watercolor blog

Okay. I need to catch up a bit.  I got in trouble by a photographer for using his photos as a reference for my bird paintings. Most of my watercolors are from a photo of some sort, sometimes they are mine, sometimes they are someone elses. When I first started painting the birds I would send an email to the photographer asking permission. They never answered... When I painted the donkey I asked for permission and the photographer actually answered! He gave me permission... I sold that painting to a dear friend that is now fighting cancer. Anyway. I stopped asking permission and just painted the birds. One day, at the Denver airport, I got an email from a photographer that was upset that I had used his photo without permission. I immediately apologized and admitted it was wrong, that I had been lazy about asking for permission. I offered to pay him for using his photos. He refused the money but said something that I will never forget... "I can't believe, as a fellow artist, that you'd do this..." I was gut wrenched. He was right.  So this blog post is me admitting that I was wrong to use photos as reference for my bird photos without permission. I am sorry.

The above pencil is from a photo that I do not have permission to have used. It's a barrel racing horse (I removed the rider and the barrel) that I asked for permission to use but I didn't receive a response.  I donated this drawing to a charity, my friend Maribeth (I will withhold her last name!) donated and won the drawing. The frame is donated by Metro Frameworks www.metroframeworks.com.

I can honestly say, to me there is nothing more beautiful than a barrel horse rounding a tight turn at full speed. The power in the muscles is impressive, fluid, godly. I am not sure that there is a more beautiful animal. My fascination with horse paintings begins and ends with Fredrick Remington. Google him... he paints horses and riders, amazingly. I've painted a few horses now and I try to emulate Remington as best I can without his talent!

I've painted a second barrel horse without the rider:

This one hangs in our home.  This is also from a photographer that never responded with permissions.  There are few paintings I am proud of, but this is one. Its not even really interesting... sort of static even though the horse is running. But I like the musculature. I like watercolor paint textures... and I can't repeat what I did here.  It's a lucky painting. Which is why it hangs in my house.

Since you last heard from me, I've tried to paint some landscapes. They are horrible. Again, I'll state this, my goal is landscapes. Someday. Until then, animals, birds etc. Martin