Some Things You DON'T Paint

A photo by V....Vaughan.....one I will NEVER paint.
Well, I was gone painting today...and it's one of those days I didn't get home in time to photograph my work in the sunlight...my preferred method. (I have lots of thoughts and recommendations about shooting your artwork...I am FINALLY successful - enough - at it, but learned a lot of hard lessons along the way....I CAN HELP...let me know if you want me to post some of these thoughts :)
Since I can't post today's painting, I will post some of the photos I will NEVER paint. ...
As I browsed my bird photos last week, looking for a bird to put into a certain painting, I ran across this one. It's a beautiful egret in an awkward pose. It's weird looking because the bird looks like he's standing on the water, his head is up in a funny way, his wings look funny, and looking at it makes me laugh......don't paint awkward things, that make your viewer feel weird...no matter how accurate, or cute!
The photo below, was staged. A couple of students lined up in the field in such a way that one of them looks like a tiny little artist poised on the end of the other artist's paintbrush. ...The lesson here is, never paint objects lining up in awkward positions...even if they lined up in real life! It happens a lot that something will touch the horizon: a fence post, the cow's back, the top of the tree, or roof-line....even if it's TRUE in the photo, don't paint it! Where they touch stops the viewer's eye! Hope this info encourages you ...Email your comment! vvaughan8@yahoo.com