Samantha

[Mike McCarty]

Enzie,

I actually think that most of the problem exists with the outdoor photo (I'm guessing outdoors). When you photograph outdoors, in the open, the light will wash out most of the values that you would like to have, giving a very homogeneous flat look. I think that if the photo had more of the darker values naturally, you would see them and paint them naturally.

Your perceived problem may be rooted not so much in your abilities as a painter, or even in your ability to see things correctly, but in what you have chosen to view.

Months ago, somewhere on this Forum, Karin Wells said (paraphrasing): "At this point I don't fret so much about how to paint as much as I do about what to paint". This is one of those pearls that sticks with me. In a sense we are like actors, our careers will be judged as much on our ability to pick parts, as on our ability to play them.