This year I have done more custom paintings of houses than usual. I am up front about what I can do ans I can't perform miracles. I tell people that the painting will be better if they provide me with good reference photos. And I am still sent out of focus reference images taken with cell phones or 400 pixel wide images from Realtor.com. I patiently explain how to go about getting better images but often they're just not interested in spending the time. I don't argue but I'm not always proud of the paintings I come up with either. I wasn't aware that the Google Monster that has invaded so many facets of our lives has actually recorded minute details of where we live as well. Like almost everyone else I know, I have gone to Google Maps and checked out the image of my house to see what it looks like and try to guess the approximate date it was taken. Sometimes it is possible to narrow it down to a specific year and season but the details of my house were never very clear.
I suppose the cities get more attention because the client asked me to look at Google Maps, but I was still amazed at the level of detail available. Along with the address of the brownstone, she also gave me some photographs but the street was hemmed in with cars so I couldn't really see anything below window level. The Googlemobile uses a van with a roof mounted camera so the viewpoint is better and it allowed me see behind those cars.
My goal is always to make it prettier than in real life so I pretended not to see the peeling paint and the flowers are more vibrant than they actually are. But what is the point of having a painting done of a place where you used to live if you can't recall it as a golden moment in time?
Philadelphia Street
16" x 20"
oil on canvas
And in case you were wondering- here are a few of my reference images.
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