Painting What You Love

It is natural to want to paint those people, places and things that you love.   If you know the person, place or thing intimately, this knowledge helps immensely as you get into the painting process itself.   You could argue that this knowledge makes the painting easier and more true.  You can also argue that if you paint what you see with a true artist's eye, you can paint anything.

What if you don't love the subject?

I found out first hand that I didn't need to love the two stars of a recent painting class in order to enjoy the experience and have a decent outcome.   Enter "Dolly" and "Pretty Boy," Solomon Island parrots.   For my whole life it was reinforced that birds inside a dwelling are a sign of an impending death (source...Irish superstition). Not only that, but I was nervous about having to paint these two birds because at any minute they might lunge off their perches and claw at me.  Well, there was no drama whatsoever. 

Why by the end of the 2 hours, I was thinking they were actually pretty cute.   In fact, they started saying words - unintelligible to me - but I started repeating to them what I thought they had said.   My lesson learned was to not have such a closed mind on painting subject matter. 

Paint what you love - or don't love.  Just paint.