770 A Bird's Eye View

The beautiful photo reference for this painting was taken in Tanzania by my world traveler friends, who have been to so many exciting places, often biking their way through the countrysides.  I live vicariously through them as I am somewhat impaired when it comes to travel, although I have been to Lebanon three times, which most people find daunting.  It is hard for me to imagine being so close to a zebra and other wild animals.  They have graciously shared their photos with me and have given me permission to paint them.  Thank you Ann and Steve.

I've been feeling a little restless with the start of the new year.  I have been tirelessly working on portraits with determination to master them, but I really needed a little break because I've also pretty much run out of interesting photo references after scouring thousands of photos in my iPhoto folders.  The conversations go like this:  "Would you please send me photos of people in interesting poses with high contrast and no teeth showing? "  .......somewhat limiting.

In the months ahead, I have scheduled two weekend workshops from two of my favorite artists, both of whom teach and paint in oil.  Although I love the many benefits of acrylics, I would like to experiment with oil paints.  I have dabbled in the past, painting seascapes, but nothing like this subject matter.  For this painting, I used water soluble oil paints, which behave like oil paints (I think) but there are no smelly chemicals involved, and best of all, they clean up with soap and water.   I really enjoyed the experience and plan to continue pursuing this medium.

"770 A Bird's Eye View"
oil - 16x20 in

http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/770-a-birds-eye-view/443121

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