I just heard put into words the thought that always comes to mind when I’m painting which is that the aim is not to copy the photo but to interpret it. This is my first series of interpretations of the layered photos I have begun to paint.

First Painting.

Base image, overlay image, final image. The last one edited in MotionLeap to show a fantasy sky. This was my model for the painting although my attempts to include the bridge failed because everything I tried brought it forward instead of pushing it back and ghosting it. I made the decision to let the landscape standalone until I had a better idea of what I was doing and run some practice pieces. These are the iterations below. The final image is slightly enhanced in PaintshopPro to compensate for my camera’s tendency to crank up the white balance on dark images, and includes the bridge as a photographic overlay via PhotoDirector.

Second painting

Base image and overlay.

There is. Not sure what I think of it. Maybe a lighter touch would be closer to the reality.

Below is the painting with the bridge overlay. I have no idea where the static moons came from although I was looking for the dispersion effect at the time!

Troubled skies

You’re excited for a moment, until that looming thing on the right 
Comes into focus. 
Their legacy, if there’s anyone around to notice.

But then you see the fields, places where kids could play
A tree at the bottom, right there in the middle.
And is that water?
Is that a house?
You make your log entry, this place will be fine

The moons, though 
There shouldn’t be so many moons.

Conboy-Hill, 2024. 

Two paintings plus provenance per post is probably enough, [that’s a lot of alliteration too!], so I’ll be hunting for more candidates and learning how to manipulate the digital elements with enough subtlety to ensure the painting is key.

SCH 2024