Photorealism...

...is an often overused term, but in this case it may be apt. The photorealists of the 70's set out to make paintings that replicated photographs exactly.


I usually use photos to capture the chaos and detail of nature, avoiding the gross generalities of plein air paintings. But this little painting is more of the former and less of the later, as I am using only a photo for reference.


The funny thing is our eyes work like a shallow depth of field camera lens, but our brains are quick to compensate to make whatever we want to focus on be in focus. Here, the focus is the foreground orchid, so I painted the background, stem, and second flower wet so the edges are soft and blurry.


Using a razor I can cut or "erase" the flower on top, and painting it over the dry background the front edges remain sharp. Now all that is left is to let these petals dry and paint the next on top, keeping those sharp edges too.

- jb boyd