I had a discussion with Jeff on the subject of "realistic" paintings. If a painting has a recognizable subject matter and looks like something that exists in the visual world, does the artist use their imagination to create such a painting or not?
We talked about the color choices the artist could make and decisions about composition. What elements of the scene do they leave in and what do they leave out. Do you make your subject look better than it really is, like the portrait painters for the royal Spanish courts in the 1500's? What parts of the subject matter do you bring into focus and what do you leave in the background?
After considering all the different choices an artist could make, we decided that even a realistic subject requires quite a bit of imagination.
I thought of some of Jeff's paintings of churches he completed a few years ago as an interesting subject to consider. I will include one, even though I don't have his original inspiration to show you. I decided also to show an example of one of my flower photos and the painting I created from being inspired by that photo. What do you think?
Jeff's Corner: What you see is what you beget!
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