AN IMPORTANT BREAKTHROUGH

Ca daMula, Murano, 23 x 29 inch oil on paper painting by George C. Clark    SOLD

I had tried painting landscapes from other people's photographs with unsatisfactory results, but I was happy with the paintings I did on-site.  After a while I learned that if I went somewhere and looked at a subject with artist's eyes, deciding where I would paint from, what format of paper or canvas I would use, what elements I would include or not include in my composition, I could then walk around the site and take a series of photographs that would enable me to paint pretty much the same painting in my studio that I would have done on-site, but without having to worry about the wind knocking my easel over.  Ca daMula, Murano was researched in Italy but painted in my Chicago studio with the same high energy and spontaneity I would have brought to a work done on location with the pressure of having to paint fast before the light or weather might change.  Learning to do this was a big breakthrough for me, and it freed me to work in a much more portable medium on the road.