Free Use Photos

There are tons of online photos that are free to use, no strings attached.  Many are really great photos too!    Seems like a great place to get reference to paint from, right?  No worries about lighting, you get a bazillion choices for each subject, just pop em up on the good ol monitor and paint away!    Eh, wait up, maybe not.

First, even tho that freebie photo looks perfect, one of the first things many learn is photos LIE.  oh yes, they do.   Darks are often black holes, lights are washy and weak.   Perspective is usually distorted, I can't count how many paintings of horses or dogs I see that the heads are HUGE, with teensy little bodies.   And it wasn't something done as an expressive intent, its just the artist copied too closely.   I have fallen in this trap countless times but have learned to avoid it by now.   

The paint horse on the far left isn't that much smaller than the sorrel in front, but in this keystoned photo, he looks like a little pony.   Painting it this way would be a huge mistake.

Part of why some art grabs you by the heart strings is somewhere in the paint is emotion.  That emotion might be love, humor, rage, or quietness.   Its not *in* the paint--paint is just a concoction with pigment that clings to a surface.    In my case, pastel is pigment with just enough binder to hold it into a stick form.  

So how does this emotion thing work?   It comes from the hand that paints it.   If you weren't at the place, smelling the breeze, hearing the birds, even dodging the cars, you lose a big part of art.   Not only in the painting itself but sadder yet, in the experience of being in the moment, being an artist.   Don't cheat yourself out of this!

Richard Schmid has some great advice in his Alla Prima book about using photos.   "...never use other people's photos.  You need your own experience of the real thing to give an authentic look to your painting.   Use your photos as soon as possible after you take them so that your memory of the subject is fresh"   And since it came from Master Richard, you know its true!   

Plein air is one of the best teachers, so even if you use photos, you learn where the lie is and fix it.   I do use other's photos they supply when painting a pet that is gone, or is too far away for taking my own photos.  But, I have painted enough of them I can see the flaws and holes and work around it.

This was from a trail ride, the flowers were a long ways from the water, and there was no path from the far edge up the hill.  But these things were in the area--in taking the photo, I made mental notes of these other elements that would take it from boring to charming.

So don't cheat yourself of the experience even if you use photos.   Thats' missing half the fun!