gate butted up against the wall. In the photo the red door along the left border was actually closed. I opened it so I could show some of the items collected by the owner. I thought this made a more interesting backdrop for the chickens. You may not agree with the changes I made, that doesn't matter. The point is, as artists working from photo's, it is our responsibility to look for ways to change the photo into a work of art rather than just a copy.

For the adobe I mixed yellow ochre with cobalt violet. The trees are olive green, lemon yellow and French ultramarine blue and the ground is the same mixture as the adobe in a lighter value. The different grays were mixed with cerulean blue and brilliant orange. Look through some old photo's and see if there is one you would enjoy painting if you made a few changes. Happy Painting! Dennis