Studio Soapbox

I'm about a year behind on my studio painting.
It's hard to stay inside when I can go out... but I really should have more recent studio work, I should finish the series I started last year.  And do more.
I don't do enough.

This year I incorporated gouache painting for the sole purpose of "doing more", and that was a fantastic thing to do.
But none of it is studio work.

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I look at a lot of paintings in a fairly wide range of media and style.
Sometimes this is good and sometimes it isn't.
Sometimes it is inspiring and sometimes I have to stop looking at painting after painting.

There are some artists that stand out to me because they have a unique perspective, or they are just so technically excellent they command attention.  Some are both.

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I'm tired of paintings that are just transfer-copies of photographs.
They are just re-interpreted uninspiring images in an image-saturated society.
Blah blah blah.
They show every little detail and leave nothing left for me to discover or fill in.
I find myself mentally dismissing them because they don't have what I'm looking for to admire in a painting. I want to take it further.... I haven't really achieved this yet but I'm trying to think past what I can currently do. 

This is where the studio comes in.

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Making a good painting has to be more than "This is a nice photograph, let me copy it."

Good artists who work from photographs must think beyond the photo.
There are people who successfully do this, but they all have good training.
This is not a beginner thing, though it is where too many beginners start.
There has to be thinking behind it, something personal. Not just making a copy.
They know how to compose, they understand how to use color, perspective, they know how to make it theirs.

I want to construct my own images.
If I need photo ref, it is to support the image- not be a basis.
The concept comes first- any reference is there to support it.

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I'm thinking of this I guess because I saw a post on a forum of someone's 12 year old granddaughter who painted a large painting as an exact copy of a rather terrible photograph.
Same-size grid.
Full size photo taped up next to the easel.
Copy-transfer.
Copy copy copy.

Everyone says "What a talent!"
I say "How dreadful, PLEASE get this kid working from life!"
OR copy other paintings.
You can learn a hell of a lot by copying master paintings.

Do that. Copy those to learn.
Don't start out copying (usually bad) photographs.