Painting From Your Garden Photos

Here's one of my favorite pictures from last summer's garden. I'm not thrilled about all the houses in the neighborhood so it's nice that I can create my own reality around it in my painting.

It's off to a bit of a rough start. As you can see perspective doesn't come easy to me. I'm self taught and didn't learn any of the things that I didn't already know. I've always worked more or less on instinct and passion and have finally come to realize that it just isn't enough. There's so much to learn and experience and I'm finally ready to take that journey. There's no telling where it might take me and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you.

I've stopped worrying about whether or not everything is the right shape and am relaxing into the paints and just enjoying the process. I'm using my hands, brushes and painting knives. I'm kind of pleased with the progress so far. What do you think?

It won't be long before I finish this painting now. There are just the leaves, grass and plants to paint now. I couldn't resist adding a few more blooming roses than were in the photo but that's just because there were a lot more of them by the end of the season.

Here's the finished painting. Definitely something new for me and less about creating a good painting than it is about celebrating good memories in the garden. There was a bit over flash when I shot this painting, but it should give you an idea of the results.