Where it all began...reference photo for my castle painting

Well, here it is, the reference I put together for my painting. I won't be showing the painting again until it's finished...which should be sometime next week :D I put the last painting update here too, so you can compare the two...there's been a lot of little changes since then, but close enough for comparison. A lot of other artists think painting from photographs is not good...and if one were to exactly copy a photograph they would be right. Areas that look pitch black in a photograph are not like that in real life. Colors don't necessarily work well in a painting (if you want a harmonious look) and sometimes you have to really play up contrasts and edit what doesn't work. And when you photoshop images together, well, they _look_ photoshopped and you most certainly do not want that effect in a painting. So...not only was I tackling a lot of firsts in this painting (first full motorcycle, first full building, first realistic landscape) I had to make the figure on the bike (me!) blend into the scenery. Plus, if you look close you will see that the photo of me on my bike was a horrendous reference picture. So...things I had to change were numerous. I lightened the castle so it wouldn't be so ominous. I left out the people at the castle door. I went with a light adobe color rather than mud yellow for the castle blocks. I edited out the huge wall patch on the tallest building wall. I got rid of the big black hole to the left of the coach house. And I integrated the bike into the scene (at least I feel so). There's so many little things that needed adjustments too...certain colors are sprinkled through out the painting so things will tie together...you may not see the slight hint of road color in the bike, but it's there. And there's hints of green in every single element in the painting. Anyways, to date I have blocked in all the white on the balconies but need to wait for it to dry to do the trim. (which is going to be a killer lol) I put in all the roofs on the tallest building and I've started the sky on the left...plus I went around the whole painting to tie things together. So...a few more roofs, finish the balconies, fix the windows and finish the sky...and that will be it....I can't wait!!!

Sue
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