Thank you, Thistle :)
Many of my paintings indeed do have a fairy-tale kind of feel to them. Part of my own style it appears, as it often comes up :)
And no, the woman is not anyone I know. I found a picture online that I used for inspiration. I always do that, as opposed to sketching myself. I haven't the patience for that, lol. I can, otherwise I couldn't paint it either of course. But I find it easier to find what I'm looking for online. Like the painters in the past would often sketch outdoors in the real world - or use a real life model - and then work it out in their studio, merge it with their painting.
I've used the method of finding pictures online, both real pictures as well as images created with a computer program. I crop, clip, paste etc, using Photoshop. I can then move things around and find the composition I like. I use that as an example. Oftentimes the painting will still be different from what I originally had in mind. Much of what I do is intuitive, as I am very intuitive and I like to paint that way as well.
Another reason for not sketching anymore (I did in the past), is that I have a serious neck-injury and I cannot sit bent over at the table for any length of time anymore. Working with Photoshop on the PC, I can at least sit up straight whilst I make the composition.
Painting itself is enough strain on my neck as it is, so I don't mind skipping the old-fashioned sketching part.
It took me some time to find my own style. I have done Bob Ross' paintings for some time, just to learn techniques. I got most of his series on my PC. And I've learnt that he was in actual fact an absolute brilliant painter! He had a keen eye for colour, light, shadow etc. I often get the impression that people sort of look down their nose at Bob Ross, possibly because he made it seem so easy to do, a finished painting within half an hour. But if you learn to look at nature the way he did, you start to realize that he was in one word brilliant!
Only annoying thing is, that when I'm painting a lot and then I drive through nature, I constantly find myself thinking "Ah, he's right, that IS indeed best done with a fan brush!" and "You'd use yellow ochre for that, mixed with Indian yellow!" and stuff like that, haha. So when I see a landscape or a tree, I see how I would paint that.
So watching and doing Bob Ross paintings, opened my eyes. Then I moved on to Thomas Kinkade. He
does paint in a Walt Disney type style, but the way he can play with sunlight, astounding! I have not mastered that yet!
But what I have learnt, is that even though I might copy a Bob Ross or Thomas Kinkade, I
do have my own style, and it shows. Even when I try to do the exact same thing. So I would make an awful forger, lol.
The two horse paintings are a good example of that: they're based on another painter's work. My daughter asked me if I could 'copy' them for her. So I said I'd try, no guarantees, as horses, or animals for that matter, aren't really my thing. I did it, succeeded as well. And my daughter was awed at the results. But she said "And you can still see your own style!"
I think that was the most beautiful compliment anyone could ever have given me concerning my painting.
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