Simple and Elegant - SOLD

The photo reference for this piece came from Paint My Photo and a photographer named  Viacheslavi. I love his photo references - he fades and blends his photos so that you do not have to even design your composition but just follow his lead.  He has a great eye for making even the most simple arrangement unique and beautiful.  I am so glad there are wonderful photographers out there who share their art with us painters.

I will say that even though the scene itself emanates simplicity, I did not find the painting very simple to paint.  For one thing it is always a challenge for me to paint glass.  You don't really paint glass, but what is behind it.  I find the challenge is to know when you have said enough without overdoing it.  Leave something for the mind to complete in the painting.  I also struggled with the background and could not decide what to do with it.  I tried painting it the way it appeared in the photo reference but it did not work at all the way I wanted it to.  Finally I decided to just wipe off and follow my inner creative sprit and what "felt right" without over thinking.

I was reminded of a time I threw out dying flowers from the deck  into the yard only to find that the next Spring they had taken root on the hillside by my home and were creeping down the hillside and looked wonderful!  When I showed them to my grandson, Weston, he said, "Mimi, sometimes things just happen".  Well, in this painting, "things just happened" and I like them.