Painting a Photograph?…
Why paint a photograph you ask? Well I ask why not?
Actually, I got the idea from Robin Sealark’s youTube channel when she painted for 24 hrs straight. She started off painting printed photographs to practice colour matching. I thought this was a great idea to try as I usually nod my head at the idea of colour matching when I start a picture, but then completely go my own way about 20% in saying “see ya later colour matching”!
I grabbed a photo I took on my phone of a garden, cropped it, printed it and taped it to my painting board. Ready to go, I decided acrylics would be the best choice for this as I was painting on printer paper and I didn’t want oils to seep through. I thought that if I used a gloss medium and paint extender I wouldn’t need water. It worked very well and I wish I could remember the ratios I used, because in an upcoming post you will see a failed version of using an extender medium.
Now, I don’t think I did the greatest at colour matching when I compare images (or it could be that my phone reads warm, and my camera reads cool), but I think this idea of painting on a photograph goes beyond training the eye for color matching, but can be a different way to create art altogether. It takes a photo and gives it dimension. You paint the things you want to pop out and leave the rest alone.
I have to try this again.
What do you think? Was it worth the effort?
mrw.art 
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