I am starting to see a pattern. I am returning over and over again to the same subjects. I am inspired by certain places that seem to speak the loudest to me. I have visited some wonderful landscapes lately and they do inspire me but when I am faced with deciding on a subject to paint.....certain places always win. When going through my stacks of reference photos I invariable pull out the LowCountry and NJ Landscapes....the marshes and meadows and beaches. I never tire of these same images.
A student and I were going through reference photos and she discounted several because she had already painted from them. It was the perfect teachable moment for both of us. She may have painted it but she was only just starting to get to know it. There were many paintings that could be done from those same references.
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I am excited by the potential my favorite images have for new interpretation. I could paint the same marsh view over and over and never tire of it. Each time I discover something new. Each time I can become even more expressive because I am so familiar with it. Richard McKinley calls these places 'Old Friends'. I love my old friends.
I have wonderful travel plans for 2015....France, Sweden, Finland, New Mexico.....all wonderful places and I can't wait to be inspired by them. But I will be happy to return to a familiar place, Pawleys Island, SC in October 2015......painting an old friend!
4 comments:
Nice WORK!!!
Hello Karen, you should also come to Greece some time....
Thanks Sue and Mariela! And I'd love to come to Greece some day!!!
Oh this makes so much sense. Some of my favorite scenes still call to me or I want to do them in other mediums, or I've improved since I did it last. It worked with other subjects.
I've been sketching my cat for years and yet if I do a sketch today, it's very likely going to be that cat!
One tree right outside the front of my building always calls to me. Sometimes I include its two neighbors farther down the block, sometimes that tree. I've sketched and photographed it in every season. It's opened up so much when I look at other trees. I like this idea and may start with that view - the one I've done in plein air so often.
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