Painting a Complex Scene: They are Just Shapes!

          'Wildwood Days'               14x11           pastel             ©Karen Margulis    available $400 

I have had a photo of this busy boardwalk scene for years. I wanted to paint it but it was intimidating. But when I was going through my box of older reference photos I came across a blurred photo of this same scene. I had forgotten that it was my go-to method for tarting a painting! It worked then so why not try it again! 

I put the blurry photo up on the easel and blocked in the big simple shapes. I was reminded again that everything is just a shape! I could tackle the complex by breaking them down into simple shapes and removing the names I attached to them. The blurry photo helped me do this. (squinting does the same thing!)

Once I had the main shapes of local color blocked in I took out the unfiltered photo to continue the painting. I decided to keep the painting somewhat abstract without a lot of fine detail but if you desire more detail it is till helpful to start simple and gradually refine your painting. 

Below is a closeup photo. You can see that the painting is just a collection of shapes!

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