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Tis a vexing thing that we attempt. When I decided to paint portraits seriously I went through a very frustrating period and it had everything to do with source material. At some point it just snapped for me that if I was going to paint from photo's (and I was) then I had to creat better photo's. So I set out on a mission. I began to photograph anyone and everyone. I may have caused permenent damage to my daughter. I didn't paint much for a good while. I made friends with the guys at the camera shop and other people who new good photographs.
Even if you paint without photos, you must ultimately make the same decisions regarding composition. To me the camera is a wonderful teacher. Every photo you take is a lesson in composition. I say, every photo you take is a lesson in composition. And it's immediate and it's cheap. And for me it is all about composition. I would have my learned friends critique my efforts and slowly you begin to get to the nub of it. Every professional portrait photographer knows the subject of composition. They bring it to their logical conclusion. We want to take it to that most difficult conclusion... a painting. Being completely self taught, I didn't know how else to approach it. It just seemed to be a reduction of logic.
I have brought myself to the point where I can create pretty good reference photos. I now need to catch up on my ability to translate them into a painting. It seems that things must go there natural course, winter before spring then summer and blah, blah, blah.
Just one more thing. Coming from a business environment ie: computer analyst, commodity broker, business owner it has been a difficult transition for me in regards to criticism. Maybe the process of going to art school has as a by-product lessons in taking criticism. Coming from being the boss doesn't. You seem to be a very good sport having passed through this project in such a public manner.
This forum is a god send, especially for usuns who are not yet gifted.
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Mike McCarty
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