I'm 59yrs old, and live alongside the famous Sherwood Forest. I used to work as a photographer, both in the RAF and since so I am used to the use of composition, colour and light. I still take photographs, but now enjoy the luxury of photographing whatever I want. My aim is to get away from the search for technical perfection, still looking at the world through they eyes of a photographer. I take photos as record shots, and then enjoy using elements of these shots to create a painting. My ambition is to just get better at it. My favourite artist is William Bouguereau, unquestionably one of history's greatest artistic geniuses and it was he who was the greatest painter of the human figure in all of art history. His figures come to life like no previous artist has ever before or ever since achieved. He wasn’t just the best ever at painting human anatomy, more importantly he captured the tender and subtlest nuances of personality and mood. Bouguereau caught the very souls and spirits of his subjects much like Rembrandt.
Rembrandt is said to have captured the soul of age. Bouguereau captured the soul of youth, he often conjured an ethereal universe of transcendant beauty - an idealistic and shimmering realm. The unequalled heights of his artistic accomplishments were legendary; yet he was never satisfied with his work. ( I know that feeling) His pursuit of perfection drove him relentlessly, an attitude which I am quickly developing as I enjoy the magic of painter essentials. So in essence if I can learn to use a brush like Bouguereau, and use light like Rembrandt I might just then be contented.