Golden Wood

My newest work, oil, 12 x16, on tempered, gessoed masonite.

I thought I would take this chance to give a brief tutorial on how an artist may use photo references in a work of art. Some may actually make nearly photographic copies and some may veer far from the beaten path.

In this oil painting I used [link] by for the setting. I love this photo and from the beginning I had a similar thought in mind for his photo, or maybe an ancient carriage, or a walking couple, or a deer....as you can see, lots could be done with this image.

I really like the long format in the photo, but I wanted to paint and since I didn't have any long boards, ready, I changed the picture by shortening it and adding to the 'foreground'. I pieced the images together in Photoshop 'to size' to make the original planning go faster, then kept referring to my computer screen while painting. [link]

If you look closely you can also see that all of the trunks and branches are also pulling more toward our unicorn in the painting. This was an unconscious decision, but one that emphasizes her presence, arrival.

I needed a good pose for my unicorn mare and chose [link] by But as you can see, I needed her going in the opposite direction and to be smaller and slighter of frame. You can't really recognize the connection between the two, except in general pose, but I wanted to include the photo to give credit to the photographer and to also better show how photos can be used.

Anyway, that's it. Photos are a stepping off point with information to be shifted through and used as suits your needs. Never feel chained to what you see. It's up to you.

I forgot to add this one has a little bit of everything...glazing, scrumbling, impasto, palatte knife...