Oftentimes I use my own photos as inspiration for my paintings, but I also use pics from people I don’t know. This is something I believe most painters do, typically for a couple of possible reasons. First, I paint, I’m no photographer, so my photos are, well, not very good. Some things even an iPhone can’t fix. So I might use my own photo as the main reference, but find other options online of the same area to enhance the view. The other main reason for using a reference shot from someone else, be it an individual, magazine, etc., is because it’s something or some place I’ve never seen or been to personally. It’s this latter reason that applies to this new piece, LAMP GLOW.
I spent a lot of time on the canvas with this one, which was expected given my lack of experience painting people in detail. In fact, I must have wiped the face of the bartender no less than 6 times, and reshaped the bar patrons many times as well. Ultimately, I’m happy with the result and I learned a lot in terms of technique and what NOT to do.
The focal point of LAMP GLOW is the glow from the lamp on the bar, not the lamp itself. Because the glow is a soft light with a mid-range value, it was a little tricky to make it work. Usually, the focal point of a composition is highlighted by things such as high contrast values or sharp edges. Lacking these options I pushed the saturation and ensured the soft, orange light bathed the primary elements in the painting, which (hopefully) makes the glowing lamp a clear focal point given it emanates throughout the scene.
In terms of design decisions, I’m not sure I took the right approach regarding the liquor bottles in the background. While they turned out nicely, I think they’re ultimately a distraction and might be more effective if they were softer and less saturated. Oh, and painting 67 individual bottles is a wee bit tedious.
Stay tuned for more bar scenes!
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Art Bern 
Okay, this is one I have to think about. My personal alcohol consumption is, perhaps, less than 4 ounces a year. This is probably the main reason my knowledge of bars, contents of bars, and (since Reggie died) patrons of bars is somewhat limited. But in 80 years I don’t think I remember a lamp on any bar in which I spent more than five minutes. When I get my head around this concept, we shall communicate again. Meanwhile, hugs and meows,m
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