Weeding

I think many artists try to get too photorealistic. They put way too much detail in representational art. You’ll see every brick in a building, every leaf on a tree, and sometimes every hair on a person’s head. This really isn’t what we see when we’re looking at something. If you’re going to paint representationally, squint your eyes . . . only paint what you see.

This painting is my memory of my wife and kids weeding the garden. I have only painted shapes and values. You can tell my wife has eyes and a mouth, even though they aren’t painted in. You see the highlights and lowlights in the subjects’ hair without painting each strand. Look at the simple skin tones. I have painted simple corn plants  and have filled in the background with a basic green color. You can tell the sun is shining by looking at the values I have used.

Try my method.  Simplify.