I have taken literally thousands of “reference photos” over the last 8 or so years.

For me that means there have been thousands of moments in my life when I felt such a sweep of awe that I felt compelled to make a fast grab for a camera, so that I could keep it, remember it.

Maybe even, one day trying to put into paint the feeling that time and place evoked in me. 

And these are only the moments that I happened to have a camera at hand.

I’m never really considered myself a photographer, per se, but more a collector of photographs. My images are references to study later. Beautiful moments, snippets of my lovely life. 

I continue to use many of photos as inspiration for paintings. And lately, I’ve used quite a few as the reference for digital illustrations as well.

The image above was made using my favorite drawing program - Procreate and was based on a photograph I captured one evening on the Biltmore Estate. There is nothing so special about the scene or the shot that I made.

Other than it reminds me of slowly cruising around the Estate, admiring the colors of the setting sun, drinking in the smell of early of summer and the slow plodding of cattle grazing.

Though I long to be a faster painter, I can make one of these imaged immensely faster than painting with oil and there is far less mess painting digitally, too. It means I can keep creating, even when paint isn’t practical, like as I am falling asleep in bed at night, lol.

However, it needs to be said that nothing replaces the tactile pleasure of slipping oil paint on the tip of a brush and sliding it over a slick canvas. Right?